Month: July 2020

I read a fact that surprised me so much I am still thinking about it days later: The International Space Station is closer to Earth than Los Angeles is to San Francisco. Whoa!

I had to look it up, but it’s true: Space Station to Earth is 254 miles; LA to San Fran is 381.

I don’t know what I thought the mileage would be but it was more than it is. “Space” seems so big and so far away – elusive, really, at least for us mere mortals. But in reality, while it is distant, it is within reach for a growing number of people.

Aspirations are often like space – we dream about something but don’t take concrete steps to turn it into reality because it feels so massive and unattainable. We spend our time plodding along between the metaphorical LA to San Fran instead of reaching for the stars.

Maybe you’re closer to what you desire than you think.

It is my understanding that if the leaves of the houseplant begin to brown that I need to give them more water and if they turn yellow, I am giving them too much. This rule of thumb has served me well until I have become vexed by my newest plant which is turning both brown and yellow, sometimes on the same leaf.

This image came to mind when I was on a Zoom call with colleagues who were describing their organization’s change efforts. Within the same unit, some people wanted to do more and go faster while others were not ready to act. The conversation turned to how you could provide leadership to both. I see similar situations all the time where one group outlines reasons for change and another group provides a rationale for a delay or different option. It’s hard to reconcile that they both may be right but often are.

Scott Fitzgerald said: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” As we’re navigating a more complex world in this transition state of COVID, more situations will present themselves as “both, and.”

You would be wise to cultivate your ability to hold multiple views as valid. The world needs more people who can honor more than one perspective simultaneously.

My friend recently purchased a truck and suddenly I see hundreds of white pickups on the road. They used to all look the same but I quickly learned to train my eye to the Ford logo on the grill. If it wasn’t there, then it wasn’t him. If the white truck was a Ford, then I could scan for the half-door instead of a full four-door back seat, and if it met that layer of distinction then I moved on to other features until I could tell at a glance if it was “the” white pickup that I should wave at. The trucks all looked the same – until they didn’t.

Did you know that zebras are the same way? Each individual animal has a different pattern and the more you look at them the more their uniqueness stands out. As a herd or contrasted with giraffes, a dozen zebras look identical but up close, you could pick “your” zebra out of the savannah. A zebra isn’t black with white stripes or white with black stripes – it’s both, and neither – as it is a collection of characteristics that are true only to it.

If appreciating the differences by recognizing individual nuances works for trucks and animals, think of how powerful it is with people. Work to move from “all” to “this one.”

Long before vision boards became popular, the principle behind them rang true. The more clearly you can picture what you hope to achieve, the more you become focused in such a way that propels the universe to help you achieve it. Visualizing something with great clarity often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I thought about this while reading Isaacson’s biography of Einstein. The genius married Mileva Maric – the only woman in his physics class – but eventually, he grew more interested in his scientific pursuits than in her. He asked for a divorce and she would not grant one so he made an unusual proposition: if she would divorce him, he would give her the money from the Nobel Prize that he would win.

She agreed, and 17 years later, he kept his part of the bargain.

When Einstein made his offer to Mileva, his vision of winning the Nobel Prize was crystalized in his mind. He knew he would achieve it, and focused all of his efforts toward that end – even at the expense of his marriage.

Of course, I’m not advocating that you put your relationship on the line or that you naively boast about winning a prestigious prize but I am encouraging you to develop the same level of clarity that Einstein had about his future. He achieved greatness because of his brilliance in physics – and, perhaps, because of his genius-level ability to visualize his goal.

Source: Einstein by Walter Isaacson, 2007, p. 3.