Wisdom of toddlers & monks
The temperatures are finally starting to rise in the Midwest so the construction season is starting to pick up. When activity picks up that usually means problems are ramping up!
The material is delayed, the engineer is playing games on payment, the customer is changing scope of work, the emails are piling up, and on and on and on…
Problems, problems, and more problems.
Life (and jobs) are full of problems.
I'm realizing there's an issue with the fantasy of not having problems.
Oliver Burkeman, author of 4,000 Weeks, opened my eyes to a new way of approaching problems:
"The presence of problems in your life, in other words, isn't an impediment to a meaningful existence but the very substance of one..."What is a 'problem,' really?... It's something that demands that YOU address yourself to it." [emphasis mine]
The problems are the opportunity for us to share our gifts and talents with each other.
My daughter and the Tibetan monks flex the muscle of enjoying the journey in their daily activities:
My 2 year old daughter loves to build roads with magnet tiles (still working on coordinating colors…). Then immediately destroys it. Exclaiming: "Do again!" Then, we proceed and build it again with as much vigor and passion as the time before it.
In Tibet, monks spend hours if not days creating complex, intricate designs in the sand (i.e. mandalas). Then, wipe them clean and start anew.
My daughter and the monks are working the muscle of accepting the task at hand. Then, "Do Again!"
It's about the journey. Burkeman continues: "give up on the unattainable goal of eradicating all your problems…" The problems will keep coming.
There's a lot to learn from the wisdom of toddlers and monks.
May all of us on team Century find the problems as opportunity. The opportunity to live into our fullest selves.
The problems are coming and we've never had a stronger team here to solve the problem(s) TOGETHER.
Let's have a great season and face the problems head on and be willing to say: "Do Again!"
Onward,
Matt