I am a huge trivia buff, especially what I like to call "useless" trivia (tv, sports, movies - especially movie quotes). I once got asked if I was trying to start a "cult" by a Senior Executive because I put the phrase "come to the dark side..." in an email to some directs. Going forward, each entry title will have a movie or television quote and the bottom will have the answer. These are all upstairs in the ol’ melon as I do not pull from Google but if I do miss one, please let me know and no points off for me due to spelling.
Self-reflection is one of the best forms of teaching. There is nothing better whether you are at work, home or a social gathering when you realize something that you need to improve or correct, especially before someone else tells you. Many times, if you surround yourself with good people who care about you, they probably know about it before you, but want you to get there first. If you surround yourself with (what’s the word I am looking for, hummmm, nope, can’t use that, ah got it) direct people like I can be some… most… alright… pretty much all the time, if you are not seeing it, they will tell you. For example, “what the heck did you do with your hair?” was meant to convey, “your hair looks beautiful but different but you may want to take those chop sticks out as it diverts attention away from your fabulous outfit.”
What an educational week this has been in my life and every day I validate that “life is generally 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you deal with it.” Those very close to me know the wide variety of events that I am involved in and how I have reacted and addressed them. Luckily, I am surrounded by great people, especially my wife and soul mate, Tracy, who is the voice of reason many times despite some of our differing opinions on the perceived lack of integrity of others. I also asked a few of my closest friends, “do I go out of my way looking for trouble?” and they said “no” and I felt great… for about one second. As they each followed up with “but you don’t go out of your way to avoid it either.” Hummmmm.
As happens with many of us, those very close to us sometimes know us better than we know ourselves. So I said to my self: “self – let’s think about this.” Hence, self-reflection or talking to yourself, its all semantics (point for S.A.T. word here) is so valuable. Why do I find it so hard to avoid certain things or feel the need to confront what I feel is inappropriate behavior? Why do I get asked sometimes “Why can’t you just let it slide or ignore it?” I can answer these questions with one word – INDIFFERENCE. As a society, because of so many events past and present, as a whole (80/20 Rule here), people are tired and have even become numb to certain things. We all know those people that like to sit on the outside or at the water cooler and complain and criticize everyone and everything yet are never the ones with a proposed solution or volunteering to help improve the situation. Or those that actually seem to feel better about themselves or their situation if they think it is better than yours. They actually seem happy that you are getting audited or your water heater just went.
I will pick up from here at next entry, “here endeth the lesson” – Jimmy Malone (played by Sean Connery in “The Untouchables”).
