Musings at Altitude

I’ve been walking a lot over the last few months…almost at a Forrest Gump compulsiveness…and tonight I had just under two hours to get a multi-mile walk in, spend time in the weight room, shower and pack, eat a salad at the hotel restaurant, and then rush to the airport to join a hoard of people exiting Alaska on a late Friday night.

During the walk, I hit that perfect stride…where your steps get synchronized with the music, the pace is faster than normal, the breathing stays calm though, and the sweat starts pouring out.

And then I stopped.

I had to.

My shoe lace was untied.

I had been in that perfect stride for 15 minutes or so, and I was looking forward to being in that stride for an awful lot longer.

But I stopped.

And that perfect stride did not return.

In all phases of my life, I’ve been desperately seeking that perfect stride.

Personal.

Professional.

Physical.

Spiritual.

It seems so rare when I actually find it, but when I do, it’s something special.

It’s nirvana actually.

And then a “shoe lace” always comes untied.

In my personal life, I miss a special event or do something dumb (happens a lot actually).

In my professional life, something goes wrong which takes down the entire team.

In my spiritual life, I give into that temptation and someone gets hurt.

In each case, that perfect stride and near nirvanic state takes a hit when the shoe lace comes untied.

Obviously, we each quickly tie it back and work hard to get back in stride.

Sometimes it happens fast.

Other times it’s a long and painful process.

But we eventually get back in stride.

And the smiles return.

Big time.

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Here are 4 simple rules to find smiles each and every day:

(1) Let it go…these words of advice came from the Chaplain at Elmendorf AFB last Sunday; it’s impossible to be what you need to be going forward if you’re held back by an obsession with something from the past; just let it go, and anchor yourself on the hope for tomorrow rather than any pain from the past

(2) Let it be…it’s more than the song; it’s actually wisdom; “and when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me, shine on until tomorrow, let it be”; whatever might be happening today that is causing concern or pain, remember the promise of things better tomorrow

(3) Let it shine…once you let it go and let it be, then let it shine; if the burdens of the past and the worries of today are removed, optimism should emerge and in your optimism others will see joy come from you

(4) Let it _____…once you let it go, let it be, and let it shine, then you fill in the blank!

For me, it’s “let it soar”! 

Isaiah 40:31 says:

For those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.

     They will soar high on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

     They will walk and not faint.

So for me, let it go, let it be, let it shine, and let it soar.

Wisdom to find smiles by!

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It’s been several weeks since I felt like logging on and writing anything. 

Three weeks to be exact.

And I’ve been through lots of extremes.

At one point, I was reminded of how precious life is in the loss of a good friend and mentor, and just a day later, I was reminded how magnificent our God is by seeing an untainted view of His magnificent creation.

During that same time, I was witness to the tears of extreme pain from the loss, and then only a couple days later I was witness to the tears of great joy that came from enlightenment and the extreme relief from the burdens at that time.

At another point, I was deeply enmeshed in completely chaotic communications, and then only a couple days later, I was isolated in a sense with no connectivity at all and only the sounds of nature and the whispers of those in awe of that nature interrupting the gentle breeze.

At another time, I was deeply troubled by a total unwillingness to share or work together by organizations who had a common enemy and clear cause, and then just a day later, I was incredibly inspired by another group who approached each other with great skepticism and concern, and walked away with great admiration and respect after opening up, candidly addressing the perceptions, and working together on the accurate reality.

And finally, during these three weeks, I was comfortably nestled at times in the world of plenty where you can walk two doors down and get a latte or hamburger, and then only a day later I was far away from what we know as civilization where no fast food or “perks” as we typically think of them existed.

Each of these extremes created an emotional roller coaster as exciting and sometimes intimidating as I’ve ever been on before.  The pain was countered by the joy.  The tension by the calm.  The chaos by the serenity.  The confusion by the clarity.  The questions by near immediate answers.

For those of you who checked in and wondered what was up, thanks for caring.

I’m blessed by each of you.

Normalcy will be back soon.

I’m certain of that.

Whether I want it that way or not.

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I’ve spent a lot of time walking over the last 6 months.  Typically 3 or 4 miles.  45 minutes to an hour.  Outside preferred over inside.  Flat land preferred over hills.  Company preferred over walking solo.  Lately, 5 or 6 times a week.

I watch other people when I walk.  In fact, I stare at them until they look at me so I can wave hello!  It frustrates my wife.  But it’s who I am.

In watching others, I’ve noticed a couple of things. 

Some walk with their heads down, uninterested in the destination and intensely focused on each individual step.  Others though walk with their heads up, excitedly looking at the things ahead and yearning to reach that next landmark.

Some walk in an aggressive fashion, forcing the pace and ensuring others follow them.  Others walk a bit more passively, waiting for the pace to be set by someone else.

I constantly look ahead, sometimes oblivious to each individual step.

I also want to set the pace, anxious to reach the destination in the time I desire and frustrated at times when I have to slow down and walk at a different pace.

So my normal state is a visionary and a dreamer, and my natural desire is to be a pacesetter.

Is that good or bad, right or wrong?

For me it’s good and it’s right.

It’s who I am.

For others, it may be completely wrong.  They need to see each step and let others set the pace.

We certainly need both.

What are you?

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I mentioned earlier that my natural tendency is to rapidly rotate between jobs, with 2 years being a long time for me to commit to any one company or any one position.

With 2 years as the norm, what was my legacy?

Did I have enough time to positively impact those I worked with?

Did I (through my actions) show a level of commitment and a love for my team and clients that would be remembered for any period of time after my departure?

I hope so, but it certainly wasn’t long enough to demonstrate any kind of attachment or loyalty to those I worked with or those I served.

But it’s been 7 years this time.

6 different jobs in those 7 years, but all with the same company.

