work as smart as you are able
Challenge
noun. 1. the state or condition of being difficult. 2. dare, provocation. 3. test, questioning, dispute, stand, opposition, confrontation. 4. problem, difficult task, test, trial.
It's not what you are; it's what you don't become that hurts.
—Oscar Levant
the challenge before us is to savor the unknown and delight in the taste of possibility.
—mar
The less I take the difficulties of my life as personal affront, and the more I use them as an opportunity to learn and grow … the easier I sleep at night. Facing a difficulty requires a willingness of heart: a willingness to step away from the blinding effect of fear and simply look at the thing I am facing, as well as I am able, to see it for what it is.
I remember a time of extraordinary financial hardship. Not only did I have to move in with friends, but I needed to liquidate a large percentage of my belongings. While at the time it was a painful experience … I learned. In a systematic process, I really separated myself from the weight of so many things. I have the privilege of clarity into how insidious continual acquisition can become. Shopping can be fun. Acquiring and collecting is entertaining. When is enough—enough? This challenge helped me ask some very important questions.
I wrote on the day of my larger than life “estate” sale …
The goods sit. Piled. Disheveled. Cars come and go, carrying people in need and needy people—very few people come of true lack: those who do, leave with more than they paid for. Ah, everyone's leaving with more than they paid for. They just don't know it. Stories, history, longing, anniversary gifts intended to stand in for a love which no longer existed. Acquisitions came to my hand for beauty, for function, for filling a void for which I did not have a name. The sob that rises in my throat is not so much at seeing so much go, as at my sorrow at ever having so much to begin with. I remember proudly displaying “live simply that others may simply live,” and I lived that way for a long time, close to the ground, hospitable, generous. How did I step into the complexity of owing and owning and acquiring so many things? It's less about my possessions being packed and carted into the world—I'm used to that process because people cart off my words and stories into the world every day—it's more about this sense of challenge, this dying and rising again. I have coordinated the process for others at their death—my father's estate was sold and meted out in this way.
I almost got hit in a crosswalk with the WALK signal four times this week. Whew. I'm glad there's a financial challenge behind this process, instead of my death. Although a couple of those cars brought that possibility dangerously close. This extraordinary letting go places an interesting burden on me. Intentional living is not optional. The lessons I take in this day have to remain with me. As my possessions march in procession to the world, may I cast my words to the spring dawn and celebrate the power of possessions that are intangible and more precious and profound.
What if I willfully put aside my anxiety and concerns and conduct myself as if I were not challenged, and the days not difficult? What if I lift my voice in song, what if I practice the lessons I am now learning; what if I behave in such a way as to lead myself to a more joyful place … and every time a reminder of lack, or absence of resource, presents itself … I am willing to see it as opportunity rather than obstacle? What if I call it challenge, rather than crisis? What if, at the end of a matter, I ask, “What will I learn from this to make me better?” Perhaps I can change the way I look at things today. Just today.
When I take a deep breath and do the difficult thing first; when my courage does not depend on the weather, the economic forecast, or the winds of whim; when I know the most significant elements in my days are laughter, learning, and applying my finest efforts to each endeavor—then, because of these things, each morning is a pleasure and every day passed is a success.
• tool kit •
This thing may challenge me, but it does not define me. I may learn from my challenges, but I do not identify who I am by the nature of the challenge I face.
Use the perspective of someone from the “Board of Director” exercise to offer you advice on how to manage through a challenge.
Pick up a stone that feels good to you and is small enough to hold in one hand. Consider how long that stone has been around and what enormous pressure it has experienced. Draw strength from its long history.
Relentless Commitment
relentless, adjective. 1. intensely constant; incessant. 2. harsh or inflexible, rigid. 3. continual, continuous, nonstop, never-ending, unabating, interminable, unceasing, endless, unending, unremitting, unrelenting, unrelieved. 4. unfaltering.
commitment, noun. 1. the act of committing or the state ofbeing committed. 2. dedication, application. 3. a pledge orundertaking, obligation.
The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
—Franklin D. Roosevelt
stirred awake by the exquisite music of my own relentless commitment.
—mar
“Oh, you are so serious. Will you lighten up?”
I heard these words a lot when I was younger. I smile when I tell you that I hear them quite a bit even now. There are certain things in my life to which I am relentlessly committed. And, yes, it calls up those words “inflexible,” “rigid.”
I was talking to a contractor once in a coffee shop. He casually shared a fascinating piece of perspective with me. I was talking about how rigid so many people are, and I was extolling the virtues of flexibility.
He said he looks at the world through his experience as a contractor. He aptly pointed out that it takes all types of strengths, textures, and materials to make a good house. For some applications flexibility is a great trait. And the more flexible, the stronger the structure. But there are other applications that require absolute immovable rigidity. It's essential.
When he was done talking about building materials, he smiled. “I'll be the first one to admit that hanging with somebody with a rigid commitment to something can be downright uncomfortable. But chances are they're going to give me an opportunity to be involved in something. Or donate to something they believe in. And that's not always a bad thing.”
My relentless commitment has led me on some pretty extraordinary journeys. It still does.
I have written ever since I was a wee lass. Writing was an essential part of my life experience. My early choices led me away from a college education, so earning my living as a writer seemed a greater challenge. I used my writing and creative skills in every job I took on. In all instances, writing was only a portion of my job. After fifteen years of using my skills in other people's endeavors, I created a company that allowed me to use my passion and skill for writing. Over two decades later I had created hundreds of products all based on my artwork and my passion for writing.
Writing was still only a portion of my “job.” My relentless commitment to my writing life led me to reinvent the structures of my days. Now, the bulk of my days is committed to writing and my creative endeavors. The transition was not (nor is it still) a simple process. I did not reinvent my life all by myself—the support and commitment of my closest friends made it a cooperative effort.
The transition came with uncertainty and pain, but the results speak of the boldness of my commitment. I remember a phrase I wrote many years ago: “An ‘always been’ doesn't mean I must choose ‘what must be.’” My relentless commitment to writing has me standing places that long ago seemed simply a dream.
• tool kit •
What are you committed to, relentlessly? When you identify what you always say “yes” to, it's easier to say “no” to other things.
The Legacy of Paul Wellstone (inspired by Andrea Bidelman)
what is a legacy and how do we live into it?
a legacy is built upon
daily decisions recognizing the “small stuff”
isn't always.
a legacy is a reflection
of the integrity applied to
all circumstances.
a legacy is first a gift
which is given to the individual and then it
is a generosity of spirit sewn in a global garment.
we live daily into the path of a grand legacy. …
and we are inspired by such tall commitment and accomplishment.