Navigating Change

October 26, 2020

Good morning! The sudden arrival of several inches of wet snow blanketed everything last week.Foods in the form of seeds and nuts and berries suddenly went from bountiful to barren.The backyard feeders are attracting juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, pigeons (yes, even pigeons!), cardinals, goldfinches, house finches, purple finches, a red bellied woodpecker, one downy woodpecker, a chipping sparrow, a blue jay, and maybe one or two I’m forgetting.Congratulations to our daughter and her growing family for purchasing their first home last week, helping to keep the local economy strong — and home prices soaring.

• We live right across the street from a school yard.
  • Last week as more than 7″ of snow accumulated throughout the day it was refreshing, enjoyable, and gratifying to watch the children playing with abandon and delight with no one telling them what to do.
• Last week’s snow and this week’s cold are depriving us of an entire month of autumn I thought we had earned… but maybe not.
  • I’m hoping for a resurgence of autumn during the pre-Feast of Thanksgiving weeks.
• It’s been eight months since we’ve had grandchildren in our home — due to the COVIDs.
  • What normally would be a complete gathering of our family — 33 of us — for the Feast of Thanksgiving won’t happen this year, as it won’t for most.
  • A couple days ago I was overwhelmed with contentment and admiration as unavoidable circumstances required us to host two of our grandchildren for a few hours.
  • I was reminded of the skills, energy, and enthusiasm of their grandmother, or as she prefers, the Nana.
  • For each 1,000 skillful movements she made I might have made one — and it’s not JUST that I’m more efficient; such a joy.
• If you enjoy the birds you probably have several feeders, among them a so-called thistle feeder.
  • It’s a long narrow tube with several tiny rectangular holes spaced from the top to the bottom of the tube allowing a finch to peck out a seed or two while perching on the exterior of the tube.
  • Inevitably these feeders, no matter how carefully you maintain them, cache up on the bottom with seeds that get wet and harden like cement.
  • Even the so-called waterproof ones let in small amounts of water through the tiny feeding holes.
  • Try to get one clean… It could be a cottage industry… there is no thistle feeder cleaning tool as far as I know (shark tank?!).
  • The odds favour the feeder being broken before the hardened cement-like cache on the bottom 2″ or 3″ is finally coaxed loose.
  • You can’t leave it in there because the birds won’t feed given the moldy odor — and so you must clean it and reload it with fresh seeds.
    • I was going somewhere with this, now where was it?!?!
    • Oh, a metaphor:  You need the right tool — you need patience — you need persistence — you need resilience — you need to have noticed the problem in the first place — you need resolve — you need skills — you maybe need some moral support — you need to try different options — you need to WANT to succeed…
    • Sounds like a job for a good consultant or coach or mentor.
• They found them!  Trouble is, are there still more Killer Hornet nests out there or was there just one?
• Please let me know if you’re playing — or have played — or are playing at the moment — the video game, Among Us.
• It is gratifying to observe clients making significant and meaningful progress toward a goal they’ve set for themselves.
  • I’m working with three such clients at the moment, very enjoyable and fulfilling for me.
    • At Without a Vision Consultancy LLC we focus on this little mnemonic device to increase the likelihood of success:
    • Pause from the daily routine — focus on the big Picture — trust the Process — practice Patience — don’t be Paralyzed by a desire for Perfection
• “The corporate ladder we used to hear about is no more.  Today’s ladder is more of a jungle gym…” (George)
• “A team is not just people who work at the same time in the same place.  A real team is a group of very different individuals who enjoy working together and who share a commitment to working cohesively to help the organization achieve its common goals…”  (Leadership First)
• And finally, continued from last week:
  • “… Because it was the end of July and the northern hemisphere, I knew the sun would be getting up just to the left of the steering wheel, slightly to the northeast.
  • I was starting to think about moving the sun visor into position so that I wouldn’t be blinded when the sun came over the horizon.
  • That first light of dawn started to strengthen and soon burst into bright sunlight – over my left shoulder.
  • Though I like to think of myself as a directional genius, it took awhile before I started to think, something is wrong here.
  • We continued to make really good time and as I processed the sun’s direction I slowly started to realize, “I’m on the wrong road!”
  • I had driven through and around Denver a number of times – in and out of the airport and on a dozen or more other road trips – and I hadn’t bothered to refresh my memory as to the exact interstate route from the center of the city and on to Omaha.
  • Well, I was on the way to Kansas City.  And we were making such good time – and rarely had there been a better, quieter, more enjoyable morning.
  • The next exit was at least 10 or 20 miles down the road, and the only thing I could do was to backtrack 90 degrees to the north for about 100 miles to merge with the correct road.
  • All of a sudden I wasn’t making very good time at all.
  • There were no shortcuts – I studied the map a dozen times – and absolutely no way to ameliorate the wrong direction except to admit it and turn north.
  • Almost yielding to arrogant stubbornness I even considered going to Kansas City instead of Omaha!
    • Moral to the story:  Even if you’re making good time, you might not be on the right road!”