What exactly is it that you absolutely must (without fail) do today? An important
report? Your presentation for this afternoon’s management meeting? Or perhaps a
project deadline?
Like yourself, your people are also focusing on
the things that they are responsible for, that as well must be completed today.
They sweat the deadlines and potential consequences, just as you do, should
they not measure up on this given day.
When you were growing up, your parents advised
you repeatedly to “do it now”. The
companion piece of advice that they also provided was “don’t put off till tomorrow, what you can do today”. More than
likely, you have as well passed these words of wisdom along to your own children.
Throughout the years and course of your life, you
have been repetitively taught to live and function in the here and now. I have
no doubt that at some point one or more of your teachers told you to stop day
dreaming, stay in the present and focus on your schoolwork. Moreover, the act
of having been singled out in front of your classmates may have served to make
you feel rather embarrassed.
The scenarios which have just been described
have created a powerful set of habits and feelings that continue to influence
your behavior to this very day. As a direct result of these patterns of
influence, you and your people have been conditioned to engage in localized
thinking and perspective.
Your predominant focus is that of being “short”
term (local). In other words, you are
primarily focused on what has to done and accomplished today, while being
secondarily focused on what must be addressed in the next several days. i.e.
Project deadline today… important meeting tomorrow morning… Johnny’s soccer
game tomorrow evening and your mom’s surprise birthday party on Saturday.
Much like your daily work tasks, you can only
tackle so many at one time. Given the hectic pace of life and work, you and
your people are typically so focused on everything that literally has to happen
in the “now”, that it becomes
increasingly more difficult to contemplate the “future”.
The inability of people in mass to think long
term has become the new normal. This is precisely why according to “Investors
Insight” that only 11% of the Baby Boomer generation are financially prepared
for retirement. It is also why only 3% of people actually have real goals. In
business, many once heralded household names no longer exist in the marketplace
because they failed to see the big picture and the need to think long term.
They ultimately failed due to their own short sightedness.
What I am attempting to call your attention to
is the critical need for you, your people and your organization to shift to
what astronaut and Colonel Ron Garan has come to call the “Orbital
Perspective”. While logging 71 million miles aboard the International Space
Station, he was awe stuck first by the view of earth from space, then
secondarily by the fact that he was orbiting the planet below in an amazing
feat of engineering that was the result of 15 nationalities successfully
collaborating on earth and then in space.
For Colonel Garan, the opportunity to gaze from
outer space, brought the earth down to size and diversity into a new
perspective… that human beings need to apply the same spirit of collaboration
and creativity to their everyday lives and work down here on the planet’s
surface.
It is only when we stop to lift our heads,
hands and hearts from our immediate tasks that we will be able to envision what
opportunities lie in front of us, rather than what rests on our work bench and
at our feet. We must first take time to look up, if we are ever going to truly see
our potential future.
As Colonel Garan relished his crystal clear
vision from space, the longer he observed, the more details of earth came into
focus. While you may be earth bound, you can still experience something quite
similar. Quite possibly, you have done this years ago and the experience has
dimmed a bit over time.
On a clear night well after dark, go to a place
where there are no outside lights to distract your vision. The look upward to
the stars. Just relax, enjoy the view and be patient with yourself for a while.
What you will soon discover is, that the longer you look, the more stars you
will see and the brighter they will become. Such is the essence of your future,
if you choose to see it.
Afterwards, simply know that this same
principle works universally and that it will work for you, just as it did for
Colonel Garan. Then adapt an Orbital Perspective to your life, your work, your
people and your organization. Start looking up at the “Big Picture”, as well as focusing on a long term view of a new and
brighter future.
As your organization and people cease thinking
locally and begin the process of thinking Orbital (globally), your collaborative efforts will lead you to share
Colonel Garan’s belief that “There are no
passengers on Spaceship Earth, only crewmates.”
For we are all here for the same reason and we
all share a common purpose.
As your valued resource partner, we
can readily assist your organization, its leadership and your people to… Learn more… Do more… Become more.
Copyright © 2015 Developing Forward
| Thomas H. Swank, CBC
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