Hi everyone. Thanks for tuning in. How much time do you think you spend fighting uphill? Like seriously, though, I just got off one of the most enjoyable business calls I've had probably, I don't know, in the last year. And it was because I was not pushing any boulders uphill. There was no flavor of Sisyphus. Instead, it was a collaborative conversation with a client/colleague with whom I wanted to play. I wanted to jump up and down in that giant pile of fall leaves together and find out what we could make. With ourselves, with the shapes, with our bodies in the air. With our bodies on the ground.
I wanted to find out what was possible. I didn't have to worry that this person was working at cross purposes to me. I didn't have to worry that I had to maneuver somehow in a minefield. We could just play. We could just dive in and reach our hands in and notice how the different ideas and thoughts and possibilities ran through our fingers, slid over our skin, warmed us or cooled us; gave us more thoughts and more possibilities. We could agree that we love this organization, and we really, really, really want it to be polished and brilliant and beautiful, and growing and thriving, and what would that look like? And what would that take?
And the way we were able to do that together- well the ways we were able to do that together are many. This person is also an intensive, that helps. This person is also a visionary, that helps. This person shares with me ethics and values and beliefs about what's important. That helps. Because we don't have to argue about certain things. We don't have to hitch or hiccup or catch on certain things. We can just slipstream right along with each other. There was a lot of yes-and in this conversation, and it was an absolute joy. I am an introvert. And it was an absolute joy. It took an extra 15 minutes, and it was an absolute joy.
I look forward to conversations with this person every time I get on this person's very, very full calendar. Because it is an absolute joy. Every minute I savor. Every drop. In your work- in our work, what would it be like to go to work and have more of that. I'm not going to promise all of that. That's not reality. Sometimes, you just have a good enough day, sometimes you just have a good enough meeting. Sometimes you just have good enough people around you and that's okay.
But more of this, more of a synchronicity more of this ease more of this mutual love directed at the thing that you're doing together. More of this mutual envisioning of possibility more of this shared figuring out. More yes-and, yes-and, yes-and. What if and-this-and-that? More? What do you want more of when I was learning to write- we're always learning to write- but when I was starting to learn to craft my writing, as a craft, as a thing that I did on purpose instead of just letting the words spill out whichever way they wanted.
When I was starting to learn to craft my writing, I took a class at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts at the Loft literary center. And the instructor, whom I wish to credit but am not certain enough to credit, taught us to critique by asking for more of what we craved.
Leela Sinha 4:55
First, say what we loved, and then say what we wanted more of. Because it gives the writer some place to go, it gives the writer something to do. It's also possible to say like I, I didn't really want that information about this character. I wanted to be in the dark a little more. It's okay to say things like that too, but, but this basic structure of critique where you say, I really love this character, and I really wanted to know more of why they were doing this. Or I really, really love this character. And I really wanted to hear more in that character's voice. I really love this scene. And I really wanted more detail.
That's something a writer can go home and work with. So in considering our businesses as pleasurable, ethical spaces, as spaces that are designed to create environments that nourish us, so that we can be generous with ourselves in the world. What is it that you and your people want more of? What do you love? And what do you want more of? Thanks for tuning in.
