Whether you are just starting off on your career journey or you have been a long-time employee, you may think every day that you are living on the edge of your abilities.
You’re not.
If you are like the huge majority of workers, you are ensconced inside a mile-wide comfort zone, not daring to step near the edges of your experience and abilities.
You may not recognize it, but your abilities will not grow, and the impact and importance of your experiences will shrink unlessand until you takes the necessary steps to live on the edge. Taking steps – even tiny, baby steps – past the edge of your self-imposed comfort zone is absolutely necessary for your personal and professional growth.
You know why you don’t venture closer to the edge. It’s your fear of failure — of biting off more than you can chew, of not gathering moss on your personal rolling stone, and a bevy of other clichés. Fear of failure is not fatal, but it’s also not conducive to progress among the office ranks.
If you feel you are watching the life drain out of your frame of opportunity — your abilities aren’t growing and the value of your experience is shrinking — then you have two choices:
Step back into more familiar surroundings and possibly stifle unseen opportunities, or
Step closer to the fearsome edge and get sucked away into a whole new universe of opportunity.
Of course, it’s frightening. The unknown always is. We all want to know what’s behind the veil of uncertainty in business or in life. Once you set foot in uncharted territory, you are where your hitherto accepted limits aren’t accepted, anymore.
It’s a time for reflection, reviewing old goals and setting new ones, and working to mesh your unspoken dreams with your new reality. You have faced your fears and taken decisive action to change what is within your power to change.
You are not the same person you were before you made a conscientious decision to actively seek change. Without experimentation, without exploring the depths of your potential, without expanding your knowledge base and business acumen, you cannot climb higher on the success ladder.
That which terrifies you also creates an opportunity for growth.
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Okay,
listen up, Pilgrim. Let’s play a game all readers over 45 have played as child: Play
Like.
Let’s
play like I’m a supporter and
die-hard supporter of the promises, policies and platitudes of President Donald
J. Trump. A stretch of the imagination, I assure you, but this is the game when
girls could play like they were
princesses and boys could play like
they were armored knights attacking the heathen Visigoths.
In
Play Like anything is possible.
So,
Trump was not found guilty of collusion with Russia, according to the Atty.
Gen. Robert Barr’s preliminary, summary report on the final report Special
Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s report. That does not mean he did not collude; it
means that no determination was made.
(Note: Forget Play Like. I was not very
good at it 60 years ago and am worse at it now. There is no way I can Play Like I understand or appreciate one
single thing about the Trump Administration.0
Digest that for a minute. So, if
supporters of Trump presume that there was no collusion, but a serious question
remains: Why did a fistful of Trump’s associates/campaign aides/WH officials
lie to the FBI and in congressional committees about their contacts with
Russians?
Even a devil’s advocate, if reading
and research counts for anything, can come to the conclusion Trump and three of
his family members have not been exonerated; the continuing investigation has
simply been moved to various state-level prosecutor offices from New York to
Florida. Why? Presidential pardons are not in play in state crimes.
Does anyone find the loyalty of Trump
supporters in the face of his constant lies, hid chaotic management style and
his inability to open-mindedly consider advice from his military and
intelligence and subject-matter experts in governing this country even the
least bit disconcerting?
How many people in this country find
troubling his refusal to even attempt to understand the historical importance
of NATO or the Paris Climate Accord and why Trump’s diminishing the
necessity and effectiveness of these coalition-building organizations borders
on abject stupidity and malignant neglect in respecting our allies?
Oh, his supporters say, “It’s the
economy, Stupid!” I get that, but I also know the last recession hit in 2008
and the last seven years of the Obama Administration demonstrated steady
economic growth (Look it up!). Trump inherited that trend and took sole credit
for rising key economic indicators. What, pray tell, will he blame for the
present slowing economy and rising budget deficit?
