In a Hobbling Life, Where Can You Glide?
In a Hobbling Life, Where Can You Glide?
For your pondering pleasure - word count 709 - reading time five minutes
by Ann Starrette © January, 2008
Dormant gifts burst with life in right habitat.
Continually I hear people of all ages, races and faiths crying out to God, “Show me the way. Tell me what it is You want me to do. Write it in the sand or across the sky. Somehow, any how, get the message to me, God.” Sound familiar?
People tend to wobble without direction. I once heard someone say “God can’t drive a parked car. Just get going! He’ll turn you around if you’re headed in the wrong direction.” I believe that.
One of our greatest challenges and responsibilities is that we already have what is ours to give. It does not necessarily take more practice, more training, more education. More often it is a matter of plugging away at the inner discernment process and moving toward the environment that brings our natural gifts to life. In the right habitat, dormant gifts burst with life.
The most subtle barrier to the discernment process is the gifts themselves - whether you call them “native gifts” as author Parker J. Palmer or “unique ability” as strategic coach Dan Sullivan. We’re unconscious of them simply because they are who we BE naturally. Parker says we are “utterly unaware of the mastery they give us.”
Never reading poetry, I was a bit shocked at the effect THE SWAN, a poem by German born (1876) Rainer Maria Rilke has had on me. After listening to a conference cassette tape of speaker and poet David Whyte reading a translated version, I stopped the tape and sat with the words. I rewound the tape and listened again. Then again and again. This poem seems to sum up our plight and our hope.
THE SWAN
“This laboring through what is still undone, as though, legs bound,
we hobble along the way,
is like the awkward walking of the swan.
And dying---to let go, no longer feel the solid ground we stand on every day---
is like his anxious letting himself fall into the water,
which receives him gently and which,
as though with reverence and joy,
draws back past him in streams on either side;
while, infinitely silent and aware,
in his full majesty and ever more indifferent, he condescends to glide.
In water, magic happened. Out of water, a mere awkward existence. I began to ask myself, “Ann, what is your ‘water’?” What are you doing, who are you with, what are the circumstances that cause you to feel bound, awkward, hobbling along with half steam, exhaustion, insecurity and frustration? What are you afraid to die to, to let go of simply because, well, at least it’s solid ground? It’s what you’ve always done. What’s expected. What you know. Why are you so anxious about taking a step toward your ‘water?’ You’ve heard others speak of this state of whole heartedness. You've witnessed this rare reverence, joy, and majestic quality in a waitress, a computer repairman, a chamber of commerce president. How did they get to this graced state of ‘glide?’”
Whether consciously or unconsciously, Poet David Whyte says moving to this birthright of aliveness begins with “the conversation.” It begins when you and I ask ourselves, “What’s the courageous conversation that needs to take place in my life right now about the longings of my heart? First with myself, if only a lament, and then with others?”
You may be so far removed from your ‘water’ that you haven’t a clue where to start. Start by questioning ‘this laboring through what is still undone.’ Face and take stock of the things in your life that cause frustration, stress, conflict and confusion. Trust wholeheartedly that your ‘water’ is waiting to accept you gaily. Just the act of doing this, Whyte encourages, will move you closer to your divine ‘water.’
To get moving in the right direction, first and foremost, be yourself! Resolve to bring who you are to what you do. Then, look around. Do you see a need - within or without? Seize the opportunity. Say to yourself, “By the grace of God I can do that.” Start doing it. If God doesn’t stop you, keep walking. Like the swan, you’ll know when you’ve arrived.
“Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet
on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk
but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me.
I’m not used to his.” And he took it all off.
1 Samuel 17: 38-39
Ann Starrette.......................................................................................................................................................
Director of Spiritual Formation at Davidson United Methodist Church, Davidson, NC, and founding director of the Lydia Group Spiritual Formation/ Retreat Ministry, Ann provides Spiritual Guidance/Coaching, Workshops & Retreats for contemplative living and leadership. Quietly Planting Inner Seeds of Freedom, Growth and Transformation
Starette@mindspring.com
www.The Lydia Group.com
704-892-8277 - Davidson United Methodist Church
At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-265-3908, or email us at info@aepiphanni.com.
Labels: Business Path
Desperation, Decisions and the Chicken Who Wanted to Fly
Desperation, Decisions and the Chicken Who Wanted to Fly.
Talk about strange. Chickens can’t fly. However, in a situation where they feel desperate, they might make the decision to try. Heck, they are birds, right? They see other birds flying. But they can't. They all come crashing to the ground...over and over, possibly thinking that, hey...maybe next time things will be different.
While working with and talking to many business owners, I am seeing that many businesses experience a similar cycle. Repeatedly, they put time and energy into activities that are outside of their abilities...responding to desperate situations that land them, more often then not, with the same dismal results.
