...It's how you fill the crack that counts.
It's not a question if you will crack...you will.
We all experience pain, loss, devastation.
You are human and we go through this thing we call LIFE every day. And as I like to say, there is no work-life balance...You just balance what's in front of you and that's LIFE.
And as you know, there are some great days and other not so great days. Today was what you might call a "not so great" day...at least in the beginning.
It is summer time and my boys (who are 7 and 9 years old) are in camp and they started a new one today. As I signed them in, I noticed their names had bright highlighted lines on them...bright orange in fact so you couldn't miss it. The camp didn't have their immunization and health records on file. Now, mind you, my kids go to this camp every year AND we spend a boat-load of hours of there in the winter for indoor soccer but I can't leave them there because...you guessed it - they don't have their medical forms.
Now, I dropped off said forms a week and a half ago, before we left for vacation - to avoid this situation. However, they could not find them. And then an angel, by the name of Jared appeared. Just kidding...Jared works there but knows me from all of the hours we spend there for indoor soccer and he saved the day. Twenty five minutes later, I emailed him the forms and we were all on our way!
Phew...now I could start the rest of my day.
Only to get an email and a phone call from a client [in short form] saying: Oh, you know the work you started, well my boss showed that to another vendor and well, they underbid your contract so we are going with them. WHAT?!?! I spent time with the team, asking questions, formulating a plan - only to see that they must have liked the plan so much but didn't want to pay for it.
And then I talked to Maureen...and she called because she wants to work with me.
All of these events, which happened before noontime today, were swirling in my mind on my run when I was listening to a recent episode of Unmistakable Creative with Erik Wahl. And Erik was talking about how we can each crack, whether it be under pressure or just by experiencing pain or loss. And then it hit me...
It's the cracking, those experiences that are opportunities for growth, for expansion. It's how and what you fill the cracks with that counts!
I had at least two (probably more) opportunities to see "cracks" and fill them. But, what did I choose? Do I choose to be angry or choose to take some lessons away and use them - today...?
So, here's the decision:
1) Camp lesson: follow-up!
Even though I planned ahead, I didn't follow up. And even though I thought I was being a pain, I could have saved myself a lot of time and grief today.
2) Client lesson: choose wisely. While money is nice - and necessary - so is character and honor. And all of these are pieces of the overall equation.
Overall lessons:
You can choose to follow-up and you can choose wisely.
What did you choose today?