Embrace Your Inexperience

Youthful Exuberance Prohibited 

As a lecturer to young, soon-to-be graduating college students, class discussions often run into the realm of the beyond. What’s to be expected after graduation? Will they be (or have they been) adequately prepared for the real world? Inevitably the conversation comes around to their inexperience and the part that that will play in their ability to join the work-force in short order. Intimidation often sets in, bolstered of course by their discomfort with trying to articulate the anticipated “what do you bring to the table?”

Sometimes it gets hard to listen to them grapple with their feelings of inadequacy. Knowing full well that a ticket to even the average corporate internship requires some amount of experience and that even gaining entry level jobs has become competitive, I have found myself, over the years, encouraging them to volunteer. After all, voluntarism underscores ones value to corporate citizenship and sends a positive message about our willingness to learn and serve. Nothing wrong with that…..I guess.

But in recent times, and as I continue to explore the value of adopting the entrepreneurial mind-set as a worldview….as I examine the need for creativity, innovation and personal initiative in corporate environments, I have come to believe that experience is over-rated. I cannot but drag my mind back to the realities of continuity.... of a lack-lustre, below par corporate environment that is steeped in rules, regulations and processes that confine and constrain employees to under-perform.  

What if employers began to place more value on the curiosity and fervour  that young graduates bring to the environment? What if they began to view inexperience as an asset that could help in harnessing the unconventional, leveraging the creativity that leads to innovation? What if more corporate recruiters began to think like Steve Jobs who is known to have said “it doesn’t make sense to hire smart people to tell them what to do.” What if corporate executives began to see experience as a greater risk exposure? – the huge risk of remaining constant in an ever-changing (rapidly evolving) business environment? What if the unwillingness to embrace inexperience robs companies of the following?

•         The outsiders’ advantage – Industry thought leaders have over the years assisted in innovation – incremental innovation, more often than not. The newbie, the outsider, introduces a greater likelihood of deep and thorough investigation from avenues never before pursued. He/she introduces a new perspective, asks the ‘dumb’ questions, maybe…leading to the right answers
•     The value of unlearning and re-learning – too many corporations get bogged down with ‘the way things are done.’ Learning is constrained by the conventional...the traditional. Strategies then remain reactive rather than pro-active. The benefits (though over-stated) of the ‘first-mover advantage’ are never realized. The inexperienced often bring the latest know-how technologically, theoretically and practically. All have their advantages.
• A greater readiness to explore the unexplored – Inexperience is often tied to youth and youth to exuberance. Who are more willing to challenge the status quo than youth inebriated with the desire to create and cease opportunities for renown and success?
• Hunger for success – 'Passion', purpose', 'contributing to a cause' are not only buzz words on the tongues of entrepreneurs and the people interested in them. Today there is a new breed of young, admittedly inexperienced, college graduates waiting to make their mark on the world. Their hunger drives them. They want to belong to something bigger than themselves but they want to be able to carve out their place in that ‘something.’ They want to leave their finger prints and foot prints. They want to succeed and succeed big.

Shouldn’t any right-thinking company, serious about gaining competitive advantage, therefore, embrace the possibilities that lie within the realm of inexperience? What if you, in your own personal experience, were to embrace your inexperience as an opportunity to disrupt the no-longer-working status quo? What if you saw yourself  as a critical link to the as-yet-unknown? Let's face it, in today’s business environment inexperience is no longer a disadvantage. In an age of innovation, exploration, discovery and disruption, inexperience (aka creativity, innovation, energy, experimentation) is an asset – a value you should wholeheartedly embrace!

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Find your Penny and Stay Invested

Quotesgram.com

Almost every time I turn my mind toward writing an article for this blog, something inside me questions my reason for continuing. What is it that I'm gonna say that has not already been said? Are there not thousands of blogs and bloggers saying the same things? What difference will I make? What value will I add? Isn't it just as well I throw in the towel and call it quits? I guess I could. But I won't. Here's why:

• My blog is my voice - a way of pushing back against the things I disdain, and registering my opinions and ideas; the place where these ideas and opinions gestate awaiting birth.
• It is my sanctuary - My place of retreat...therapy for my soul, a place to reflect and take stock...to be the person that nobody sees, the deepest, most beautiful parts of my spirit -an opportunity to be awed by who I really am....deep down.
• It is my contribution to my world, my place to make a difference, to join hands with thousands who crusade for change and growth, and actively impacting others for good.
• It is my chance to prove the veracity of the philosophies I hold dear...philosophies that tell me that meaningful change is incremental; philosophies that remind me that in order to fell the trees of life (challenges), I must sharpen the axe (me).
• It allows me the chance to hone my craft, to peddle my creativity, to add value to the world of literary artistry.

