Each new adventure whether it is a job or a relationship or even a spiritual experience teaches us something about ourselves and how we approach life. I bring this up because I noticed something this week. I have a couple issues I am working my way through and as I work my way through I realize these are things I learned in construction.
Construction is a unique industry. It is a group working together to build something. During the process,, each participant can yell and scream and push and shove but in the end the building must be completed. Thus I learned that in the reality of doing things we are never really blocked or stopped until we have decided we can go no further. There is always another way to look at things. It may not be the right person to talk to; it may not be the right resources to use; we may be moving outside of tradition to come up with a solution. I have a true belief that when we shine the light of our energy on an issue this opens the door to resolve the issue.
My mentor and partner taught me that in any meeting it is important to speak out and to participate fully. Years ago on a project in northern California we had an issue around flooring which had been installed in a medical facility. The floor was failing with tiles coming up and moisture wicking out in the room. We had come to the point in the process to have the important meeting. We had our company, the Owner, the sub-contractor who had installed the tile, and the tile manufacturer's reprresentative. The meeting started as if we were in a courtroom trying to assign blame and muddled up with he said/she said issues.
My partner stopped the meeting and asked everyone to take a breath. He then summarized the problem and what the issue was and put it out into the room so we all could look at it. In doing so, he laid the issue out so we all stepped aside and together we looked how we as a team could resolve the issue. He filled his summary with what our team could do with all the experience we had. We had no choice but to stand together and look at the problem - not as a personal issue or a us against them problem. It was a problem for all the team. It worked beautifully and within the hour we had come up with a plan of action to solve and move on. When there is something to fix everyone you work with is another teammate. Most people in this kind of a process just add enemies and confrontation. Phil asked how we were going to resolve the issue, not what have you done!
Life is full of adjustments and amending and changing the way we do things. We must continue being open to changing our norm over and over again with a new approach. Getting set in our ways only works if there is one particular issue that works with that set ideas. Other than that we are sitting with our toy tool kit trying to hammer a circle into a square hole with our hammer. We can hammer forever and get nowhere.
I've got news for you! You are in charge of your life. You make the decisions in each moment that sets up the next moment. So what are you going to do next?
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