First, you need to figure out what story you have to tell.
Second, you need to figure out who might be interested in the story you have to tell.
Third, you have to tell the story.
One and two might be interchangeable, and actually it is generally a good idea to search for a lock and then fashion a key.
But the problem is that most just go with three.
When you have made up you mind about something and still struggle to follow through, share the decision with someone.
It will help you go deeper, see your arguments from another perspective, and it will point to that part of the whole that is keeping you.
What you say is going to be misunderstood.
There’s really not much to say, it’s just the nature of communication. You deliver a message from your own position, with your own understanding, and the other person interprets all of that from their own position, with a different understanding. This happens inevitably, no matter how close the speaker and the listener are. It’s not your fault. It’s not their fault. It’s just how it is.
The only thing you can do about it is to repeat the message over and over again.
Of course, you will become boring after while, people will start telling you they have already heard that, some will make fun of you, others will just stop listening and move on.
But it really is the only thing you can do about misunderstandings.
Just be careful that the message you choose to repeat is really the one that matters to your purpose.
We are parents, candidates, friends, bosses, colleagues, direct reports, volunteers, competitors, acquaintances, organisers, participants, customers, service providers, advocates, seekers, petitioners, suckers, casualties.
And of course, we are much more.
While being aware of all the roles is great, the real point is ensuring that we can still keep them somehow separated to appreciate nuances and be able to give second (and third, and fourth, and fifth) chances.
A friend coming in for an interview is still a friend AND a candidate for a position at your company.
A boss who volunteers for the organisation you’ve been involved with for years is still a boss AND a volunteer.
Somebody you don’t get along with who walks into your shop to purchase some goods is still somebody you don’t like AND a customer.
Roles do not erase each other. They add to each other.
You have to leverage your strengths.
Not someone else’s strengths. Not someone else’s desire of what your strengths might be. Not someone else’s take on the world that might make your strengths feel redundant.
There are infinite ways to be successful.
Invest time in finding your strengths and money in developing them further.
You've got this 