Hundreds of different people in those 6 jobs.

Countless different challenges in those 7 years.

What will be my legacy this time?

Here’s what I hope:

• he cared passionately for his team
• he sacrificed mightily to achieve dramatic results for the company
• he helped others achieve significantly more than they ever felt possible
• he loved others more than he loved himself
• he cherished his family and let them know how much he loved them
• he prayed constantly and shared his faith with others
• he gave constantly to others
• he created smiles in others through his actions and attitude
• he lived every minute for that next interaction with somebody else

If I could boil it down to a simple message:

He loved life, loved his family, loved those he worked with, loved his creator, and loved what was now and what might have been next so much more than he loved what was then.

I want my legacy to be love.

He loved and was loved.

He gave love and accepted love.

He lived love.

Short and sweet.

He loved life.

He lived love.

He gave love.

He was loved.

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Seven years ago tonight I was finishing my first full day of work in a new job, with a new but not unknown team, in an industry that I knew but I really didn’t know at all, with an ability to accelerate success that was unmatched in any other job I’d had prior to that point.

Seven years ago tonight I was smiling because the team that I joined was special – very special – uniquely special!

Seven years ago tonight I was anxiously planning my first trip to a remote part of this country, scripting my first discussion with my peers and my board, and wondering how I could quickly connect with as many people in my new company as possible.

Seven years ago tonight I was ecstatic about new opportunities, passionate about services we provided to very important customers, and incredibly optimistic about a yet to be defined path and plan.

It’s been a wild ride ever since!

Lucky seven.

Never happened before.

May never happen again.

But oh the stories I have to tell for this particular seven!

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It’s a blessing and a curse.

I’m inherently excitable.

I see promise in so many things.

I see potential in so many people.

It’s a blessing because the smiles abound when I hear new ideas or meet new people.

It’s a curse because each idea I hear and each person I meet can easily divert me from the fascinating thing I’m doing today to that even potentially more fascinating and exciting thing that I could be doing tomorrow.

Inherently excitable people like me struggle to focus.

In fact, it’s probably more accurate to say we can’t focus.

In any one day, I can easily follow threads for many different excitable things.

And not a one of them may have been on the schedule at the beginning of the day.

So how do you cure excitability?

You don’t!

You leverage it.

You lean on it.

You learn from it.

You love it!

And I do!

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How would you be doing if you were measuring yourself in 4 categories per day:

(1) Personal

(2) Professional

(3) Physical

(4) Physical

Personal is the family or friends or charities or community.

Professional is the work or the development in support of work.

Physical is the fitness.

Spiritual is awareness of a greater purpose or much higher calling than any of these first three.

I’ve been trying to measure my day by day actions against these 4 measurable areas recently.

As you might imagine, I rarely get measurable activity in all 4 areas.

But I always get something measurable in at least 2.

Most of the time I get it for 3.

And sometimes I get it for all 4.

I smile when I get it for all 4.

Not coincidentally, the days I get measurable activity in all 4 areas are the days I seem to feel the best.

I didn’t realize that till I started tracking all 4 areas.

Now it makes lots of sense.

And now, I focus hard on ensuring that all 4 areas get measurable activity every single day.

Today, I started with church, and then watched some of the race with my daughter, and then did my weekly report for work, and then did yard work, and then went on a 3.2 mile, fast paced walk with the wife, and then worked with my daughter on her Tivo, and then watched the games with my wife.

Personal – check.

Professional – check.

Physical – check.

Spiritual – check.

A good day indeed.

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I was sitting on my front porch this morning with my chair pulled over into that one spot of shade.  The sun was beating down on the east side of our house, and the temperature difference from the bright sun to the cool breeze in the shade had to be 10 or 15 degrees.

I let the dog roam the front yard as I comfortably looked up and down the street for any other dogs heading our way, and as I finished my north to south sweep, the dog took off across the yard.

I quickly looked back north and out from behind the shade providing pillar emerged a golden retriever on the opposite side of the street, yanking on his leash trying to get to our dog.

I rushed out to the street to make sure I provided a barrier between the two dogs just in case our dog got brave and darted towards the other side or the golden retriever broke free and came across.

Thankfully, all was well in the end.

As I sat back down, I realized how much of a blind spot that shade providing location really was.  I also realized that my natural tendency is to see the things that are in view and assume that anything that might be in one of those blind spots couldn’t possibly a threat.

That’s wrong.

I certainly know it.

We all know it.

And yet I’ll do it again tomorrow.

And I’ll scramble back out to the street again no different than today.

It’s risky to ignore blind spots with our aging dog.

It’s even riskier to ignore them in business or in life.

I need to account for or eliminate the blind spots.

The consequences are too great not to.

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I’m a big time fan of progress, and I get incredibly frustrated when unneeded or even needed processes slow things down to a painful crawl.  At the most extreme times, I’ve been known to accuse those who seem to enjoy limiting any momentum in the organization of favoring process over progress.

But last week, I was looking out over a golf course thinking about my time as an unpaid greens keeper when I was in my mid teens.  One of the first things we learned was to take the governor off of the golf carts so we could zip around the course late in the day at a much faster and highly unsafe speed.  The more I thought about that, the more I wondered how an organization can allow a few renegades to zip around the business frameworks and get things done at a much faster and even unsafe speed.  By removing the organizational governors from those renegades, dramatic leaps can be made where small baby steps may have otherwise been taken. 

There is a risk, of course.  As folks in the organization see the fun that is being had by those leaping to new levels and delivering against incredible odds, more and more folks may want to be “de-governored”.  That would be horrible to those who thrive on process and get there thrills from the mandated bureaucratic flows of the organization.

But boy would it be fun!

And even more importantly, wow would incredible things get done!

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