Writing Your Own Bible, Playing a Complex Game, Leaning on Others for Solutions
"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet."
Tuesday morning, coffee in hand, fireplace burning to my left, the world is asleep, and it’s time for me to cleans my mind.
I woke up from a vivid dream. I had returned to Ball State University; I had class, I had no idea where to park, the campus had changed. Once parked, I had no idea where my class or when my class started so I headed to the Bursar’s office to some information, the only problem, the office had moved.
All the time, I kept thinking why am I doing this? I have my Masters's degree, but I forged ahead, lost, but I found the Bursar’s office, got a map, and was on my way again. But still I was lost, I kept finding parts of campus that were familiar, but then I would take a turn and be in a new area. I never did reach my destination, I never made it to class, nor did I find out where I parked my car. My alarm helped rescue me from that misunderstood world. I think dreams try and make sense of our world; I’ll mull that dream today and see if I can make any sense of the overwhelming feeling of being lost.
I had a productive day yesterday, I did some good work, but also my team churned out some great stuff, I ended my day with a Zoom call, I’m looking at a new group to join, I like the leadership, it was a get to know you interview, I like the format, I’ll guest in January to see if it fits our needs.
I’ve got an appointment this morning with a good friend and client, and then I’m going to try to get back to Colorado. We have a few nice opportunities out west; we need to get there to connect with strangers and see if they fit our client profile. If they do, we need to get to work; if they don’t, we need to pursue other opportunities. It’s what we do; it’s the game we play.
I think we all play a game, complete with game board and rules. We have our game board; we travel it daily. Our game board stretches the country, but we work in two primary areas, East Central Indiana and Denver Colorado. It’s a big game board, but I wouldn’t live any other way.
What is your game board, is it simple or complex? If you own a company, I would ask you to consider how you could replicate your business in another part of the country. How would another home or two impact your life, how would you integrate into a new community full of strangers, how would you live, in essence, two lives?
There are days I miss the simplicity of single state living. I think about how much easier life used to be, but then I weigh the benefits we receive by our chosen path. The living on top of a mountain, the working with my life partner every day, the travel we get to experience, the new connections we continue to make in both “homes.”
People ask where home and I answer, “home is where we are at that time.” I think it possible to have multiple homes, multiple lives, and if you think living one life is chaos, add another and let’s have a conversation. Life would be much simpler to just have a home, a job, 401K, and a dream of retirement, but that is not how we are wired.
We were wired at birth to build something; I believe today, we were pushed together to build something unique and lasting for generations. We are at a crossroads on how to continue to develop our firm, our brand, but this is when the fun begins. What is the next move, where do we go from here, how do we get better, what are the new rules, where do we need to invest our time?
We will find the answers, I have a team of very smart people I can lean on when sorting ideas, our next move on our game board, I’ve learned I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so I find people much smarter than myself and probe their minds with our situation, our questions and get input from people much smarter than myself. I’m not embarrassed to ask for help, I know I don’t have all the answers and using the bandwidth of others has been one of my secret weapons.
As dull of a tool as I am, I do find others reaching out to ask my input on their situation. I give of my thoughts and ideas, I try and help them using my limited skill set, and I think some might even adopt a few of my ideas.
We learn and grow through the input of others. If you are stuck, reach out to those around you, get input, provide a scenario, and ask them what they would do. Their answer might surprise you and give you another angle to view your current situation. We all live in a bubble, and sometimes that bubble get’s clouded with our head trash. Talking with others not playing your game can help you see another part of the game board, another option that your mind would never fathom. It takes a village to play a game, and since we are all playing a game I recommend you talk to all people. Talk to the village idiot and the village mayor, take their input and then compare their thoughts and ideas with your own, there is a solution, but I’ve found collective solutions are far superior to my thoughts and ideas.
"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet."