The Underbelly

I recently ran into this graphic of what it is like to work on a project. How you spend all this time in the underbelly of the project or system, and so little time actually engaging what is going on.

The hot, new, sexy thing is on top. Meanwhile, the whole rest of the project is the seventy percent of the iceberg you cannot see and it can sink your boat. Everyone wants the top of the iceberg, nobody want to spend the time building the bottom of the iceberg where all the work is.

The part of the iceberg where you are drowning because of the anxiety of the enormity of the project you are working on.

The part where you want to give up.

The part where you are not sure how you are going to afford to pay your bills and keep going.

The part of a project, process, or story where everyone is most engaged and involved is in the underbelly. The start of the project is happy and easy and nobody seems to care. The end of the project is the obvious conclusion of what everyone expected.

The underbelly is where everything gets interesting.

Are you really going to give up now that things are finally interesting? How do you keep your goal and end in sight while you are in the underbelly of the story? What did you do the last time you encountered the underbelly of a project? How are you preparing for the underbelly of the next project?

Because you read this post, you should like and share my page on Facebook, Subscribe, or support me on Patreon

EXCITE

When I’m texting, I will add in exclamation points more often than I would for pretty much anything else I write. I am especially fond of the emoji exclamation points (‼️❗️⁉️). I know I’m not the only one, many other people I text will do the same thing.

I will add in exclamation points to indicate extra positivity or emphasis even when I do not think I would normally. It is always a struggle to decide whether or not I should even add them in.

The reality is though, they do not matter or count anymore.

When there is an exclamation point in a text. It does not really matter. I will get a 100 or more text messages a day and if a few of them have an exclamation point. No. Big. Deal.

Contrast my text messages with longer form writing, there are almost no exclamation points. There are periods, commas, occasionally a semicolon, almost never a colon, and even fewer exclamation points.

Exclamation points in a text message do not have the same purpose. They do not perform the same function. They most certainly are not as rare. And they are as common as sand in the desert.

The exclamation point is a tool for communicating excitement and we are frivolously using it as if it hardly means anything at all. The only difference is long form and text messages. Text messages happen all the time. Rarely do we sit down to write a long form letter.

Sitting down to do more long form writing we could develop a better sense of value for the exclamation point. Whereas when throw this golden hammer around so easily, we lose perspective on the true power it can posses.

Similarly, if we sat and watched a road crew pave a road, we might be more patient with the small pothole on the highway. The crew has an immense power and it is incredibly labor intensive to fix one pot hole much less an entire neighborhood of boulevard of them.

Spend a day watching your barista, you might be more forgiving that they used soy milk instead of almond milk in your drink this morning.

Follow around your mayor or senator for a day and you might be a little bit more patient with them as they tend to their jobs.

These modern marvels surround us every day and they have a face behind them.

What luxuries have you become too familiar with? What valuables are you taking for granted? Whose work are you taking for granted? Who are you being too critical of? How can you give value to the people you are taking for granted?

Love the post? Please share it on Facebook or support me on Patreon

Chapstick

I have never finished a stick of chapstick.

They have melted in the car or the drying machine. They have been lost in my regular routine and while traveling. I have accidentally thrown them away. And I have loaned them out and they were never returned.

As much as I would like to assume there is some creepy gnome out there with a hoard of partially used chapsticks, I am sure the issue is my ability to keep track of this little tube of lip balmy goodness.

What would it take do you think to finish a stick of chapstick? How much time, concentration, and routine would it take. Would it be the difference of buying some bulky Bluetooth tracker and then making sure it was in my vicinity at all times? Or maybe I need to take the gas station bathroom key approach and attach a one foot long piece of 2x4” to my chapstick.

In comparison, I have finished many sticks of deodorant. I do not struggle with losing them or misplacing them. They are always right where they need to be.

I use deodorant less than I use chapstick. I use chapstick multiple times a day but deodorant, for better or worse, only once a day. Why then do I struggle with losing one but not the other? They are both similarly important. They both require me to be consistent and careful about putting them away in the same place And still. I continually lose one but not the other.

How many other things in my life are like this? How many other things could easily be more useful if I was more careful and attentive to them? What other details am I missing or losing because I am not being careful enough?

How many relationships are you as careful with as you are your deodorant?

Love the post? Please share it on Facebook or support me on Patreon

Not A Noun

‘Grit’ It seems to be a bit of a buzz word of late. I hear about it on podcasts. Read about it on blogs. See it zipping around the world wide web. Successful entrepreneurs have it. Aspiring entrepreneurs want it. It is the prized possession.

Only it is not a possession. I do not get to own grit. As a matter of fact, I do not even get to feign having it. Truly, grit is not a thing at all. 

Grit is a choice. 

Grit happens over and over and over again.

Grit happens slowly.

I hear Bill Hybels talk about it at the Global Leadership Summit as one of his six points about leaders blah blah blah…

Would it not be wonderful if it were that simple? I could add it to my life as one of six goals to develop over six weeks. Then afterwards, I would then have a tool in my toolbox. 

WHAMO! 

Success, I have grit…right!?             

NO

Grit is much like a callous. It happens over time. It develops because I put the time in. Grit is just like a muscle. It does not come because I decide I want it. It comes because I choose to persevere forward even though I have been told no. Even though I am tired I keep trying. Even though I am bored I keep learning. Even when I am distracted I decide my goals are more important than my comfort. Suddenly grit becomes part of every day. Every. Single. Day. Is marked by several decisions involving Grit. 

No my quippy buzz worded friends. Grit is not tool in a toolbox. Grit happens over the course of months and years not days and weeks. Grit happens when I am hangry and I do not want to push forward. Grit happens when I am tasked to sort and label each individual grain of sand in a dump truck full of sand. 

Grit is doing the hard stuff. The stuff I do not want to do. Grit is trying even when I do not want to. Grit is making dinner after a long day even though my wife and I have been fighting all day. Grit is dealing with hard conversations in real time even when I do not want to. Grit is cleaning up after people who I do not think deserve it. The part that sets these moments apart from plain old patience and perseverance is, I do these things with a smile on my face and keep a positive mental attitude.

Grit is a verb not a noun.

Where do you need to grit?

Even when I do not want to,

–JT

PS. These are my observations as I learn how to do this. Not my reflections because I think I have learned how to do this. I do not do this well most of the time.

Waiting Game

Where do my own ambitions end and trusting others begin? Fine line for me. Right now, I too strongly want to move forward and roll over some people. I want to grab the bull by the horns and probably get myself in quite a bit of trouble to get where I want. 

I just see how many other people do exactly that and have little to no repercussions. I do not understand how I can make the same moves they would make with the same motives and be so much farther behind. This only adds credence to the conceptualization of everyone’s personalities being incredibly diverse. My proof here comes from the observation of people who naturally steam roll others do not mean to. These people aren’t malicious and they care deeply for others, usually. However, they do tend to just run people over for the accomplishment of their own goals. 

I’m stuck in a struggle where I want to move forward with my goals. I do not see a way to do that without running some people over. It has become a bit more difficult for me to be patient and wait. I have plenty to do in the waiting. I just long to move forward as well. 

I am right in waiting. I will continue to wait. I can see the areas in my life where I didn’t wait, what I have done to myself and what I have done to others. I simply have a hard time waiting when I decide on the next course of action.

How do you do with patience?

Waiting,

–JT