Timely Reminders

I’m doing some work in the next few days, and have had the benefit of working with some great people to help me get prepared. While the work itself is a defined set of known deliverables, I’m experiencing a degree of wonderment at a couple things.

The first thing that’s pretty incredible is the sense & willingness to help me out. You know the people that you can truly count as friends that not only wish you well in the completion of a task, but those that take an active role in giving you “their best stuff” to make sure you can over-deliver. It’s an old adage that the test of the strength of friendship isn’t when things are going well, but rather who is still beside you when things get challenging (I’m paraphrasing liberally here). In a few cases, I’ve friends standing beside me, helping actively, coaching and advising. Not only does this actually help (It really does as I do listen), it contributes mightily to the feeling of not doing something alone. When there’s clearly nothing in it for oneself, to continue to put yourself out there and continue to help others is selfless, and in this case specifically, admired.

The second perspective of wonder I’ve experienced is the way that different people can approach the same task, bringing new light to it. Another friend is fond of highlighting that adopting another perspective is the fast-track to increased intelligence. That’s tangibly true in this case as I’m seeing and hearing ways to understand context and being shown all new ways of looking at the same (old) information. Not only is that bringing it to life again for me, but it makes me want to add to the reservoir of knowledge – to pay it forward if you will. If we all did this, then our understanding and appreciation for various topics would be more rounded, and deeper.

My conclusion for this whole event is that I’m lucky in a number of ways that I hadn’t been appreciating much lately. I’ve been reminded that I have got some dear friends to whom I owe a debt of gratitude and more; I’ve a new appreciation for a subject I thought I knew cold, and importantly, I’m reminded that a fresh set of eyes is worth a tremendous amount. These little life lessons are something I’m going to try to pass along to other friends and colleagues. If we all pay it forward, then the end result should be pretty good.