Mark Twain once wrote, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
There never seems to be a shortage of people intent on tearing things down that are intended to build people up. Building people up requires of us to step outside the prevailing paradigm, to be generous and kind, to think differently, be different, and put ourselves on the line for what we believe in.
That’s really scary for some people.
Building people up means we risk. Tearing things down is playing it safe; it’s the voice that says we know better, but truly it’s because we want the status quo.
Building people up means we have to really listen to them, not just the words, but the intentions behind them. It means—as Don Miguel Ruiz says—we don’t make assumptions, we choose our words carefully, and we don’t take things personally.
Let’s face it; the modern world has given us many blessings of technology, creature comforts, and predictability. It has also given us wanton environmental destruction in the name of driving exponentially increasing profits.
It leads us to create factory farms that torture animals to incredible extents that we end up eating. Humans have been eating wheat for thousands of years without issue, and twenty years after one corporation started forcing genetically modified wheat on the farming industry we have wide spread gluten intolerance and celiac disease.
There is much more to this story that could be told. The point is not to rant on the inequities of modern day economic conditions and what the accounting profession refers to as “externalities” (external results that business does not, by the construct of law, need to be accountable for).
The point is this—there is no time like the present to start changing the world for the better. Truly we cannot delay, and isn’t it more fun to work to change the world for the better than to tear those down who try?
Steve Jobs said “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Lets be crazy and think that we can change the world. Let’s be even crazier and build up those who try.
The indigenous principle of the Warrior Spirit is foundational to the other twelve principles detailed in my book Shift and that serve as the foundation for the work we do of helping people shift culture. The warrior spirit does not mean we take up Kung Fu or become a verbal bully. It simply means that we muster our willingness to do the right thing even when it’s difficult or uncomfortable. Endeavoring to change the world for the better means we muster the willingness to be perpetually in a state of uncomfortable-ness. I guess that’s why it’s crazy.
Tip of The Week
Search for and discover one little thing that you can do that makes you feel uncomfortable, but that you know is a positive thing. That uncomfortable thing could be many things to many people. Just find one little thing for you. Then do it.