Maybe you feel the same way about your business, your writing, or a task you have been labouring over for years. Maybe you have begun to question your/its worth. Maybe you feel like you're adding no value to the room...like its time to throw in your cards and walk away from the table. The market is saturated you say....the world has enough people like me. Maybe...but what of your niche? What of the space in time that you were created to fill, that space that only you can fill? Maybe you need to step back and think for a moment about these things:

•  What's your differentiation strategy - for your life, for your business, for your mission?
• What's your value proposition? - What problem(s) do you propose to solve for others?
• What's your unfair advantage? - Your core competences, your available resources? What makes you uniquely you.... and gives you an edge above the competition?
• How can you leverage your passion in ways that make 'work' less laborious
• And to borrow from author, researcher and psychologist, Brene Brown, 'what would you do that's worth doing even if you fail?' 



Image courtesy of quotesgram.com

If you find you can answer these questions conclusively then its time to get back into the game. If you can't answer all just now, take your time. Do your introspection. Just don't give up on who you are and what you want just because the arena seems full. You may find you have to sit out a round but never become a spectator to your own life. 

 Sometimes staying invested is literally that - an investment  - of a penny. A penny - that's all. My blog is my penny. What's yours?

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Be Doers of the Word(s)

"Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only" is a popular scriptural injunction - one I have found it to be as relevant to building a business or to building a life as it is to building faith. We have often heard that readers are leaders. The most successful people in the world spend a significant amount of time learning their craft. Much of this learning comes through reading.

 We are told that Warren Buffet spends up to five hours per day these days just reading within his field. Yeah, maybe you're right. He can afford to. But what if you found out that he's been reading profusely since age seven? If you followed Mark Zuckerberg's facebook page last year, you would have seen his 30-book challenge ( https://www.facebook.com/ayearofbooks/); and   is there anyone around who doesn't know of Oprah's book-club? There's sufficient evidence amongst these highly successful people for us to conclude that this is not merely correlation.  

What's important, though, is that these intellectually elite have learnt that knowledge is not an end in itself. It's good to set ourselves reading goals, but even more important is the need to find ways of implementing the learning. Noted business philospher, Jim Rohn often said, "better than knowledge is applied knowledge." Change does not not happen with increased knowledge. Change happens when we begin to do the things we have been taught. We are often too content to pat ourselves on the back for achieving the lofty goals of 'hearing the word.'

It was Maya Angelou who said, "I did then what I knew how to do. Now I know better I do better." The fact is, knowing better... knowing more, and not acting in accordance with this new frame of reference renders us ineffective...on par with the man who never reads, even as we deceive ourselves of our superior standing. As we watch others around us with a lesser intellect and fewer resources make great strides toward their goals, the effect upon our psyche and sense of self is devastating. The truth is, we do ourselves greater harm by 'hearing the word,' acquiring the knowledge and taking no action towards applying that knowledge to our own life circumstances than not 'hearing' at all.

So what will it be? I'm not advocating that we stop 'hearing' the word. I'm suggesting that we find strategies to implement the learning...one discipline at a time. Don't read another book until you've made your mind up to practice what you learnt. Bridge the gap between learning and application, between who you are and who you want to become. A hundred books per year may be a feather in your cap, but implementing the lessons learnt may just be your ticket to the next level.

Discouraged by lack of Results?

There are few things as discouraging as working at something for days, weeks, months...years, even...and not see any results. Lack of results, failure to get traction, inability to get others to buy in to your dream, seemingly unanswered prayer....whatever 'lack of results'  looks like in your world....it's the reason so many people quit mid-stream. Over the years I've learnt that sometimes it shows up as rejection, sometimes as indifference, still other times as stagnation....but I've also learnt that if I pin my dreams to the 'evidence' of results then the likelihood of my succeeding is almost nil.

