Perhaps your wedding package includes a cake. It’s paid for, better eat it.
Even if you’re allergic to wheat.
Perhaps the amusement park includes as many rides as you like, even if you’re feeling sick or have had quite enough for today.
The thing about included is that it’s free. But the other thing is that you can say no.
No might be better than free.
If we want to understand what’s going on around us, it’s helpful to be able to formulate a resilient story, one that holds up to scrutiny and allows us to make an impact.
That story shouldn’t change based on who’s in charge.
Which means that we don’t have to ask the head of the chemistry department why a reaction occurred. The theory works fine even if they’re not around.
It’s natural to believe that everyone else is as confident, assured, long-term thinking and generous as you are on your very best day.
But that’s unlikely. Because everyone else is probably not having their best day at the same time.
Once we realize that the world around us is filled with people who are each wrestling with what we’re wrestling with (and more), compassion is a lot easier to find.
Talent is something you’re born with.
Skill is something you earn.
Skill comes from commitment and practice and self-discipline. The skill of earning skills is a lifelong advantage.
Without a doubt, encouraging kids to leverage their talents is a skill. And yet…
Who gets to be the center of the kids’ volleyball team–the tall kid or the one who practices the most diligently and brings the most teamwork to the game?
Who gets an ‘A’ in math–the one who can breeze through the tests or the student who asks intelligent questions and challenges the assumptions?
Who gets into a fancy college…
You get the idea.
Leaders talk about developing real skills and encouraging people to develop into their full potential, but too often, we take the short-term path of betting on raw talent instead. And of course, what looks like raw talent might not be. It could simply be our confusion about first impressions compared to the power of commitment, enrollment and persistence.
If it’s not relevant, it’s noise. If it’s untrusted, unwelcome or selfish, it’s noise.
But your contribution isn’t noise. Not for the right people, at the right time.
The internet isn’t a mass medium. The voices online are not for everyone, it’s not the Super Bowl or M*A*S*H or even the nightly news. Nobody reaches much more than 1% of the audience on any given day.
But…
That tiny slice that does want to hear from you, that needs to hear from you, that would miss you if you don’t speak up–for that audience, you’re not noise. You’re essential.
That’s why we built the Podcasting Workshop with Alex DiPalma. Enrollment launches today.
Not because we need more podcasts. We don’t.
Because we need your podcast.