TODAY

Some day never arrives if we fail to use today.

I'm sitting at work watching people doing nothing. What a waste! Some are checking emails and others are being blackmailed. Time is the ransom they pay for neglecting their talent. Instead, they play and complain about their circumstances. Who cares! It's up to the person not the employer to improve himself. Jobs aren't designed to satisfy our quest for growth or yearning for greatness. Most only require a partial commitment. Growth begins, however, when we commit. Until then we play, pretend, and squander our potential in narrow places.

PASSION AND PROTOCOL

Protocol covets what passion uncovers.

Some companies deify decorum though spontaneity might better serve. In doing so, they subject inspiration to order and passion to protocol. What they ignore, however, is the value of both. Embraced, order sustains inspiration and protocol prolongs passion, multiplying its power. Alone, however, order depletes.

Observe, for example, any workplace meeting and watch as participants deny themselves in an effort to appease others. Each says not what she thinks but rather what is expected. In doing so, however, she lets decorum deprive. Until she is willing to be genuine she denies her genius, because genius is always passionate though protocol prohibits.

People, not systems, are insidious.

The division of labor deforms lives. Of course, no rational person will deny the benefits of work apportioned properly. But this segmentation aside, many people under-achieve because of being misplaced. Most in fact fail, slain by potential designed to prosper. Unfortunately most jobs don't employ our excellence. They hire our hands and feet but not our faith. They reject this faculty so much that today's workforce is febrile.

Examine, for example, the average office and you'll find a fragmented worker doing frustrating work. Like a dog or domestic he blindly obeys, seldom transcending his orders. Competence not excellence is his character. To this soul even hobbies profane. Exploited, however, hobbies impart the fulfillment that our jobs don't. Yet drained by work they die of neglect.

Meanwhile others watch us as we grope through the day and mope through life seeking solace. In truth, it isn't even a matter of being all we can, but rather of being who we are. Anything less exhausts. That's why success seduces. Those who achieve it are alive to life. They use their hands and feet but aren't confined to these. They are innovators and executors, resilient and resourceful advocates of excellence. They pursue their dreams, defy their limits, and don't let labor's division deform their lives. (9/5/00)

THE CLOCK

Get up, now, and do something!

I'm sitting in a room listening to people talk on the phone. How boring! Most are inadequately trained and the others are professionally unsuitable. But that doesn't matter because they need to work, and the company needs the workers. So, the madness will continue; if not here and now, then elsewhere with others. I guess work is the penalty we pay for ignoring our passion. (9/5/00)