Let's be clear on this.....I'm not for one moment suggesting that early results are not important in keeping us motivated. That would be ideal. But the truth of the matter is....for most people who have succeeded at building a dream, early success was never a part of their story. I'm pretty sure I don't have to repeat the story of Thomas Edison and his ten thousand attempts at building the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb. I have before spoken of Malcolm Gladwell's ten thousand hour theory. The fact is, early success is not guaranteed.... so if we are enough fueled with a fire to get to our end-goals we must learn to look beyond the early results. We must keep momentum through our personal convictions, our passion, our craving for significance, our desire to make a difference in this world.

• Most people, as we go through life, pick up philosophies that drive us. We are called unawares to a field of study, a cause that benefits society, something bigger than ourselves. Often its our philosophies and convictions that lead us in this direction. We find, most often, that we are unable to act outside of these personal convictions. We find we do not lay down and die when these convictions are challenged. On the contrary, we remain unfazed. How important then, as we seek to find our life's work, that this work is aligned to our personal convictions and driving philosophies.
• The value of passion to keeping momentum has much been written about. But it cannot be overstated. So far as our passions align with our purpose we never have to worry about results. They will come. They are guaranteed. Our passion pushes us beyond a thousand 'NO!s', they keep us sufficiently interested to create the traction we seek. They close our ears to our detractors and distractions...even without effort. 
• Most normal human beings hunger for significance. Some never come to terms with it, but most of us long to make our mark on the world. If you desire more than anything to 'be somebody' to be written into the life-story of others, then your desire for significance will trump your lack of early results and you will keep pushing. Your motivation will be bigger than self.
• Truly, your desire to matter beyond self will manifest itself in a desire to make a difference in the world. Phenomenally successful people have come to the realization that the most fulfilling, satisfying version of success comes when we learn to get beyond the desire to simply make money. We must, instead, desire to solve problems that matter to others; we must long to add value to people, to corporations, communities, counties.

So, as hard as it is sometimes.....let's not remain hung up on our lack of results. Let's embrace this lack as a necessary part of the process....let's carry on despite our disappointments, keeping our minds on the big, bigger picture. Let's think of the compound effect. Let us not despise the small beginnings. instead, let's 'be faithful when the amounts are small.' Before too long, I'm sure, the results we seek will bear testimony to our effort. Shalom!

How to Get the Attention of those that Matter

Some years ago, when I was as yet a new disciple to the concept of intentional living, I was intrigued by the words of Jim Rohn even as he rapidly became my mentor. The words "success is not something you pursue; it is something you attract." had me thinking.  I was intrigued for two reasons: Obviously the idea was profound at the time....different from the opinions I had formed about how people achieve success. But, more importantly, I was drawn by the thought of becoming so masterful at whatever I did, as to attract the kind of success I wanted.

But mastery is not something that comes upon us by happenstance. Malcolm Gladwell's ten thousand hours has been a lot spoken of. Hard work, focus and goal-setting are a given. I found that achieving more becomes an exercise in becoming more....more informed, more confident, more articulate, more  grateful, more accomplished, more open to the opinions of others, more willing to dare...and dare greatly. But I also found it was an exercise in becoming less....less fearful of failure, less concerned about things that once made you feel vulnerable, less willing to pass up growth opportunities...and it's easy to see that in situations like this, less is indeed more.

But I think the greatest benefit to me of this ideology that  significantly changed my approach to living is the fact that I never have to chase opportunities. I often sit in forums and read articles where writers and speakers admonish their audience to chase opportunities. I prefer the position taken by the immensely successful Richard Branson, said to have declared "opportunities are like the buses.....there's always another one coming."  The biggest issue on being able to seal the deal on an opportunity is being prepared to handle it. The only trouble is opportunities many times come knocking and find us woefully unfit/unprepared to answer the door. 

Being able to answer the door of opportunity is entirely up to us, It is truly a matter of deliberately making ourselves attractive to the prospective buyer. Sometimes that looks like developing particular skills; sometimes it looks like improving our attitudes, (tell me about it)... changing our philosophies, creating a network, exploring our passions, writing a book, starting a business. The point is, deliberately working to improve self is the bigger part of the equation. It's what guarantees that we not only net the opportunity, but that we keep it, guaranteeing repeat buyers of our services.

I'm not sure where you are in the experience of chasing your dream. Maybe you are at the point of frustration, maybe you've written more application letters than you want to remember....whatever project you are involved in right now, I invite you to pause a while and consider the words of the sage business philosopher, Jim Rohn, " success is not something we pursue; it's something we attract." 

