I’ve Moved

This will be the last post from WordPress.com. Although it has been good to me, I’ve upgraded. You can now find all of my musings at www.davesohnchen.com. See you there.

Wear Your Own Shoes

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com/ryasick

Have you ever tried running in shoes that were too big? They’re clumsy, sloppy and quite often you end up tripping. If you were to run a race and had the choice of wearing shoes that fit your feet or wearing shoes that were one or even two sizes too big, which would choose? I’m going out on a limb, but I suspect that you’d choose the shoes that fit. So why then, when it come to business or leadership, do we expect people to fit into someone else’s shoes?

“You’ve got big shoes to fill” is one of my least favorite cliches, simply because of the implications. The statement itself seems to, and often does, oppose change. It asks one to fit into and conform to the style of the predecessor as opposed to bringing all that they are, and what they have to offer, to the table. Just as it’s uncomfortable to wear someone else’s shoes which have been worn in to fit their feet, not yours, it’s uncomfortable to be put in a position where you’re expected to perform like someone else.

There will always be a level of expectation when a job needs done, but the focus should be on the result, not on the path that gets you there. I realize that there will be exceptions of the ethical variety, but my point is this: too often we get caught up with the method as opposed to focusing on the art. When looking to fill a spot on your team, don’t focus on the shoes but rather what can be done wearing the shoes they’re in.

Life Between The Lines

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com/mamado

Preface (can blogs really have a preface or is there some sort of blog etiquette that I should be aware of?):

I’ve watched Stranger Than Fiction twice in the last week after being disappointed the first time I saw it a few years ago. It’s pretty safe to say that it’s my new favorite movie in which I’ll most likely be referencing in the next few posts (as long as I have the energy to write after 11pm which is when my writing brain starts to work the best). The reason for my new found love comes down to lenses; perspective. Having the experiences of the last few years, thinking the way I do now and seeing the world the way I do today as opposed to then, I’ve found a new love and appreciation for this unexpected Will Ferrell film which only comes from looking at it from a different vantage point. Not the one in which I watched Anchor Man.

What I’m about to write is, no doubt, nothing new or ground breaking. They’re simply thoughts that have been reinvigorated, possibly even using slightly different verbiage.

Now, the post:

Life as narrative is a pretty standard theme days. I mean most people, in the circles I travel anyway, view their life as part of a story. “A masterpiece being written by the Author of the world” if you care to use a somewhat cliche, evangelical reference to God. Tonight I watched Stranger Than Fiction which helped give me a slightly different perspective on life as narrative. The question that came to mind was, “What genre is my story? Is it a tragedy or comedy?”

Here’s the context: Harold Crick, the hero in the aforementioned movie, hears the narration of his life in his head which at one point says, “Little did he know that this simply, seemingly innocuous act, would result in his imminent death.” After going to a psychiatrist who told him he’s schizophrenic, he seeks the help of a professor of literary theory to help him figure out how he’s going to die and if there’s anything he can do to stop it. After a series of questions etc., the professor suggests he find out if his life is a comedy or a tragedy. Does he fall in love and live happily ever after or does he miss out on love and then die.

Am I living a comedy or a tragedy? Or is it both?

What if we paid more attention to the shifting acts of our life stories? What if we recognized that we’re currently living a comedy where everything is funny? Or if we’re living a painful tragedy and nothing is going as planned? How would this affect the decisions we make, no matter how big or how small? Would we pay more attention to opportunities for drama or adventure during the comedic times? Would we cry as hard or search for anything that would ease the pain during our tragedies? Or would we be more inclined to just be, recognizing the piece of masterful literature that is being unveiled right before our eyes? How about other characters? Would we pay more attention to those who come in and out of our stories and the significant role that they may or may not play? Would we be as inclined to discard seemingly happenstance encounters as merely coincidence?

I don’t think so.

By being more aware of our surroundings and our current situation as viewed through the multiple lenses of the diverse audience, which not only watches but participates in our story, I think we can only grow that much more and learn that much more from each event; each encounter. Is it better to fast forward through life skipping over the seemingly meaningless encounters or trying to wash away the grossly painful events because of their potential consequences, or lack thereof? Or do we push play and pay more attention to what is really going on; the story between the lines?

I humbly suggest it’s the latter.

“…Sometimes when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And fortunately, when there aren’t any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or a subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort. not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs and uneaten danish and soft-spoken secrets and Fender Stratocasters and maybe the occasional piece of fiction.

And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies the subtleties which we assume only accessorize our days are, in fact, here for a much larger and nobler cause: they are here to save our lives…”