When Randomness Serves a Purpose

Ever see the movie "Magnolia?"


To give you the cliff note Wikipedia version;


The film is a mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.




Connections.

In life...you meet random people at every corner. Some stick around for awhile...some become your Facebook friends...most just drift away with the tide.

Every once in a while though, you meet someone who serves a purpose for you. Someone who changes the game. Someone who you will never forget.

Take time out today to take stock of the people who have come into your life and have made a difference. You are who you are because of them. If they are still in your life...let them know what they have done for you. If they aren't still in your life...remember them for what they have given you.

Your mission...(if you so choose to accept)...is to try and positively impact those around you. You might just be what they need at that time in their life.

Purposeful randomness. Try it. You might like it.

Tell me what it means to me.

Over the last week, I have been wrought with several different emotions and thoughts.

My concepts have been challenged.

My vision has been confirmed.




My successes outweigh my losses...but my losses did add up.

I have been at peace and in conflict all at once.

One step back...two steps forward...one step back.

I got to thinking about the concepts of respect, likability and fear. As leaders, we all have people who follow based on those three motivations.

"I respect your decision"
"I like working for you"
"I do as I am told because I am afraid what will happen if I don't"

Take my advice...

Aim for respect. I am afraid...people will actually end up liking you.

What a week. No wonder my back and neck are killing me.

Star Trek meets Talking Heads

Ever get in your car and start to drive and forget where you are going?

Ever go to someplace that is so familiar to you but feels foreign?

Ever step outside yourself and look back and ask the question that David Byrne made famous lyrically in the 1980's? "How did I get here?"

We all need to experience the comfort of a routine. It grounds us. It gives us direction. It gives us clarity of purpose. We all have a need and desire to go back to that "safe place."

Don't get me wrong...going Leonard Nimoy and going where no man has gone before is usually the way to go but sometimes...you have to take the old route to get to where you want to go to remind you why you went there in the first place.

You want to explore new worlds...not escape your current one.

If you feel yourself losing your way sometimes...take the old route. Take the familiar path. Usually you will find something you missed the first time.

How did I get here? Think about the path you took. That will usually give you the answer.

Starting or finishing?

Which one works better for you?

Anticipation or satisfaction?

Looking forward or remembering back?




Sunrise or sunset?

The intrinsic excitement that comes with looking forward to something or the sense of fulfillment that comes with completing something?

The answer of course should be both. Both are needed and both carry their own beauty and purpose.

Expect the first...accept everything that happens with the last.

If you embrace both, the time you spend between the two will be better served.

It's how you start and how you finish that will define your day.

It's not about the minutes or hours that separate the two. It's the moments that are ours that do.

Enjoy both...and everything in between.

Sometimes...being OK is better than being just OK

You know those times when you ask someone how they are doing and they respond with "I'm OK" and you say "just OK"?

As you go through life, you realize a lot of times...being OK is actually pretty good.

Look, If you run anything at too high of a temp, what happens? It burns out.

Conversely, if you run something for too long at too cool of a temp, what happens? It dies.

A lot of times...being OK is a pretty good soft landing place.

Now...don't get me wrong...you need to turn up the heat sometimes to feel the burn and you also need to go into extreme chill periods where you can shut down but if OK is in the middle...that's doing pretty damn good.

Now, here is the key though. Surround yourself with some people who let you know that you are OK...or it will be OK because a lot of times you might not feel it.

I will take OK. The opposite? A KO. Yeah...OK isn't too shabby.

Some Times You Have to Throw Away the Protractor

The blueprint has been laid out for you. You shouldn't improvise. You shouldn't stray from the design. This goes there for a reason. This corner was designed this way because it just has to be at that angle.


Trust these people...they have been there before. The conception...composition...and constitution are all predetermined based on the specs that have been laid out by others who know better.

Are you sure?

Guess what?

The same holds true for our past. The blue print is laid out. By family, by friends, by influencers, etc. Most of the heavy lifting is done by family though. They have laid out the blueprint for us. A lot of us feel we have no choice but to follow their lead. Follow their design. What if their design is faulty? What if they were wrong?

Look, the bottom line is that you have a choice. Yes, there is the basic blueprint. Yes, there may be some predispositions. But...you have the power to crumple of the blueprints, toss them in the garbage can and start over. You own your own eraser. It's never too late.

Go ahead...create your own reality.

Throw away the protractor. Direct your future...don't settle for following directions. Who knows what you can create.

It's all about the mix

Every relationship you have in life has two important elements to it...

Whether it be husband/wife, boss/employee, coach/player, etc.

You need both to make the relationship work...but the key is how much of one do you have compared to the other.


One is logical, objective and structural in nature. The titles you hold in this relationship, define your role.

The titles define the rules.

You feel obligation, responsibility and a commitment to the long term vision.

The other is emotional, subjective and relational in nature. Regardless of the titles you hold in the relationship, your feelings for the other person define your role.

The titles defy the rules.

You feel passion, spontaneity and a commitment to the short term vision.

Again...both are needed.

And when you are dealing with the human element of relationships...just a little bit one way or another can make a huge difference.

If you are too much on either side...the teeter totter tips.

Look, you can get to 100 several different ways but if one is 50 and the other is 50...your math will equal far greater than 100.

That's the mathematics of the human element at work.