“The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. “
Ernest Newman
Category: Working Matters
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Quote to Consider: The Discipline of Inspiration
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Quote to Consider: Ah, What Incredible Potential!
“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible… what wine is so sparkling, so fragrant, so intoxicating, as possibility!”Soren Kierkegaard
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Loving Monday: Too Long in the Idea-Sphere?
An idea cannot be perfected without taking the first practical step.Sure it would be nice to work out all the kinks ahead of time.
Sure it would be nice to commit to the project without risk.
Real is the danger, though, of never taking the first step at all. Very possible, we discover, is missing out on an opportunity because of postponing the first step too long.Ideas can only float around in the idea-sphere so long.
A good idea is only as good as it leaves the idea-sphere, takes concrete form, and becomes a reality.
The problem with reality is that it is messy, problematic, and complicated. It feels like our pristine idea becomes diminished, polluted, or compromised as it takes practical form.
And so we keep working on it. Keeping it in the idea-sphere where we can work through all the messy, problematic complications until it is perfect. Until it is as pristine and beautiful in reality as it is in our dream.
We may keep working on it… forever.
As you begin this week, take one practical, concrete step toward the implementation of one of your ideas.
One step, however messy, problematic or complicated.
One step.
On your side,
– Karl Edwards
Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.
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Karl Shares Six Words… #65
“Don’t rock the boat,” fear lied.
Karl Edwards
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Happy Pi Day 2012!
An infinitely happy Pi Day to all!
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Karl Shares Six Words… #64
Alien abduction preferable to hostile takeover.
Karl Edwards
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A Solution in Search of a Problem
It is no secret that we get things backwards once in a while.Most common is when we discover a solution in search of a problem.
Once in a while, an unanticipated solution reveals a “problem” that we didn’t know we had. The iPod and iTunes are good examples. It wasn’t until we had the option of listening to songs in any order we wanted and buying them in any combination we wanted that it occurred to us that the “album” package was severely limiting.
More commonly we have a brilliant inspiration for a new policy or procedure, gadget or widget, service or organization, but then discover that we are filling a gap no one else perceives or solving a problem no one else is experiencing.
Government agencies are famously addicted to designing rules, processes, paperwork, and systems that either serve no purpose at all (save justify someone’s departmental budget), or address an instance so peculiar and particular that the cost and burden to the 99.9% for whom that instance does not apply scandalously outweighs the benefit to the isolated few.
In between the visionary iPod and the short-sighted NLRB dictating in which states a business can and cannot do business while jobs increasingly move to other countries altogether, is where most of us operate… trying to do a good job, make a difference, and add value.
So three cheers for the creativity, initiative, and energy involved in proposing new ideas!
Where we want to catch ourselves… What we want to make sure we have considered… What we want to stay laser-focused on… is what problem, real or perceived, our idea is solving.
A solution without a problem risks being ignored as irrelevant, dismissed as extravagant, or opposed as burdensome.
How do you communicate your great ideas?
How well do you identify and explain the problem being addressed and the costs of not addressing it?
It may be discouraging to discover that you have come upon a solution in search of a problem. But it will be disastrous if you continue to sell, implement, and/or impose your solution without one.
On your side,
– Karl Edwards
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Loving Monday: Trusting Yourself
If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?For many things like confidentiality, favorite foods, and things to fear, most of us have no problem trusting ourselves above all other voices.
But for other things, like working style, decision-making, creativity, and work quality, too many of us seem to believe that there exist standards, criteria and models of excellence to which we must aspire—and until we attain—we must in the mean time defer to those who do.
The main problem is that these ones who do… do not exist either.In other words, we are comparing ourselves to standards and models who do not exist.
Worse than that, the people, bosses, gurus, etc. who are judging us as inadequate, are faking it themselves.
Faking it, though, is too strong a word. Some are faking it, to be sure. Others are simply going about their business being themselves. They are not pretending to be doing anything “right” or “best” or “successfully”. They are showing up, diving in, and leaving all that self-consciousness at the door.
So when I title this article “Trusting Yourself”, I am not talking about putting on bravado, arrogance, elitism, or making decisions in a vacuum in order to demonstrate your competence.
I am talking about an unforced and unrehearsed comfort in one’s skills, training, character and judgment. A calm confidence that who I am is enough.
Comfortable with all that I do and do not bring to the table, I offer my opinions boldly, I listen attentively, I participate actively, I interact respectfully.
My goal is to increasingly trust myself to be fully me. Do you trust yourself?
Or are you haunted by the myths, standards, and messages of success, effectiveness and capabilities suggested by others?
On your side,
– Karl Edwards
If you would like to discuss your situation in more detail, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.
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Karl Shares Six Words… #63
Bosses are whispering. Bad news coming.
Karl Edwards
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Loving Monday: Embattled or Embittered
Office politics sucks.One would think reasonably mature adults could work through most problems, misunderstandings, and challenges.
But we are not all as mature as we’d like to think we are.
We see very clearly where others lack maturity, but are less clear-sighted about our own shortcomings.We have lots of ideas how everyone else needs to change, but seldom see any need to explore viable alternatives for ourselves.
Our only point of control, though, lies with what we can change about ourselves. We cannot change other people.
We can accuse them. We can report them. We can instruct them. We can pray for them.
But we cannot change them.
If we are going to experience change, it will have to begin with us.
The choice is ours… To continue embattled, to become embittered, or to take a good hard look at “how we might be a part of the problem that won’t go away.”
What will you choose?
Call me if you’d like to discuss the details of your particular situation.
Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.