The GOP tax cuts are a classic
example of how his supporters accept any program or promise and the
accompanying spin he paints over the narrative explaining the reason the
program fell short of expectations or failed altogether. “This tax cut is
going to cost me a lot of money,” he said when on the sell-the-program
trail promoting the cuts to help the middle class. When the bill passed, he
shouted gleefully to the Richie Rich crowd at Mar a Lago: “I just saved
you all a lot of money.”
The tax cut dramatically helped the
top tier of wage earners and hurt those in every other tax bracket. Plus, the
then-candidate who promised to balance the budget dumped another trillion-plus
dollars on top of an already opulent deficit.
If you are a Trumpeteer until the
cows come home, the fat lady sings or until you are on the other side of the
grass, then, seriously, you don’t care that he has cheated small business
owners who helped him built his empire; you are not fazed by the fact he
brazenly claimed he can sexually abuse women because he’s famous and paid
hundreds of thousands of dollars in hush money to hide escapades with a
porn star (while his wife was home soon after giving birth) and a Playboy
model…and there are hints of may other dalliances.
It bothers you not that he had
affairs with two future wives while married to two ex-wives or that, despite
the fact he is a prolific liar, fraud and serial bankruptcy conman, you prefer
him over any alternative.
You and the rest of his faithful
followers don’t care that he cozies up to dictators and despots and will not
condemn the torture and deaths of American citizens ordered by the leaders of
North Korea and Saudi Arabia. And, forget the president is endorsed by
white supremacist groups and took more than 18 months to utter one negative
word about those addled-brained, mouth-breathers who proclaim that all whites are
superior to all other races.
Simply, you don’t care…you are just
peachy-keen happy he is not Hillary Clinton.
I didn’t like either choice in 2016. But
the president we ended up with will be vilified as the worst leader in the
history of this country.
And that is the only thing predicable
about Donald Trump’s presidency.
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Who are you? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Are you happy doing it, and, if not, why are you doing it?
Okay, so you work for a business or association and you have a five-word title, or aspire to have one – manager/senior manager/director/vice president of something and something. The company has you lined up to be on an MBO (management by objectives) plan and, sometime in the future you may be eligible for a car allowance, stock options, and more.
You have arrived. Or plan to do so quickly.
Before you get too cocky, check your image in the mirror. Do you see an aura of success (regal purple with gold piping) around your body? A competent manager whose reassuring smile bespeaks volumes of positive accolades from co-workers and high-level management? Confidence you can sell by the pound?
Let’s take it for granted: You are a confident manager. Your walk, talk, and mannerisms portray success for all to see.
Look at me! Please! Now! I am the picture of success! If not quite yet, soon!
But, confidence aside, you have weaknesses. If that comes as a revelation, you are already in trouble. Everyone has weaknesses.
If you were asked to name your top five weaknesses – personal or professional traits that could keep you from climbing the tenuous business ladder more than a few more rungs – what might they be? Have you given any thought to your weaknesses and, if so, are you confident enough to name them aloud? (And in a room with a closed door doesn’t count.)
More importantly, do others – co-workers, supervisors, top management – know your weaknesses? Do they hope you have what it takes to minimize them, or turn them into strengths? Are they waiting for you to overcome them? Or do they simply not care one way or the other?
Far too many managers don’t take the time or have the inclination to focus on the traits that carved the career path to their present positions. And those same managers usually are not interested in the kind of self-analysis that will help them to determine whether those traits can get them to their personal and professional goals.
To attain success, self-analysis is not only a fundamental rite of passage; it is a necessity. There is nothing tougher for a person than self-analysis. To many, the mere suggestion may be as scary as thinking about sliding naked down a giant razor blade.
Some psychologists claim an objective self-analysis is impossible. It is in their best interests to think so, and to promote that premise.They are right in one respect: There are people who can’t see their own weaknesses; therefore, they don’t believe they exist. Such people are wrong — but then, they are the people who won’t admit they make mistakes, either.
While it is an extremely uncomfortable undertaking, looking at yourself in the psyche mirror with an objective eye is possible. It takes a strong heart, a stronger will, a solid mind, a strong sense of self-worth, and an understanding of how stripping away personal veneer can be a cathartic experience — not an embarrassing one.
