I Believe in You

Hope this finds you well.

It’s been a tough week for me mentally/emotionally with the July 4th events in Highland Park, IL.

We lived in HP for nearly a decade before moving one town over and still have many, many connections to the community.

It’s hard to process what happened Monday and even more complex to contemplate how we got here.

I think it would be easier to process if we could point to one root cause that created this perfect storm, but unfortunately it isn’t that simple.

In my personal reflection I realized I was too focused on macro things instead of local things prior to this week.

When your focus is on the horizon, you miss what’s going on right in front of you.

When you aren’t paying attention to what’s right in front of you, things can start to break down or go haywire right under your nose until something bad happens.

This same concept applies to business in finance, marketing, operations, human resources, or IT.

Four days removed from the event in Highland Park, my instinct tells me we need to shift our focus to a more local perspective.

Despite their best intentions, people outside the communities we live in are not going to have as timely an impact as we can have if we focus our attention locally.

The greatest change I can make starts in my heart and works outwards from there to family, neighbors, friends, community and so forth.

When I was in my late teens, my Dad shared a poem with me called “The Man in the Glass" by Peter Dale Wimbrow,?which I kept posted to my mirror in college and young adulthood:

When you get what you want in your struggle for self

And the world makes you king for a day

Just go to the mirror and look at yourself

And see what that man has to say.

For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife

Whose judgment upon you must pass

The fellow whose verdict counts

most in your life

Is the one staring back from the glass.

He’s the fellow to please –

never mind all the rest

For he’s with you, clear to the end

And you’ve passed your most

difficult, dangerous test

If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years

And get pats on the back as you pass

But your final reward will be

heartache and tears

If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

This poem is always there for me when I am lost or seeking accountability.

At a personal level, I know I can do better as a member of the community by extending love to those around me.

I don’t say it nearly enough, but I believe in humanity.

I believe in a baby learning to walk.

I believe in a toddler learning a new skill.

I believe in kids learning math and reading in elementary schools.

I believe in middle schoolers trying to find themselves in the most awkward time of life.

I believe in the high schoolers who just found or are searching for the spark of passion in their studies.

I believe in the young adults pursing higher educations or starting their careers.

I believe in the new parents raising their first child.

I believe in my neighbor taking a risk launching a company.

I believe in the elderly enjoying the fruits of their lives in comfort and dignity

But most importantly…

I believe in you.

You can do this.

You can get through a hard time.

You can overcome any obstacle.

You are loved by your community.

We believe in YOU.

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Thank you for reading this week's newsletter. I recognize it is more personal than ever and I appreciate your openness to my feelings as I process the events of July 4th in my community.

If you have any words of wisdom or thoughts to help us all believe in each other more, please leave them in the comments below.

All the best,

~Roger

Roger Lumpp?spends his working hours hunting opportunities for independent workers in the Chicago market. He is the creator and host of?The Next Pro Gig Podcast?which empowers independent/freelance workers of all disciplines with the tools, frameworks, knowledge and ideas to help them thrive in their careers as independent prof.?He firmly believes WORKERS will gain more and more control over the independent employment conversation as we move into the “future of work” and is fully committed to helping aspiring, new and tenured independents maximize their go-to-market strategies to find their next gig, FASTER.?