Loving Monday: You Are a Gift
You are a gift.
This is one of the most important truths of work and life.
If you don’t believe this one simple fact, you’re swimming upstream when there’s a current available to carry you.
There is no one quite like you, and we need you.
Do you believe that? Do you believe that this morning?
You bring the gift of who you are to the workplace today. Your character, your skills, your cleverness, your passion, your insights, your experience, and the list goes on.
This is no superficial pep talk. This belief (or disbelief) is a game changer.
It can’t be faked. It can’t be bought. It can’t be wished into being.
People who believe they are a gift behave differently. Their confidence is not a performance. Their confidence is a reflection of their inner calm.
When you already believe at a deep level in the value you bring to the table, then you don’t have to expend any effort to prove it. You are freed up to be present in the moment with the people and issues at hand.
You are not wondering if you should speak up in order to be seen as an active participant. You are not deciding how to modulate your voice in order to sound knowledgeable. You are not jockeying for a seat next to the manager. You are not interrupting others, criticizing others, or belittling others in order to appear powerful.
You are free. Free to pay attention to the matters at hand. Free from having to establish to yourself what you already know at a deep deep level.
To be a gift does not mean that you are everything. To be a gift does not mean you are perfect or the best.
Because the gift is you. To be a gift is to be yourself. To believe you are a gift is to believe that you need to show up at work today. The real you. All of you. Nothing held back.
I wish I worked with you. Because I know a real gift will be present and I want to be a part of the experience. The gift of you.
You are a gift.
On your side,
- Karl Edwards
November 8th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Part of accepting this is also accepting that I don’t have to get my way all the time. In other words, I can be myself, be present, share ideas, and still be confident in myself and my ideas when the CFO says, “That’s too expensive” or my supervisor says, “I’m disappointed that you didn’t execute that task differently.”
November 10th, 2010 at 9:15 am
That a gift is not received, does not make it any less a gift. That other gifts get opened first does not diminish the value of ours.
Good point, my friend. Wise as always.