Take a chance. Strip away your emotional veneer and see what lies underneath.
Spend the time and make an emotional commitment to analyze yourself before someone with a bigger title does it for you.
“We don’t need to build a million dollar dog house.”
This statement gets thrown around a lot in connection with the proposed animal shelter; the implication being that we are building something to benefit pets and not people. However, a municipal animal shelter doesn’t serve animals. It serves humans. In addition to reuniting people with lost pets and getting dangerous dogs off the streets, there are many things animal control officers do that some of us may never see. They capture snakes and other wildlife in people’s homes, remove dead animals from the roads, rescue animals trapped under houses or in wells, send decapitated heads to the state lab for rabies testing, and much more. Their job is dirty, dangerous, and thankless.
Over thirty years ago, through a combination of research and trial and error, it had already been learned that by building and operating animal shelters differently, better results were achieved. The results included better working conditions for employees, better outcomes for the animals, and better services for the public. This led to a revolution in the design and operation of new shelters and the demolition of the old-style “dog pounds” that were the norm when the Marshall Shelter was built 50 years ago.
Experience showed that it was not only more humane to save animal lives than to end them, it was actually less expensive. This is part of the reason that the average U. S. shelter is now about 15 years old. Some states are still behind the curve on this, with Texas being one of the worst in terms of euthanasia rates. Think of that for a moment. Texas is one of the states with the highest kill rates to begin with, and we have the oldest and one of the highest kill rate shelters in this state. It doesn’t speak well of Marshall.
Another of the drivers of change came from recognition of the toll that shelter work was taking on employees, including depression and PTSD, and this issue is even more urgent than the stain on our city’s image. We have animal control officers – police department employees – whose job it is to protect and to serve us, and we are not giving them the work environment they deserve.
Ironically, one part of the job is responsible for both the greatest emotional rewards and the deepest despair for shelter workers – dealing with homeless pets, including the constant requirement to kill healthy companion animals. We should, at the very least, try to lessen the burden they must bear for slaughtering healthy animals.
Some argue that the cost of a low-kill shelter is too high. By comparison, the police department and fire station facilities cost $2.5 million each, over 10 years ago. Like them, the animal shelter is a municipal facility that is responsible for a core function of city government. A low-kill shelter can be built today for half the cost of just one of those. It isn’t a fancy dog house. It is a special-purpose government building that is intended to serve our community for decades to come.
We need to build with the future in mind, and to place the welfare of the people who will be working there at the forefront of our thoughts. Could you do their job? Most of us couldn’t. Why would we expect them to live with the cheapest and least effective thing that can be built? Why not follow the example of other cities and do it right? To do it right, we must build what is needed.
Most cities the size of Marshall are spending $2 to $3 million (or more) to build low-kill animal shelters. They have tight budgets too, but they realize that it’s important build what experts know they need to succeed. If Marshall builds a low-kill shelter for $1.2 million dollars it will be the least expensive facility of its kind built in a decade in this state.
So, when people say we don’t need to build a million dollar dog house, the answer is that we are not. We are building an effective and modern animal control facility. Our animal control officers would much rather be saving animals than killing them, and with the right facility that can be the normal outcome.
Another outcome of building the right facility lies in the ability to attract volunteers and donors, and to qualify for grants. A high-kill shelter won’t offer those benefits. It’s cheaper to build a slaughterhouse than a place of salvation but which one will make Marshall proud? And in the end which makes the most economic sense – save some money in building costs up front, but lose millions in grant and donor revenue over the life of the building?
The answer is obvious, and that’s why for most of the last three decades cities across the country have embraced the low-kill paradigm and built shelters where lives are saved more than they are taken. It’s the ethically and economically sensible thing to do.
Sometimes making the responsible choice requires looking ahead. It’s time to look ahead, Marshall. We are not building a shelter for today. We are building an animal control facility that will serve our community for decades to come. Let’s get it right.
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