Do one thing really really well
Steam Whistle is a local Toronto brewer and they make a particularly fine pilsner – particularly good for summer days on the patio enjoying the heat and rhythm of summer.
Their current tagline is provocative: “Do one thing really really well.”
I for one have struggled for years with what one coach of mine called “the bright shiny light syndrome” – I’d start something, get so far with it, and then get distracted by the next project.
What I’m learning more and more is the power of focus. Find Your Great Work and the Coaching for Great Work program have both grown from an increased willingness to stay focused on Box of Crayons’ goal of helping organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work.
Don’t get me wrong. I still get distracted on what feels like a daily basis. But (a little like meditation) I’m learning more and more to come back to the centre and to regain my balance and focus and sense of what really matters.
And what helps in that quest is a continued connecting and reconnecting with just what my Great Work is. It can be so easy to forget amongst the daily distractions of quotidian life.
What’s my Great Work? Ah yes, that’s right.
Wait, what’s my Great Work? Ah yes, that’s right
[and repeat]
- What’s the first thing you do?
- “I’ll just wait for the next irresistible thing”
- “Example is not the main thing in influencing others…” (Great Work quote)
I love watching you struggle because it makes me feel less bad for being another Bright Shiny Object lover… I also love holding your feet to the fire when you want to go off after other bright shinies…