New channels remote from the present misfortune

January 20, 2018 1:54 PM

The relieving part about change is, we don’t have to become different people, we just have to learn how to use what we have for good.

Especially if our condition or temperament or personal history is a liability that can work against us. Because once we understand that thing as an energy source that we’re obligated to do something with, the process of change moves from one of resistance and conversion to one of acceptance and creativity.

When I worked at an innovation studio, I had an intern who was highly intelligent, prolific and energetic. But she drove the office batshit. Because she didn’t know how channel her talents in a way that served the creative process and moved the team forward. Only to advance her own career.

We sat down one afternoon and blueprinted a matrix of her talents. We brainstormed ways to use her personality to create value not only for the brand called me, but also for the brand called we.

For example, instead of defending her ideas to the death until the rest of the team either gave in or ran away crying, I charged her to go to bat for somebody else’s idea for once. That way, her pitbull like ability to grab ahold of something and never let go would benefit somebody other than herself.

And it worked. She eventually found a balance between sinking baskets and making assists. She learned how to elevate others. Not by becoming someone different, but by doing something different with what she already had.

Bertrand said it best in his book about the conquest of happiness.

The proper course is not to destroy thought but to turn it into new channels remote from the present misfortune.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

How are you redirecting your liabilities in a way makes a positive difference for the people around you?

* * * *

Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com

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