As a strategist there are moments that simply reveal clarity. As I interview and question teams or individuals, I learn much about what it is about their business intentions and processes that they seek to fulfill. My role often then is to narrow the focus then align the actions to support that intention. The last few months I have been working on a business project that just kept kicking me technically. I have built mainframes, I have programmed scripts, I have continued to cry out to anyone in my office area that there “HAS” to already be somewhere open source that supports this rudimentary template of what I want to do for this company…google searches, peer conversations, I’ve even asked AskHow.com. Purchases were made, scripts were tried out, plugins and programming were engaged all to no avail. Most failed miserably, a few had promise, but none were supportive of the vision we had to support.
Then I tried asking google another way. (about the one hundredth way actually)
and like Santa Claus in the off season, a wave whooshed the exact scripts product I was seeking, as I opened them it was indeed like Christmas, the unexpected joy of a present so tailored to you that it had things you couldn’t even know you needed…
As is in many cases, not every gift comes without effort. The first out of the box programming pieces looked like it was like a million piece lego set. A bit difficult and overwhelming from the outside view. Personal fears and trepidations hit…. however, pushing aside fear I began doing what I knew to do. One.Step.At.A.Time. When I got stuck, and I did about an hour on. I asked for help. (whined and moaned might have been a more accurate statement) The one asked is not technical, but in desperate times one takes desperate measures…and low and behold of course he said (pointing like a collared priest speaking to the guilty) “It’s right there” with a self affirming smug smile, because after all, he was not vexed, stressed, or emotionally involved with finding THE answer.
Aren’t we often that way? We put so much pressure on finding THE answers that we cannot see the forest for the trees?
The evening was filled with joyful learning and engagement. There was celebrating of seeing the work come alive. The work flew and the progress was simply captivating as I saw something we’d visualized for months come to life online. I think life is a lot like last night’s Eureka moment of asking a different way to Google. How often do we keep asking or stating the problems the same way and expecting a different response? How often do we stay in one approach of thinking when by seeking a new position or perspective we can begin to align what works and what isn’t differently?
My how life changes quickly when we begin to own our choices….and choosings…and how we narrow to those choices.
I personally like those Eureka moments in life, the ones that waylay 1,000 trees of doubts, fears, and complexities to allow a vision to have a clear path. It is in those moments that I am quite sure that God is in every detail, for so very often the doubts, fears, concerns, complexities were indeed empowered by my own mind, and when I allowed those to be set aside and continually seek the solution, the light, the choices, the solves, His wisdom, I find that they were there all along, waiting for me to allow them to happen.
In what area of your life would you like a Eureka moment?
