Monday 13 November 2017

"BE" First - "DO" Later

Monday – the best day of the week.

We have made the most of the weekend, or should of.

With renewed energy, we set about the start of the working week, eager and enthusiastic to get things done, to achieve, to make a contribution.

The familiar “start of the week” questions or comments are passed.

What have you got on this week?
What is happening this week?
This week I must do…….. or catch up with……..

We make the “To Do List” and set about “The Doing”.

What we do is how we measure ourselves and how others measure us.

We are addicted to “Doing” even if we are not authentically engaged in what we are doing or why. It is what “we do”.

Is there something far more important than “Doing”? Is there something that should be prioritised, each day, each week?

Is there another list to prepare, a more important list?

An article came across my LinkedIn feed earlier that was a reminder of the perils of the To Do List, alone.

I was reminded of the “To Be” List.

Until we know what type of person we want to be, day in day out, how can we possibly know what we need to do, and more importantly, how we will go about doing it.

Some people want to be overtly assertive and be seen to be so. If this is the case, it is how they will go about their “Doing”.

In other cases, being conciliatory, inclusive and collegiate is important, resulting in a very different approach to the task of “Doing”.

I wonder how many feel pressured to being more of the asserter rather than the conciliator, or perceive pressure to be so.

If the behaviour is in response to perceived expectations rather than authentic belief, it is certain to be a bumpy path to satisfaction and happiness.

The environment we operate in would be enhanced by simply prioritising the “To Be” list over the “To Do” list. How positive would the employment environment be at the Corporate who had "To Be" as the sole behavioural value because nothing else would matter.

And that may lead to a higher conviction and a tougher question. Is my current employer able to allow me “To Be”?

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