1) It’s really good to be able to laugh at yourself.
It’s also good to know when to be sincere. But it’s OK if life is fun!
2) Some things are worth fighting (for).
Authenticity has become far too rare, and people who will kindly and non-passive-aggresively confront others for the sake of doing the right thing are nearly extinct. Some things really are worth fighting, and some things are worth fighting for.
3) Contentedness is hard, but worth every ounce of effort.
“The grass is greener” mentality will probably always exist somewhere within us, but this mindset is certainly amongst the things that are worth fighting. No place is perfect, but as we often tend to find what we look for, our perspective has a profound effect on this problem.
4) There are at least two sides to every story.
This one is a cliché for a reason: it’s true. The tough part is remembering it. “If you only understand a thing one way, you don’t understand it all.” – Marvin Minsky
5) Contracts are only as good as the person you sign with.
Words on a page are worthless compared to the character within the signer.
6) Discovering your strengths is life-changing.
Throughout my education, I have been fortunate enough to take quite a few so-called “personality assessments.” I remember very little about any of them (except my prickly-ness at their pigeonhole-ness) until the Clifton StrengthsFinder™. Both concise and full of depth, Gallup created an amazing resource for helping people find what they’re good at, and to become better humans because of it. Check it out.
7) Seasons are glorious.
Not worrying about snow on the roads is not a fair trade for having no seasons of weather variance. At. All. Ever. There’s just something pure and invigorating about the cooling of autumn or the gradual warmth of spring. Or clouds. And thunderstorms. (Love those guys.)
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I see a lot of chatter around this general idea:
“Leaders don’t command what they are unwilling to do themselves.”
I understand the sentiment, but when even slightly misinterpreted this mentality does more harm than good.
At its core this thought promotes the myth of the “well-rounded leader.” Problem is, nobody can do everything well.
This idea adheres to the same philosophy that demands executives spend two years in every department in the company on their climb “up.”
I promise you — talented people do not need to spend two years in an area of weakness to appreciate the value of it. What they do need is to get enough exposure to able to speak intelligently about it and communicate that area’s importance, and then they need to be moved as quickly as possible to their area of strength.
If these paths don’t exist, then we need to create more ladders.
The truth is, good leaders assign out a LOT of things they are unwilling to do themselves, because they know that another person can do certain things MUCH better than they can.
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Photo by Kelly Kerr.
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We often think the world needs a certain “something” from us. We go out of our way to give it that “something” we think it needs, and it slowly kills us, little by little.
But we suck it up and deal with it, because somehow, somewhere along the way, we started believing that’s what we were “supposed to do.” That the world needs people who look a certain way, act a certain way, say certain things.
We have this impression that to put too much focus, too much attention, on what drives us, what motivates us, is somehow selfish.
But this is all a lie. You are as much of “the world” as I am, and we are as much of the world as that other person over there.
What the world really needs, more than anything else, is more you.
The big problem is that we get this whole idea backwards. We think that doing the things we love makes us selfish, but it’s actually the other way around. Doing something that “isn’t you” — taking part in activities that drain the life out of who you are — is actually the most selfish thing you can do.
Why?
Because when you find a way to do more of the things that make you come alive, you are a better person. When you are living in your strengths, you can do more good, you can create more light, you can be a more full human being.
That is as unselfish as it gets.
For us to not figure out how to do that is to deprive the world of one of the few things that can actually make it better.
(Of course, the enormous challenge is finding the real us. Not many people have the courage to do this.)
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Dr. Howard Thurman
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Copyright © 2005-2012 Josh Allan Dykstra
