There is no upside to throwing the first pitch in a baseball game. It is the same with the NBA Slam Dunk Contests.
If you do well, no one cares.
If you mess up, everyone will laugh and post it on Instagram.
So, why do people keep doing it?
Because it is a privilege. It is a story people can tell. It is for people who are measuring something else other than popularity.
The question that is worth asking is: If you knew you were to fail, would you still do it?
We spend so much time trying to change the exterior forces of our life. Finding a new job, getting a business off the ground, making more money, losing ten pounds, etc. The results is the juice we all want and we convince ourselves then we will be happy. But what we should be focused on is process. When we change the behaviors inside ourselves often the results begin to follow.
Having a democratic process is great when electing leaders or when communities need to decide on policy.
These same structures can be in the way of creative work.
Because everyone has an opinion on the name, the logo, and how the business should run. Apple seems like a terrible name for a computer company but it works.
So, you need to decide if is this worth voting on or if is it better to pick something that you will be proud of. Those two things are sometimes the same things but often they are not. You can be waiting a long time on Step 1 when you should actually be on Step 7.
Are you holding on tight because you are scared to let go?
What would happen if you did?
William Faulkner (popularized by Stephen King) said, “Kill your darlings.”
The beauty of letting go is that you get to start the next thing.
And the next thing might be your greatest hit.
It’s easy to identify the captain of a ship. Much more difficult to identify who is responsible for the Customer Service Department for American Airlines.
Anonymous works wonders for Valentines Day cards. Not so much when we are trying to put a face to the person on the other line.
If you are going to lead, we need to see your face.
“Where are you going?” is a good question to ask. But the real power is deciding when.
Acceptability is the key here. When talking with Risk Managers, you can see the reaction when we talk about teenagers climbing outdoors for Pivot Adventure. Yet, we are perfectly okay with accepting the risk of torn ACLs playing soccer. We play football despite the ever-growing amount of evidence it causes brain injury.
We accept what we understand. We cringe at what we don’t.
At some point, we must ask what kind of risk are we willing to accept in order to help teens not die by suicide.
Everything involves risk. That is what is part of being alive. We are all in.
/rant
Americans on average estimate that only 54% of other Americans think global warming is happening, when in fact, 69% of Americans do.
In addition, one in five Americans (19%) say they “don’t know” how many others in the U.S. think global warming is happening.
This is where our beliefs get in the way of seeing things as they are. When we are down on the possibility of change, it helps to step back and see you are not alone in the struggle of equality and justice.
I met some people recently that were upset about a guiding service because it wasn’t what was promised. Except nothing was promised. They assumed from previous experience that it would be exclusive—that they would be alone without others. As a result, they tore this guide down and started questioning the guide’s experience and safety.
Once we pay for something we expect to get something in return. Sometimes it’s an experience, sometimes for status, a handbag, or to fill our bellies.
And when our expectations are not met we are left disappointed. Which leads us to react in multiple ways.
We are not entitled to any experience just because we paid for it. Money is a story. Sure it can open doors of opportunity and possibilities. But in the end, the experience wasn’t ruined because of others, it was ruined because they created unrealistic expectations.
It is worth noting that money can improve the experience too. A $200 bottle of wine is different than $18.
Order of operations is critical when it comes to mathematics, chemistry, and assembly lines. It becomes so ingrained that we start building our lives around a certain order too.
At 16, you get a driver’s license.
At 18, you graduate high school.
In your 20’s you finish college.
Find your first career job after.
And so on.
Life is so much messier than we anticipate. And while finding a rhythm of a path well traveled can feel safe, it is often just a preception. Because rarely does the path go straight. It zigs and zags and backtracks all the time.
Instead of embracing the formula, we can instead dance with the chaos.
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