StarDate 2024.0225 sent en route from Alabama to Colorado

“Check your ego at the door.”

~ Quincy Jones, American songwriter and record producer

Y6 N5: If you wait till the last minute...it only takes a minute...

...but, you have to get started.

Last week, while on a 96-hour vacation on the beach in California, Jodi and I watched the documentary of the making of the music video "We Are the World" on Netflix. (Thanks, Dad, for the recco!) It's called "The Greatest Night in Pop - here's the link - and if you haven't seen it, please...go start it... watch the first 17 minutes and let me know what you think!

I believe it's a testament to the power of collaboration and starting from a blank piece of paper.

In the world I work and live in, I anticipate the people I serve want me to bring a well-thought-out plan that is within budget and universally agreeable. Me, I want to be known as being able to think - and do - it into action. While many people often only see the final product, those of you who know me well know that I will work in the background; I get a LOT done in "the Lab." Out of direct eyesight of so many.

Over and over again, I re-discover the incredible power in the act of beginning with a blank piece of paper. From what I learned in that Netflix documentary, "We Are the World," it started with an idea... and a blank piece of paper! If you have 7 minutes, here you are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjkUyX0rVw

Last Tuesday night I took myself out for a walk in Manhattan Beach; my scheduled flight back to Montgomery wasn't until the following afternoon. I found a moment to pause.

"So there I was..." a black IPA, a pen filled with ink, and my green notebook open to two inviting sheets of paper, I cautiously entered the arena. My next TEDx talk is due in two weeks. I must fill pages...

This is the space where I battle, stumble, succeed, and intentionally accept failure... it is where I can start anew, over and over again, while I reach new heights.

I haven't always worked this hard. I wasn't always willing to get started. For a long time as a kiddo, if I didn't know how to do it, I just...didn't.

Reflecting on my journey through junior and then high school, my family knows that I wasn't always on a path to embrace academia. In fact, at the conclusion of my sophomore year, I'd achieved a 1.6 GPA. The next year, I "recalculated" to a different high school and, after that, to a community college.

I learned that "learning" and productivity was a process...not an event. I found my place through trial and error, a cycle of attempt and reassessment.

Every class I signed up to take, every exam I studied for, and all those homework assignments I turned in brought me closer to my next step, teaching me that growth is a process peppered generously with failures.

As Jodi and I prepare to close our chapter in Montgomery—after 61 months and 27 days of living here—I'm reminded of how far I've come by daring to put pen to paper. You are reading Year 6 and Note 5 of an experiment I started in January 2019. I had no idea then that I'd keep writing... and, as I look out into the future, I can tell you that much of what I envision remains unrealized; I will continue dreaming, thinking, acting...and asking for help.

To the visionaries, leaders, and dreamers among us: allow for the grace of starting with a first - and imperfect - draft.

Doubtful? Test it. Grab a piece of paper, and let your thoughts flow.

Ask yourself:

What do I desire? What do I think I could be...and do...and have?

The worst that could happen is write something and recycle the paper or delete that document. The best that could happen... well, write it, share it, and let's see!

Please...give yourself the gift of your own attention. Write down what you want, put a due date next to it, and share it with people who will cheer from the sideline OR join you for the next play on the field or the court. It's your time...

While not EVERY artistic endeavor was finished in a single night, as I watched the story of We Are the World, I found myself in awe that the group of artists could get that done overnight.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I will end with a short story:

When I settled into my office at the Air University in Montgomery, AL, back in January of 2019, amidst the chaos of being moved around three different desks in the first two weeks, I ultimately placed a singular image on my credenza—a print of the Mona Lisa that I removed from Walter Isaacson's biography of Leonardo da Vinci.

It was the lone personal item in my space for nearly two years. Later on, I placed other artifacts there on my desk.

Often, when visitors came to my space for a meeting, they'd usually ask, "Why the Mona Lisa?" (I took this picture on the last day of work at LDC; you can see where I had her posted to the right of my coins and patches...)

My response: "Leonardo da Vinci took 16 years to complete that masterpiece. I, too, am here for the long haul."

Here’s to our ideas, to the courage to begin, and to the journey ahead.

Much love,

JW

#Leadership #GrowthMindset #hX #humaneXperience #TalentDevelopment #GuardianSpirit