Stick with it

Stick with something long enough and it will change you.

Stick with something you have chosen, something that is difficult, something that is inspiring, something you would not normally do, something that you had wanted to do for a long time. And it will become a passion, a second nature, an habit.

Stick with something long enough and it will save you.

Fullness

We constantly think at what is missing, the part of the journey we have not completed yet, what others have that we do not, the emptiness that we need to fill.

And by doing that we fail to notice the kind gesture, the moment of joy, the hand that’s being extended to us, the gratitude of our neighbour, the fullness that we don’t want to empty.

That’s how it goes.

What success

It is much easier to digest a failure if you don’t look at it as the opposite of a specific success, but rather as the necessary step towards some success.

Even when it takes you far away from your goal, even when it is repeated in time, even when it looks like you are just not going to make it, failure is always capable of revealing some truth.

Sometimes it’s harsh – e.g., “this is not for you” -, but it is never definitive – e.g., “nothing is for you”.

To be liked

Everyone wants to be liked. But there is a different between striving to be liked in the moment and striving to be liked in the end.

To be liked in the moment means that you are betting on your capacity to escape immediate evaluation. It’s about being erratic, leveraging every situation, and since people talk, caring about short-term benefit.

To be liked in the end means that you are betting on the capacity of people to judge by themselves. It’s about consistency, authenticity, and long term.

So, the choice is not really between wanting to be liked and not wanting to be liked.

It’s a choice between now and forever.

Safety in crisis

Three things to do in order to establish emotional and professional safety in a moment of crisis at work.

  1. Listen without the intention to say something, particularly when you are hearing you have done something people did not like.
  2. Prepare what you have to say and keep it consistent. Do not improvise, do not go off track, do not share the thought of the moment.
  3. Share your difficulties as they emerge, and be open in asking for help and praising the help received.