today’s Musing written and published from
Morning walk: -12C/9F, light dusting of snow at 4AM, Gusta discovered rabbits are pretty busy at that time of night when nothing was going on, no traffic hum in the distance – nothing but quiet . . and I went back to bed for the best long sleep in a long time; yesterday exhausted the efforts of so many people – and went off superbly, my fatigue – I think – was well earned. Sleep, sleep … so welcomed.
Yesterday, the experiences that led to it, and the view looking backward from here, from now, deserve analysis. I’ve been thinking . . about a team of people, some who led from the front, some who led from the rear; some led, all who followed a collective vision and dream, our each member’s drive illustrating their level of passion, which had nothing to do with position. Not to draw broad grand themes from a single small project, but the lesson is there for me to see – it would be shame not to learn from it.
The journey, you see, was not so much about the trip but about the people. Over there, on the edge, often pushed to the fringe for reasons unknown – people who rise to the task, who exceed everyone’s expectations and most often their own too. No surprise then these types are often the first chosen teammates for the next project; proven performers, team players, idea people, grunt workers too, idea sources and adders to the collective experience wisdom trust of ‘don’t do that’, or ‘you should know about that’ which emerges when committed people join together in a worthy cause.
Some who don’t know these kind of experiences might scoff, say ‘it’s not such a big deal’ or you are giving people more credit than they deserve; what you should know is that I am understating their value and giving less credit here than they deserve. The value, of course, is not in the credit or accolades, but rather in the satisfaction of doing.
I have to wonder then, on this or any other project, whether it was really so much about the goal, or really – all along - about the trip. Many roads, many paths, lead us to nowhere. There is some madness in all that. I think it is an important component of the ingredient list. Taking the trip can still, in my view, be worthwhile.
But, we can’t travel roads to nowhere all the time; we’ll become burnt out and discontented on a large scale. The lesson then, is to choose goals that have a worthy end. Then, when we’ve spent ourselves completely – whether we reach our goal or not – we’ll have had a spectacular journey for a good cause and benefited most of all from those associations with other members of our team along the way; where we all learn a little, where most of us learn a lot.
As leader of a team that just finished such a journey, I’ve worked hard but not the hardest, I’ve led much but I was not the only leader on this team – but I must say, amid all that learning everyone did, I believe I learned the most; a view I expect other members of the team have as well when they wake from their well earned sleep this morning because that is what they will see in their mirror.
Any goal pursued to its end, to conclusion, to fruition – and the euphoria overwhelms us in the end – proves that the place you end up, in the end, is not an end at all. It is a beginning. It is many new beginnings, for every member of that team.
Mark Kolke
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