Today as I contemplated the words of Brendon Burchard, author and performance coach, I knew I was/am in the right place. He said, 'do not seek to be the center of attention, In humility and service, you will draw the attention of those who matter" Indeed the formula for achieving more, attracting attention is, simply, becoming more. So today I encourage you....before you make a plan to pursue a dream....create a plan for becoming more....

"Be Somebody?"

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to 'be somebody.' The only problem was I didn't know that's what I wanted. I wasn't sure what that looked like, who or what exactly that 'somebody' was. I just knew there was this constant urgency, this need to do more than merely exist. But fear crippled me....and feelings of inadequacy slowly destroyed any vestige of pride and self-esteem that should have held sway in my life. I had every reason to be bold and confident. I was an intelligent, well respected woman with formidable talents and skills. I was ambitious and bright. I had everything going for me. If only I knew it.

Instead of the success and significance I craved, frustrations and anger manifested themselves. As I watched others around me succeed (or so it appeared) I grew increasingly discontent and hopeless. Anger was my constant companion. My attitude took a beating as did my career. People knew I had way-above-average potential but they also knew I had 'anger-issues', strong reserves of aggression, waiting to pounce at the next innocent 'contender.' Still, my desire to 'be somebody' persisted...persists. It's a yearning I have long lost control of. It consumes me. But I have grown wiser.

The years have taught me that more important than this all-consuming desire to 'be somebody' is the need to make my life matter. There's a difference. The need to make my life matter takes me outside the realm of my own dreams of self-importance and transports me to a place of service, of making a difference and creating change that makes an impact in somebody else's world.  It's about belonging to something that will continue way after I am gone...something bigger than I am; something that renders me significant in the lives of others.

And who knows, maybe someday this path will take me to the place that makes me into that 'somebody' I have longed to be. But it's not that important anymore. Oh, make no mistake about it...I am still consumed with the need to impact my world. I am still acutely aware that, like the butterfly cocooned in the caterpillar's chrysalis, I was born for something more than this.But now this yearning looks and feels different. I am still propelled by it. It still consumes me but today I look for opportunities to enlighten, empower and equip the people around me who need that kind of support. I plant a seed in the life of another person everyday. And I am grateful for the opportunity to impact my world...in big ways and small ways....and I'm not so angry anymore!

One Bite at a Time

There are times when everything around in the realm of your mind converges upon you to tell you "You can't." These are the times when doubt is your closest companion and fear weaves a debilitating web across your psyche; the times when the reality of your circumstances stamp "Impossible" in your pathway; when you lose momentum; when instead of encouraging you, friends become your biggest detractors; when cute memes and motivational quotes feel like ashes on your tongue. And worse than all that, often these are the times everything within you answers "I believe you!" "I just don't have what it takes." I know... I've been there. I feel like I am there now.

So I am not too sure I am qualified to tell you to get up and go. The best I can do is confess that this effort at writing, this effort to push through is my own 'pick-me-upper".....cause I know I don't want to the the one later on to wonder what might have been had I pushed through... and so I carry on...and I learn to savor the journey. I've learned that every day has its ups and downs and I become intentional about ensuring that at the end of each of those days I would have scored more on the up-side than I did on the down-side. I press on. I plant some seeds into each day, just because I have learnt that the quality of our harvest is directly related to how intentional we are about our planting. .  

Yes, I am learning to become more intentional about planting than I am about reaping. The truth is, most of us get caught up on the reaping side of things. We look for results; we become discouraged if we don't achieve the goals we set ourselves. In fact, precious little of us set ourselves any goals. Nonetheless we become obsessed with the end game. Very recently I read a quote from F. M. Alexander...."People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their future." Excellent lesson to learn. Our habits (our intentional efforts) create our results. The seeds we plant and nurture (good or bad) make us into who we are.

So quit listening to the voices in your head that tell you there's no point in carrying on. Just plant some seeds today. Write one paragraph today. Pour into one person's life today. Change one thing that you don't like about your attitude today; tell one person you love them today...and for each today that you meet, make it matter. Forget the big picture for a while. Take your mind off the things that aren't and focus on what is. Eat your elephant one bite at a time. Make your difference one life, one moment at a time. Don't give in now....there's just too much at stake. Stay blessed!