12 Jul 2022 ... sent from Manhattan Beach, CA

The Note is an email to share MY reflective practice with YOU... Please do share your reflections with me!

2022 - Y.4 N.3

*CHANGE* I'm now calling it "The Note" and it will be random. I'm no longer numbering the days. I'm going to share a bit deeper. I'll read anything you send back to me.

Oh, and your friends can read to: https://sendfox.com/jw 

Dear ,

In last week’s “The Note,” I wrote about making (awkward) eye contact. (You can read that one here: https://sendfox.com/jw/c/02x8pv/untitled-email) On the surface, #eyecontact sounds easy - yet weird. 

But, take it beyond the wave tops. 

The intention below is clear: To pay attention; to notice. 

But, I’m here to ask, “What’s on the other side of intentionally placing my attention on - say, for example - another human being?” Yes… What is “the product of the product?”

//

“The Note”

Has your life ever changed? 

Sure, it has. Before you continue reading, close your eyes and bring one life change to your mind. Got it? Let’s go…

Recall a time in your life when:

(1) you were surprised, 

(2) a new opportunity presented itself, or 

(3) when you finished something you’d been working on for a long time. 

After you put attention on whatever it was (see what I did there?!), what happened next?

In the past 12 months, I’ve been asked to speak all over the Air Force: Nevada, DC, California, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Alabama, England, and Germany. Each time, when I share with one audience someone there tells a friend and I get ANOTHER call. All along the way, I successfully defended AND submitted my dissertation for publication. 

(1) Surprise. (2) Opportunity. (3) Completion. 

Over the past week, I spent three days with more than 60 leaders. And, I made a point to notice. People. More.

I’m gonna assume that in the past week or so YOU talked with someone. Maybe it was one on one, a small group, or to an entire unit/organization/audience! I’m gonna guess at some point the discussion was more than superficial; more than surface level. 

In my words, you made a “meaningful conversation.” 

That is the second thing I teach when I talk about the “power of connection.”

#1: Awkward Eye Contact

#2: Meaningful Conversation

#3: (next “The Note” that I send… stay tuned!)

Leaders: 

You have a healthy dose of *new* opportunity comin’ at you every day. You have the “power” to call meetings. You can send the word and people will sit (or stand) in front of you. After you bring them together, you COULD look at them, and they might/will pay attention (for a while, at least). Afterward, they might walk away and be able to talk ABOUT what you said. 

Or, they may just talk ABOUT you. 

• But, what about getting them to pay attention to one another?

• What about asking them to make (awkward) eye contact with one another. 

• What about getting them to notice one another? 

YOU have that power. 

Whether in a conference room or around the dinner table. Whether you are on a work trip, in a class you’re teaching, or at church on Sunday. You can challenge (make?) them turn to one another and ask one another a “meaningful” question. 

What if instead of leaving and talking ABOUT what you said, they talked BECAUSE OF meeting one another where they are? You understand that 24 hours from now they start to forget what you said…but, they’ll unconsciously track how they feel.

I’ll leave you with this… what are the questions you could ask people to ask one another that would get them to talk… more meaningfully?

V/r,

Dr. JW

PS: Hit reply and share your questions, I’d like to read yours so I can add them to my list!

How did The Note* from MGM (Montgomery, AL) begin?

Jodi and I moved to Alabama in 2019. After being here for just less than a week, I opened up my email to send a note to my family in friends in California and beyond. Jodi was on her way to join me here, so I took some time to reflect on this significant life decision/change I had initiated. That Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019, I sent an email at 9:38 pm (or, as I was beginning to learn: 2138). Here's how it started:

Today was my first day as an employee of the United States Air Force. And, I am bold enough to say I've never been prouder or more excited to serve a community.

Though I "moved" to Alabama last Wednesday [Jodi plans to be here Monday], I went to my New Employee Orientation just today. The 90-minute briefing culminated in me taking the Oath:

"I, Jason Womack, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well; and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

All at the same time, I felt pride, Honor, and a hefty dose of responsibility. I'm helping leaders on a grand scale.

*The following Sunday, and many subsequent Sundays!, I've sent a note to my family and friends. Thanks for reading, and gratitude (more!) for clicking reply and letting me know what YOU'RE reflecting on!