Tag: empowerment

Illuminating

FabrizioLeave a comment

Often we keep things for ourselves because we believe they are trivial, unimportant, shallow, taken for granted. And so, we only speak when we believe we have the big insight, the great idea, the breakthrough.

This makes our working places fairly quiet.

Of course, we talk a lot with our colleagues, during coffee breaks and in open spaces, waiting for a meeting to start or as we queue at the canteen. But when the spotlight is lit on an issue, a project, a plan we refrain from speaking our mind unless we feel completely comfortable what we are going to say is flawless and smart (spoiler alert: it very rarely is!).

When the chance arises, be brave and voice your concerns. Tell about that thing they have probably thought about already, that check they have certainly done already, that scenario they most likely have considered already.

What’s trivial for yourself can be illuminating for others. That’s the nature of humans and their minds.

The only way

FabrizioLeave a comment

With the amount of possibilities out there, with all the options one has to learn new things and reinvent themselves, it is very easy to get stuck.

It is the feeling of never being enough, the search for perfection, the impression to always need something more before actually getting going.

It is resistance.

Sit down instead and do the work. You’ll get better at it with time, better also at judging what to adjust, in which direction to progress, what else to learn, who to listen to. Doing the work is the only way.

The benefits of one day

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When you deviate from your path to take a shortcut, you must be aware that you are probably going to waste twice the energy. Merely because the demotivation deriving from the realization that the shortcut is not working (it very rarely does) is going to throw you a long way back from the starting point.

Most things that matter require time and dedication.

Wanting to get there faster is natural, but the time we make and take to actually achieve what we set out to achieve is precious.

It prepares us for the outcome, it makes us stronger, it builds resilience, and often it gives us the opportunity to understand if the pin we are moving towards is the real destination we have envisioned and hoped for. It trains us.

If students expend one day’s effort, they will reap the benefits of one day. After many days and months one will naturally reach the goal.

Yang Ch’eng Fu

Safe in the drawer

FabrizioLeave a comment

It is terrifying to show the work you’ve done.

They might not like it. It might be they think I am a fraud. What if there’s a typo I have missed? I have absolutely no authority to do that. Probably better if I give it another review. I can always publish it tomorrow. Everyone is so busy. Nobody is probably going to read it. After all, who cares? Is it really something important that I have to say? I might get fired for that. I look dumb in the video, I need another take. It’s not my best job. The concept I am trying to express is too weak. I am not a graphic designer, and the presentation looks dull. I’m not a native speaker, they’ll find out right away. They are crazy if they think I am going to do that.

And the most horrible of them all.

What if somebody likes it, and I have to continue …

On the other hand though, what good is it to keep that manuscript, that video, that drawing, that blog post, that article, that idea, that question safe in the drawer?

Important and not

FabrizioLeave a comment

Can you listen to an argument you do not support without interrupting?

Can you accept someone speaking at a public event near you about a topic that is sensitive and towards which you have a strong opinion, without mounting a protest and demanding the event cancelled?

Can you survive your favourite TV show being cancelled, or ending, or going through a disappointing season, without getting in touch with fellow fans and coming up with displays of affections towards the show that almost cross the limit of aggression?

Can you continue on your path when your community is led by a person you vividly dislike and disagree with, without being sucked up into the cult of that person and discuss what they do, say, tweet at every occasion, in disdain and disgust?

Some things are important, and worth figthing for.

The vast majority are not.

At some point along the road, we have lost the capacity to distinguish between the two. Everything upsets us, makes us mad, forces us to take unprecedented measures, promotes us to paladins of moral enlightment and rightfulness. We do not realize that even just by doing that, we flatten a multitude of interesting topics, solid arguments, and valid positions into an ocean of noise, resentment and, eventually, irrelevance. And that, slowly, happens also to us.

“Distraction” is a very appropriate way to describe all this. It’s a form of resistance that prevents us from persistently doing the work that eventually will lead to actual change.