What's that? You're human?!

Sometimes I love technology.

Sometimes it drives me crazy.

It feels like there are a growing number of tools that we have at our disposal to help us with doing our work well. Often, those tools are helpful and I don't have to think about them, they just provide assistance. Like spell-checker for example. Most of the time when I am writing something on my computer and I misspell something, the words gets highlighted and I know to fix that typo before I continue. However, it's possible to become dependent on these tools and forget to do simple things, like proof-read what you are writing, or ask a friend to proof-read them for you.

Case in point - Unsing Heroes!

My weekly blog posts start as an email to a couple of different mailing lists, and then I post it here when I am done. Last week I mistyped the words unsung heroes THREE TIMES in my email, and I didn't catch it because the word unsing wasn't flagged by the spell-checker and I didn't do a very good job proofreading the message before I hit send to one of my weekly client groups! Of course, I discovered it AFTER I hit send, and so far, I haven't figured out where the "wait, I want to unsend that email" button is (if you know where it is, please let me know)!

Once I realized it (thankfully, before I sent it to the second group!), my inner critic started barking away. "How could you have missed that?!" "People won't know what you were trying to say!" "I can't believe you are that dumb!"

That caused me to consider sending a Reply-All and asking people to ignore the typos, but I ultimately decided to not send my reply because it would point out the mistake all that more.

Enter into the story the feedback from people who read the email (who actually care about me and know I like to laugh about silly stuff).

"Did you know you said unsing instead of unsung?" Yes, I know.

"Did you know you said unsing 3 times instead of unsung?" Yes, I know.

"Ha! What's an unsing hero?" I don't actually know!

And then the perfect response.

"Well, at least now you have your message for next week. Welcome to being human!"

The truth is, they are right (just don't tell them I said that!). We all make mistakes. It's part of the human condition. And when we can more easily accept that we aren't perfect and that mistakes will happen, we can tell the inner critic to be quiet, decide to laugh at ourselves, and then move on. Otherwise, the alternative is to beat ourselves up and get stuck in an unhealthy cycle of holding ourselves to a standard we can't ever achieve, and that only creates more misery.

So here's to celebrating the fact that we all make mistakes and we can practice giving ourselves grace for when we mess up!

We might as well just admit it - we are all unsing heroes!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in executive coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you! Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

Unsung Heroes!

I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but this week is Community Health Center Week. This week is designated as an opportunity to learn and be grateful for the incredible work community health centers do in our neighborhoods each and every day, often without a lot of fanfare or gratitude!

That has reminded me that our lives are often filled with people I would call Unsung Heroes. People who just go about doing good in their part of the world, often without a need for thanks or recognition, and often without actually receiving much appreciation or recognition for what they do.

Several years ago, my spouse had the opportunity to meet one of her favorite authors, who also happens to be one of her "distant heroes" (you know, those people that have made an impact on your life from a distance, and they don't even know who you are). She was able to chat with this personal hero and thank her for who she is. She said something like, "I'm sure people tell you this all the time, but thanks so much for doing your work for yourself, because it helped me continue to do my own work too." Her hero then replied (with tears in her eyes), "Actually, no one has ever thanked me for that before!"

That incident made us realize that often we assume people hear words of gratitude and thanks for the work they do and the people they are in the world, but the reality is, those messages often go unsaid! In other words, there are a lot of Unsung Heroes around us!

Since that encounter, we've tried to make a commitment to actually telling people how we feel about them and what we appreciate about who they are in the world. And it's been really interesting the number of times we've heard, "Actually no one has ever told me that before!"

So, as you look around your life this week, who is someone you think might be an Unsung Hero? Rather than assume they know how you feel, what if you took the time to actually tell them? If saying it out loud feels like a challenge, could you send them a note or an email? What might happen if all of us who are reading this message committed to telling one Unsung Hero how we feel about them this week? And who is it that is already on your mind and heart? Go ahead. Tell them.

Here's to speaking life and light into an Unsung Hero this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in executive coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you! Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

Response-Able!

I was listening to a podcast over the weekend that talked about what it means to be Responsible.

Normally I think about being responsible as being accountable or answerable for something. In fact, that's how it gets defined by Dictionary.com:

adjective

1. answerable or accountable, as for something within one's power, control, or management (often followed by to or for):He is responsible to the president for his decisions.

2. involving accountability or responsibility, as in having the power to control or manage:promoted to a responsible position in the firm.

However, as I listened to the podcast, the person talked about it as being Response-Able. In other words, able to respond to whatever is in front of them.

They went on to say that when they are doing what they need to do to take care of themselves and function from a place of centeredness and calm, then they feel ready and able to respond to whatever may be coming at them. However, if they aren't paying attention to their inner space and working on taking care of themselves, then when life brings the unexpected (which we know it does), they don't really feel Resonse-Able!

What an interesting way to think about being Response-Able! It changes my perspective from feeling like I have to have everything figured out before I face the circumstances life is bringing to me, and I just need to focus on my inner space and making sure I am functioning from that place of inner calm and centeredness. Then, no matter what comes, I am able to respond in a way that is balanced and ready!

If you were going to live this week from a place of being Response-Able, what practices would you need to engage in to help take care of your inner space? What choices can you make to prioritize strengthening your internal calm and centeredness?

Here's to being Response-Able this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in executive coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you! Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.