Method vs Outcome

When we give advice,
we often offer
an outcome.

“Have courage.”
“Forgive him.”
“Adopt
a growth mindset.”

All outcomes
that arise
from a process.

When folks
seek advice,
they’re often seeking
a method.

Outcomes
that emerge
from a process.

So unless we can give them a methoer
or guide them through a process
offering an outcome
comes across
as nothing but a trivialization
of the process.

Craft vs Manufacturing

“I keep learning
the same lesson
over
and over
and over again.”
said the founder.

“I don’t know what
is wrong with me.”
she lamented.

“May I share a story?”
I asked.

“Yes, of course.”
said the founder.

“Before I went to art school,”
I began.

“I thought craft
was outdated.
After all,
craft
makes you repeat yourself
over
and over
and over again.

Why do craft,
when we have machines?’”
I explained.

“That makes sense.”
said the founder.

“Then I learned
that life
is a craft.

There is no machine
that can live
for us.

If it did,
it would no longer be
our lives.

Yes,
craft makes us
repeat ourselves
over
and over
and over again.

But that
is life.

What craft does
is it trains us
to learn
from the repetition.

Hiring & Being Hired

If we have an outcome
we want to see happen
by hiring,
not merely a job description
to match,
may we take responsibility
for clarifying and communicating
what that is.

If we wish to fulfill the purpose
for having been hired
instead of merely offering skills
and completing tasks,
may we take responsibility
for discovering and clarifying
what outcome
we were hired
to realize.

Selfish vs Altruistic

The quicker
we free ourselves of the judgment
that we are doing something
for
others
and admit
that we are doing something
because we feel
pleasant emotions
knowing what we did
mattered to others,
the quicker we can go beyond
the dualistic paradigm
of selfish
vs altruistic
and begin the creation
of a virtuous cycle
or the destruction
of a vicious cycle.

Doing Our Best

Doing our best
requires clarity,
acceptance,
and appreciation
of our own
limits.

Otherwise
we may confuse our best
with someone else’s:
someone
with different
limits.

Such confusion
can give rise to shame
and doubt,
preventing us
from doing our
best.