I started writing the book. I've wanted to write one for five years. And yesterday, I simply stepped over what it was that had been blocking me and I started writing. It went something like this. "I am not going to do any of the other things I could do right now other than write." And then, of course, doing it.
Now I have a better understanding as to what the difference is between dreamers and builders.
I'm an Apple guy, so I bought MacSpeech's Dictate software, and started talking. Three and a half hours later, I was getting the hang of it and had 4,119 words written. The average business book is 50,000 words. I was not satisfied with the speed (I've heard you can speak a book 8x faster than you can type it), but I've always written by typing. So maybe it is an acquired skill. But the net is I have written enough to know that it was still at least twice as fast. And. And the book is more conversational. That surprised me--I hadn't anticipated that.
A couple of things came up (besides having no idea what had truly been blocking me up to this point). The first is, what is leadership? I posited in the book... that I wonder how many leaders have defined it before they started trying to improve it. Subtle, no?
I defined it for purposes of the book as follows: leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality in a way that produces sustainable results and moves the heart of people. Parse out those 22 words and you've got something.
First, what is vision? What most folks consider as vision is actually a faux-form of inspiration. The reason I say it is a faux-form is that inspiration alludes to being "in spirit", and most of us aren't connected to spirit much at all. Therefore, we are not truly inspired: instead, we are "stirred up." And what has us stirred up is that once we do whatever it is that we are calling "our vision", that other folks will like us better and accept us more. Therefore, if my motive is to write a book so that others will validate me--oh, Otis, you are so good and you know so much--then the book is not coming from inspiration, much less vision. Instead, it is a very disguised and misguided form of approval seeking.
Do you see what I mean about what happens when you parse it down and start looking objectively at the component parts? I won't even get into here looking at the possible scenarios for "translate", "reality", "sustainable", "results" and "move the heart". I will leave that up to you. :)
So, anyway, what was interesting to me is just how often we go to do something--like become a better leader--and we don't even define what it is before setting off to do it.
Or, I want a better relationship with my wife, but I don't define for myself, much less with her, what a "relationship" is... or whether it is even possible to work "on" a relationship (as opposed to each person utilizing what is seen through the relationship to work on their self).
To that end, that ever unfolding mystery called Sara mentioned to me this morning that we should explore what "intimacy" is. That hit me like a ton of bricks (the women are not surprised). It wasn't that it hurt. It was that I have never discussed with Sara what that is for her. Further, I have never clarified that for myself. And here, I thought I was pretty good at that--being intimate--and I am confronted by two inconvenient truths. One. I don't even know what it is for me, much less my wife. Two, my wife thinks it's got some room for improvement, so I must not be quite as good as it as I thought I was.
Truly, ignorance is bliss. LOL!
Anyway, we will explore that on our walk up at Aspen Grove in the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountains tomorrow. And, just like every other time she's brought something up like that, I will end up a better man for it.
Well, it is an amazing day in Santa Fe. Indian summer. I'm on the sofa, and there is my dog Stone laying in the open door threshold between the house and the deck, soaking in the sun. The wind is gently wisping the gauze curtains next him, and all he seems to know right now is the warmth on his fur and the back of his eyelids. I just love that dog. He's a Zen master. :) And just watching him makes me feel glad to be alive, if for no other reason, than to be able to watch him.
Have a great weekend.
