I love reading my morning newspaper… no, not for its in-depth news coverage nor for its entertaining columnists, but for its daily dose of thought-provoking and insightful comics. So when my most recent delivery bill arrived, very wrong again, I was exasperated and believed I’d have to cancel my subscription. So I called expecting the worst. (How’s that for leading with pessimistic, negative beliefs?) And, to my delight, the service rep agreed that the bill was wacko and fixed it. Just like that.
Applaud Our Heroes
So in the spirit of PattiAnn’s post on Encouragement let’s all STAND UP AND CHEER for all the hard working, rational, reasonable and empowered service reps of this world… Hoorah for them!!!
And here’s another shout-out, this time to cartoonist, Don Wimmer, who brilliantly illustrates the power of feedback in three short-but-sweet cartoon panes in a recent “Rose is Rose” comic strip.
MORE encouragement: this time I extend kudos to Marisol Diaz, program director of En Foco and promoter of the “Foot in the Door Workshop”. Her response to an award-winning, world famous photographer who commented that it was “hopeless to give [aspiring photographers] hope” was priceless:
And to those sitting on their bottoms and not showing the world how talented you are, take heed of my warning: don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, or you won’t, because you can. Believe in yourself, learn enough skills, and create an art of hope.
You go girl! She includes a manifesto of 9 steps toward the Art of Hope – good advice for the taking, regardless of your artistic aspirations.
Persist Through Our Pity Parties
Now that I think about it, reading Wimmer’s Sunday funnies probably inspired me to write my post In a Pickle. In Rose is Rose, Wimmer depicts the kitten, Peekaboo breeching Rose Gumbo’s self-inflicted “Dungeon of Resentment.” With purring affection Peekaboo encourages Rose to abandon her self-proclaimed pity party. Enjoy!
Relish Our Pickles
And as long as we’re enjoying the escapades of cats and kittens, check out I am an idiot. Self-described as “the drunken housewife”, this blogger has a cynically witty pen that I suspect will be appreciated by all of us who now live, or have, in the past, lived with kids and teenagers. I can’t help noticing (tongue in cheek) that she’s habitually assigning her misfortunes to permanent and universal causes – and she sure does get herself into a pickle! (It takes one to know one…)
Get Unstuck by Widening the Pipeline
Yesterday in her Getting Unstuck post PattiAnn encouraged all of us to “live consciously, grieving when [a loss] hits, and enjoying your life and making plans for the future when you can… to find a way forward.” She also encouraged us to use our ABC’s to work through our losses.
I would propose an additional tool for getting “unstuck”: the Development Pipeline.
Pipelines are designed to let materials flow through them. If a pipe is constrained in one area, the flow will be slowed… to a trickle… or stopped.
That’s how David Peterson, a corporate coach, explains his tool, “The Development Pipeline”. He’s identified five areas that flow through the development pipeline in this order: Insight, Motivation, Capabilities, Real World Practice, and Accountability.
And, over the years, he’s concluded that when change is important to the person, s/he can get the best return by investing in widening the narrowest areas of their personal development pipeline. After meeting with an executive and helping them self-assess their strengths and weaknesses in those five areas, Peterson draws a pipeline that looks similar to the one you see on page 2 of the PDF: DevelopmentPOV_sg_knn.pdf
I’m convinced this pipeline concept can be applied to many of life’s challenges including being “stuck”. So I would propose, for those of you who are feeling stuck and want to get “unstuck”, that you do your own pipeline analysis and then get to work on widening those constrained segments. Free the flow of your good energy and, as you move forward, flood the world with encouragement!
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