A friend of mine has a business. Let's say it is a photography business. He's gotten everything he needs to run it and operate every day. He took a lot of his work and put it into some great marketing materials on his website. He decided that he wanted to be the cost leader - have great products at a low price. Sounds great, right?
Well, after operating like this for five years, (while increasing financial obligations for a number of reasons) he suddenly realized that he had reached his goal to be the cost leader and had a bit of a demand for his product. That should be excellent news, right?
Well, not really. He called me up one day to tell me that he needed to grow the business right away, and flew me to his city to help him with it. I said I would be happy to and flew up to meet with him a week later.
It turns out that he was in a desperate situation and needed to do something quickly. His bills were completely consuming him, and despite the volume of work that was coming in, he was basically doing the jobs for free, at an extremely discounted price or barely covering his costs. Basically, he was making less than $5 per hour, before taxes. He was absolutely miserable and on the verge of bankruptcy.
After speaking with him and looking at his financial situation and business history, I could see, clearly, that he went into business too quickly (without much planning) and presumed that everyone wanted to pay the lowest price. Period. Unfortunately, paying customers did not beat a path to his door. Out of this came a desperate decision to get any business he could, no matter what the cost.
We buckled down and created a new brand, adjusted his pricing so that he could still offer a great product at a low price, that could cover the bills, pay him and make money for the company. We developed systems and processes for business operations, sales, marketing, financial management and growth. We created sales, financial and operational goals, and benchmarked them against the industry. We even created new products and packages to entice the market. Then I left.
I expected the chicken to fly. It didn't. Chickens don’t fly!!
It seemed like it should have been easy...a good, marketable product at a good price in a market that could appreciate the work. The business had 100's of contacts and dozens of repeat clients. They had all of the tools to do the job, and people around the business who wanted to see the business become successful, and thus, offered their time and resources. Of course, my friend said that he was willing to do what it takes!
While he was willing, at least in HIS mind, he wasn’t equipped to manage the various aspects of growing the business. That is, his personality doesn’t mesh well with the fine nuances of accounting, marketing, sales and business operations. This gentleman was and is an artist and an idealist. While this is not a BAD thing, it is a great asset to have to keep the vision going, his lack of ability was crippling his business. He needed a solution.
What’s his solution?
Simple…focus on his strengths, and surround himself with people and businesses who and that have strengths in the areas where he is weak.
Okay…easier said than done. Doing so requires some commitment to your cause, which you’ve got to have in order to succeed. It starts, however, with knowing yourself and being true to that knowledge. That is, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, in addition to your gifts, talents and traits. Then learn about how all of these align and how they impact the business. Are you missing out on opportunities? Are you letting things go that you should be taking care of? Are you casting a vision to your stakeholders? Do you know where the business is going?
One test I use is called the PEP test, developed by LaurieBethJones, Inc., which you can see and take at www.lauriebethjones.com. The reason I prefer this one is because it is EASY – easy to get - as in 'wrap your mind around' and easy to remember. There are four basic personalities – Wind, Earth, Fire and Water, and combinations of them. These help you to identify yourself and those around you, and thus, learn how to interact with them. Consider how you interact with your customers now…could it be different? Could it be more profitable if you knew how to interact with each one of them? What about your team? Your spouse? Your vendors?
The most important thing you might get from this is the idea that no matter how hard you try, no matter how far you reach, no matter how much education you get, you have to consider, “is it worth it for the chicken to fly, or would it be better to focus on what it does best.” As a friend of mine asks, constantly, evaluate each decision with the simple thought, “Is this the BEST use of my time?” If it is, proceed. If it is not, find someone around you or a business that can manage it for you. Believe me, in most cases, you will be far more successful by outsourcing the things that are outside of your core competencies than you will trying to do what you do and what someone else does.
Well, back to my friend…what I’ve been able to do with him, since I know him so well, is to evaluate his personality and work with him to develop solutions that will highlight his abilities, then locate individuals around him that can support the other areas of the business. Unfortunately, I am forced to work remotely, and cannot be the hands-on manager he needs, I am able to keep him legal and help him move his vision forward. Interestingly, I’ve found that this isn’t my core competency, and I am working to find someone to replace me. To my credit, however, he’s made more on the last job he did than he’d made for the two preceding years. He’s still got some room to grow, as we all do. He’s giving himself some more room to grow so he’s not making desperate decision. Most importantly, however, he is no longer looking to fly.
At Aepiphanni Business Solutions, we are dedicated to serving the needs of small business owners. We specialize in helping you develop strategies for your organization, and are committed to your success. If you have further questions about creating your strategy or developing your vision, please give me, Rick Meekins, a call at 678-697-2315, or email me at rmeekins@aepiphanni.com.
Labels: Business Growth Strategies, Business Path, Strategic Partnerships
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