A Laboratory For Transformation
This is a great post.
Lately I have been repeating the following phrase: “Somewhere during the last 16 months I’ve lost my ability to contemplate.” Melodramatic as it may seem, I’ve believed it to be true until a friend pointed out that I haven’t really lost anything at all. Instead, he suggested that I had purposefully dismissed my discipline of contemplation and merely replaced it with something else I thought would more easily fit into the organization. Not easier for them mind you. Easier for me.
Huh.
By saying you’ve “lost” something of who you as a result of your environment releases you from having to take responsibility for something you stopped doing. You’ve let yourself off the hook and made it about them. They should change, not me! They’re the ones who’ve created this crazy place, not me! (Insert org. here) is where artists/innovators/entrepreneurs/super smart people go to die!
Sound familiar?
Whenever you join a team, you want to fit in. At least I do. But when that “fitting in” means you become less of who you really are, you’ll eventually find yourself doing some pretty sideways things. At least I did. When you don’t bring your full self you’re not only hurting your organization you’re hurting yourself. And when you don’t take responsibility, you’re missing out on a pretty amazing opportunity to grow.
Take a moment to consider the following: What are those things you’ve been saying you’ve “lost” (my ability to contemplate; my life as an artist; my creativity; my hope, etc.)? Are they more about your organization or are they more about you? Perhaps more pointedly: Have you dismissed these parts of yourself because of fear? Are you not being your full self because you’re scared of what might happen? And perhaps most detrimental of all: Have you found yourself blaming your employer for not allowing you to be you?
I have been doing this. I hope to stop. And I hope you do too.
Instead of blaming your organization from preventing you from being who you really are, why not start showing up and see what happens? You might get fired or something even better…perhaps you might finally let your organization be what it should be - a laboratory for your transformation, not theirs.
