Innovating and operating through growth
A pull is different than a push.
A push is a jolt. A quick exertion of force causing momentum. It’s a one-off effort. A boost. It is abrupt and fleeting. It’s a jump across a chasm.
A pull draws you near gradually. It’s a tether to the past, or a thread leading to the future. A pull is enduring. A pull feels both distant and strong. It is a siren’s song.
Push or pull both provide momentum and direction.
Which one do you need?
Sharing is hard. It exposes a point of view, a piece of context, that not everyone will want to receive. Not everyone will understand what you share and agreement is not yet met. You will almost certainly be misinterpreted.
Sharing is vulnerable. You’re admitting the things you don’t know while revealing what you’ve been focusing on. You’re asking people to listen to your idea. People always have opinions about new ideas.
Sharing is uncomfortable. You won’t be sure if your timing is right. You may not know who to share with first. You definitely haven’t thought of all the questions you’ll get and how to answer them.
Sharing is important. The only way to know if your idea works is to share it. The only way to gain allies is to share your perspective. Progress can only happen if we share.
There are definitely geniuses. Da Vinci comes to mind. Socrates. Einstein. Mother Theresa. Helen Keller. People whose very existence has such an impact on the world that they’re remembered for centuries.
There are also people who are famous, powerful, rich, or some combination thereof. These people are highly regarded for their impact. Some people may call them genius now, but time is still testing the merit of that descriptor in many cases.
In either case, we are really celebrating persistence.
What it takes to be a genius is showing up, putting in the work, and doing it again tomorrow. Focusing on incremental change. Getting back to it after a stumble. Refocusing on the most important thing after a distraction.
Most of us are geniuses (who’s to say you aren’t?) – we just might have a persistence problem.
Even though it’s possible for a professional basketball player to play baseball, you don’t typically see them doing so.
They spend their careers developing a way to play one game that is uniquely their own. Trying to translate that to another sport leaves them without an identity and at the beginning of a journey where every other player has a years long head start; even Michael Jordan was a rookie in a double-A league when he played baseball.
If you’ve spent years becoming undeniable at what you do, honing skills and building relationships while collecting useful experience, it’s ok if you want to try to play a new game.
Just don’t be surprised when people catch you making rookie mistakes.
(H/T JP)
As you pursue this thing that you’ve conceived you’re on the path of ‘keep going.’ Immediately, you’ll experience feelings. In fact, there’s no opportunity to not feel things – good or bad. Either way, whatever you’re feeling, it’s temporary and just because you don’t like a feeling doesn’t mean it isn’t doing you some good.
Once you realize that feelings are transient, there’s no reason to stop putting one foot in front of the other on the path of ‘keep going.’ You’re allowed to feel bad AND keep going. You’re allowed to celebrate the win AND keep going.
The reason to keep going isn’t for productivity. It isn’t to distract yourself from bad feelings, or because you’re never good enough and need to always achieve. The path includes breaks, vacation, and fun. The path also includes distractions and mistakes. The path offers quitting something and starting over. The path sometimes means staying too long.
The path you’re on leads to the thing you’ve conceived, and this thing you’ve conceived can’t be done without you. So wherever it is you are – just keep going.
It’s easy to feel unappreciated and overlooked. For all the talk about teamwork and collaboration, most people, most of the time, are not thinking about you (to test this ask yourself: “am I thinking about them?”). This isn’t their fault.
They’re thinking about all the tasks they have to do to move a project forward, to take care of things at home, to improve themselves. So unless what you’re doing greatly improves or severely limits the chance of one of their things, your thing will probably go unnoticed.
But it doesn’t have to.
You’re allowed to ask for help when you need it. You can propose a different solution. You can make it clear that your needs aren’t being met and then suggest a way to change that.
If you decide to do that, have a plan and be ready to sell it. Make sure your thing becomes aligned with their thing, and definitely be ready to raise your hand, discuss it, and compromise.
In the end, the only person responsible for you being overlooked is you. What are you going to do about it?