Category: life advice

I watched the movie I Can Only Imagine which chronicles the life story of Bart Millard, lead singer for the group MercyMe. Bart had a tumultuous childhood but finds his way through faith and his music, ultimately writing the song for which the movie is named.

Bart’s agent pitches the song to mega-star Amy Grant who acquires the rights to sing it during her upcoming concert — but while on stage she opts instead to let Bart have the honors. It was a career-defining moment, propelling Bart from an unknown to the writer/singer of the #1 Christian song in America. The song became the best-selling, most-played Christian single of all time.

Amy could have easily reaped the notoriety and royalties for herself. But in a selfless act, she allowed Bart to have the spotlight and all the benefits that followed. How can you find opportunities to emulate Amy and similarly lift someone up? I can only imagine that such generosity has its own rewards.

There are so many things we know so well that they become obvious to us and we take for granted that others must know them, too.

I often encounter this when presenting or talking with a coaching client. Simon Sinek’s TED Talk has 64 million views, yet so many of my participants or students have never heard of him. I presumed that most workshop attendees learned about growth mindset or emotional intelligence somewhere in their professional development, but I have discovered that is not true. I couldn’t believe my niece didn’t know who Wile E. Coyote was — so I attributed it to the cartoon being old, but then in my class of adult students, several did not even know what Chat GPT was, and none had experimented with AI even though it’s new and trending.

It’s a reminder not to assume a shared understanding but rather to offer an invitation to explore concepts together. We each amass a separate body of knowledge from our experiences, learning, social media feeds, and other inputs. Utilize that perspective as a launch point to connect with others and their ideas to build on what we each know.

With broadcast television, shows are produced to fit neatly into half-hour or full-hour grids, providing 22 minutes or 42 minutes of content respectively. Writers know that the story has to fit within those parameters to meet advertising needs and allow the show to fit into standardized slots for broadcast and syndication, and they adjust the scripts accordingly.

Time limitations would have been a great excuse for Hannah Waddingham to use had her special aired on a broadcast network, but it was an Apple TV+ production. So, when her Ted Lasso co-star Brendan Hunt tried to convince her to allow him to sing a song with her and she told him there wasn’t time for that, he had the perfect retort. “Oh, Apple doesn’t care if you go long,” Hunt said. He knew from experience that Ted Lasso’s episodes could range from 30 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes. Each of the episodes was a different length, free from the constraints of the grid.

Are you operating under restrictions that have outlived their purpose or self-imposing limitations that should no longer restrain you? Maybe you have more freedom to write your story as you see fit.

In the movie Marry Me, math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson) frequently tells his students, “If you sit with the question long enough, the answer will find you.” I think it’s good advice far beyond hypothetical math problems.

You usually achieve better results if you allow yourself time before making a decision or delivering information. When I am contracted for a new workshop or class, I let the topic ruminate for a while. I invariably come across resources I can incorporate or think of exercises that would be appropriate for the session. Whether I am unsure what I should say in a difficult conversation, am stumped about what gift to give for a special occasion or am struggling to decide what to do — all these scenarios become easier if I give them time.

Your subconscious brain is an amazing thing. Let the question rattle around there for a bit and allow the answer to emerge without forcing it.

Yesterday’s dot (#4257) reminded people that what they know about one topic can often be applied to another. Such was the case for Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. who worked for the Department of Transportation in the 1970’s.

Davis was charged with keeping the skies safe, and his work led to the creation of the Air Marshalls program and a security protocol that evolved into what we now know as TSA. He was then asked to use that experience in a different venue and create a method of keeping the roads safe, leading to the 55 mph speed limits still in use today. Very different contexts, but I am sure his knowledge of one mode of transportation helped him develop guidelines in another.

Davis is a great example of connecting the dots — seeing parallels from one situation and applying them to another. Follow his lead and use your wisdom to advance your work today.

Source: The Daily Show: Doug Melville Shares How His Grandfather Created the TSA and Speed Limits, November 3, 2023.

There was a Facebook post that reminisced about a professor who used to start solving every problem with the same dialogue.

• Professor: “What’s the first step to solving any problem?”
• Class: “Don’t panic.”
• Professor: “And why is that?”
• Class: “Because we know more than we think we do.”

While not as rote or repetitious, it’s a conversation that I have with almost every coaching client. They are faced with an issue that seems new to them, but when we break it down they have likely had a similar situation with a different context, in a different job, or at least have faced part of the issue before.

Once you are into adulthood, there is little that is 100% brand new. Even if you venture into a new hobby, skill, or job, you bring the accumulated wisdom of all your previous experiences. As the meme said: “We are all an amalgam of random information that ends up being relevant with surprising frequency.” Don’t discount that knowledge.

So, the next time you are faced with a problem, think about what you do know about it and start from there.

Source: Post by qnaributts Seguir