"Why Not Me?" can become "Why Not Us?"
It's weird; the more I ruminate on my desk job and what's wrong with a corporate life, the more I come to some conclusions about how poeple work and how to keep your "eyes on the prize".
And the more I read Steve Pavlina's entries, the more I realize that I think we've come to similar conclusions on many topics. Except that I think I've been a little more optimistic about other people's approaches.
Today, he posted Why Not You?, an essay in his usual style where he challenges his readers to tackle the problems they see instead of just wishing it would go away. I've reached the same conclusion as he: that if one doesn't start working to fix a problem, then they're doing nothing but perpetuating it.
Here's where we differed (but I think my opinion has been swaying recently): I always thought that this was the way things worked.
I always thought that people, corporate-type professionals especially, when presented with a problem, would find some way to fix it. I figured that they wouldn't just work around a problem for days, months, even years at a time without at least plunking at it a little. I thought that, when problems came up, people worked to fix the problem.
How naive of me, I guess.
Most people don't fix problems. They hide from them. They don't look at problems as opportunities, but instead let their animal instincts cut in (you know, "run!") and take over. It's hard not to do so, when 3-some odd billion years of evolution have taught us to do this (we've not always been on top of the food chain, you know).
But we're smart, and we can move beyond living with just our instincts. We all know this on some level, and it's exciting during those times that we really wake up and achieve more than fight-or-flight. Even more exciting? Waking up others.
This is why I really like this particular essay. Whether Steve realizes it or not, if you're in a situation where you start visibly tackling a problem, others start waking up and working on it, too. Chances are, you're not the only one who's run into it. The others were just too busy listening to their adrenal gland to do anything about it. But with you being a pioneer, people are going to follow.
This is great because not only are you elevating the consciousness level of others, you're also creating your very own support network with you in the center. Since you blazed the way, people will look up to you. This can mean a whole lot. When people look up to you, they invest something in you. They have a stake in your success. They'll work to make sure that you also can succeed. Then, if you fail, as is possible if you're really challenging yourself, at least there'll be others around you that can get you moving again faster. And who knows? Maybe they follow you onto your next project, tool.
Of course, having a few more hands tackling a problem doesn't hurt, either. Taking the first few steps to fixing a problem may be hard, but you can almost count on it paying off when you're leader of the group pulling it off.
-sean
And the more I read Steve Pavlina's entries, the more I realize that I think we've come to similar conclusions on many topics. Except that I think I've been a little more optimistic about other people's approaches.
Today, he posted Why Not You?, an essay in his usual style where he challenges his readers to tackle the problems they see instead of just wishing it would go away. I've reached the same conclusion as he: that if one doesn't start working to fix a problem, then they're doing nothing but perpetuating it.
Here's where we differed (but I think my opinion has been swaying recently): I always thought that this was the way things worked.
I always thought that people, corporate-type professionals especially, when presented with a problem, would find some way to fix it. I figured that they wouldn't just work around a problem for days, months, even years at a time without at least plunking at it a little. I thought that, when problems came up, people worked to fix the problem.
How naive of me, I guess.
Most people don't fix problems. They hide from them. They don't look at problems as opportunities, but instead let their animal instincts cut in (you know, "run!") and take over. It's hard not to do so, when 3-some odd billion years of evolution have taught us to do this (we've not always been on top of the food chain, you know).
But we're smart, and we can move beyond living with just our instincts. We all know this on some level, and it's exciting during those times that we really wake up and achieve more than fight-or-flight. Even more exciting? Waking up others.
This is why I really like this particular essay. Whether Steve realizes it or not, if you're in a situation where you start visibly tackling a problem, others start waking up and working on it, too. Chances are, you're not the only one who's run into it. The others were just too busy listening to their adrenal gland to do anything about it. But with you being a pioneer, people are going to follow.
This is great because not only are you elevating the consciousness level of others, you're also creating your very own support network with you in the center. Since you blazed the way, people will look up to you. This can mean a whole lot. When people look up to you, they invest something in you. They have a stake in your success. They'll work to make sure that you also can succeed. Then, if you fail, as is possible if you're really challenging yourself, at least there'll be others around you that can get you moving again faster. And who knows? Maybe they follow you onto your next project, tool.
Of course, having a few more hands tackling a problem doesn't hurt, either. Taking the first few steps to fixing a problem may be hard, but you can almost count on it paying off when you're leader of the group pulling it off.
-sean
posted by Sean at
12/08/2005 07:48:00 PM
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