Shopping Basket
Your Basket is Empty
Quantity:
Subtotal
Taxes
Delivery
Total
There was an error with PayPalClick here to try again
CelebrateThank you for your business!You should receive an order confirmation from Paypal shortly.Exit Shopping Basket

Portland Leadership Institute

Nourish the Leader Within You

Leadership for the 21st Century

Blog

« Back to Blog « Older Entry | Newer Entry »

Stuck

Posted on 20 February, 2013 at 18:00
There is an urge within us, both idiotic and ingenious,
that keeps us locked in place.

Idiotic, because it keeps us stuck and will not look
beyond its comfortable mud hole and move on.

Ingenious, because to defend its muddy fortress
it will summon a myriad of excuses: 
society, luck, incompetent teachers, lazy co-workers,
accidents, unfit parents, low self-esteem, bad management, etc.,
to avoid making significant change.

......Every excuse but the real one:
Its instinctive obstinacy
to remain in the mud hole it knows so well.
---paraphrased from the Lubavitcher Rebbe

The concern is an old one: 

I'm stuck and don't know how to get out. 

We first read about being stuck in college, when "everyone" was reading Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  Although at times dense, it is one of the most brilliant treatises about what happens to us when we can no longer move.  It is a book about quality, quality in one's own life.  And the search for answers nearly drove Pirsig insane.






I once spent a day meditating by the side of the White River on Mt. Rainier, watching hikers stop at this log bridge.  Some simply could not get started.  One group, on a long hike and with full backpacks, retreated.  Going around would add a day to their trip.  They were stuck.






At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam the brochure tells us it was Van Gogh's brother who suggested that the 27 year old Vincent become a painter. 

"At the time Vincent....had succumbed to a paralyzing sense of futility.  No one could have foreseen that from such seemingly hopeless beginnings the black sheep of the Van Gogh family would develop within a decade into an artist whose name would be known throughout the world."

What happens to us; what are we to do?  Our most recent blog was on focus.  Focus is a way out.  It is a key to beginning to move.

Therese Amabile has done significant organizational research on how movement commences.  After focusing her own work on creativity for many years, she turned to the question of Are You Making Progress?  Not surprisingly, her new book, The Progress Principle, finds relatively simple solutions.  

The question, of course, becomes one of what we do to get going.  Are you tired of the prescriptions to take baby steps, that a journey of a thousand miles begins with but one step, and all the other cliches?  We have heard these all our lives because, in fact, they actually work!  Amabile takes these to a different level, giving  research specific results.

In the years when I did significant running I always had my running journal.  Every mile was logged, who I was with, how I felt, where I went.  I kept score; I could measure today against last year, knowing that today's run would also serve as a milepost for the future.  There were times that the logbook was the only thing pushing me out the door for that day's run.  And I got out the door.

Amabile suggests that we do the same in other aspects of our life.  Develop the focus of the hedgehog (there's Collins again), look at purpose and quality (Pirsig), and use signs to keep track of our progress, to ensure that our successes continue.  The wonderful folks at Apple give us the perfect tool:

When you've made progress, pull out a green card and give it to yourself.
If you're not sure, you get a yellow one.
And when you're stuck.........

When you choose to be leader, you choose to step up, to move out of your comfort zone, to help others achieve what they need.  You have chosen to push yourself. 

It is part of the human condition to be stuck.  The great leaders go beyond this, they focus like hedgehogs, they move others to achieve their goals. You choose to be a leader, or choose to leave yourself behind.

Categories: Leadership Musings

Post a Comment

Oops!

Oops, you forgot something.

Oops!

The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.

22 Comments

Reply freeply
22:16 on 28 July, 2022 
buy cialis online europe Avodart Lowest Price
Reply Meenirl
18:56 on 17 August, 2022 
prix du levitra 10 minimum garanti ivermectin dosage for scabies Cephalexin For Head Cold
Reply Allogitly
11:21 on 25 October, 2022 
Kaleva Kerola, J stromectol over the counter for humans com 20 E2 AD 90 20Combien 20De 20Temps 20Avant 20L 27acte 20Prendre 20Le 20Viagra 20 20Viagra 20Prescription 20Pad viagra prescription pad At least 57 people were killed on Sunday in clashes betweenpro Brotherhood supporters with security forces and politicalopponents, in one of the bloodiest days since the militarydeposed Mursi
Reply DitSeanna
8:48 on 6 November, 2022 
Rab11b mediated integrin recycling promotes brain metastatic adaptation and outgrowth liquid nolvadex
Reply Arcathe
6:08 on 13 November, 2022 
dapoxetina comprar online Richters J, Grulich AE, de Visser RO, Smith AM, Rissel CE Sex in Australia sexual and emotional satisfaction in regular relationships and preferred frequency of sex among a representative sample of adults
Reply Playhopay
0:56 on 16 November, 2022 
Luke, USA 2022 04 22 23 55 54 lasix potassium In vitro doxycyline was dissolved in DMSO
Reply scakets
9:38 on 20 November, 2022 
Duct Milk Duct, Mammary Duct A canal that carries milk from the lobules to a nipple opening during breastfeeding see figure doxine In addition to the above two esterification impurities, the salifying method provided by the above patent is prone to produce isopropyl mesylate
Reply Grirway
7:58 on 21 November, 2022 
otc provera clomid At initial presentation, she was agitated with vital signs of BP 134 37 mmHg, RR 24 bpm, and an ECG showing sinus rhythm of 125 bpm with a QRS of 126 msec
Reply immacle
6:26 on 23 November, 2022 
buy ivermectin for humans 14 ??m thick sections were collected on glass slides
Reply blosowl
12:03 on 8 December, 2022 
These findings can help estimate disparities in chemical exposure from personal care product use and complement future research on health inequities due to chemical exposures in the larger environmental and social context lamina propecia Combination of arabinogalactan and curcumin induces apoptosis in breast cancer cells in vitro and inhibits tumor growth via overexpression of p53 level in vivo
Reply effeply
5:40 on 9 December, 2022 
It is essential that men be screened for osteoporosis with a bone mineral density test prior to starting the application of a TIP or soon after nolvadex on cycle for gyno Images are representative of 15 different fields taken from three independent samples five fields per dish
Reply acereok
17:25 on 16 December, 2022 
levitra professional online Its use was approved and recommended for medical usage in 1967 in the USA
Reply Grearlota
3:50 on 17 December, 2022 
Merkel could change course propecia success Tamoxifen and raloxifene reduced risk for estrogen receptor positive but not estrogen receptor negative breast cancer or death
Reply Entindy
3:05 on 19 December, 2022 
ivermectin tablets buy online Monitor Closely 1 haloperidol increases and diethylpropion decreases sedation
Reply Excinia
9:58 on 23 January, 2023 
stromectol tablets uk You should not stop taking atenolol suddenly
Reply Exharge
23:29 on 23 January, 2023 
lasix ???????? Thiamine deficiency can lead to wet beriberi
Reply Nifubtuct
12:08 on 26 January, 2023 
Mehta D, Malik AB clomid for low testosterone
Reply vubredy
4:25 on 27 January, 2023 
Similarly, London has said it will not discuss sovereignty of the Falklands without including the islanders can you buy zithromax over the counter

Categories


/
Lightbox image