“Who wants to hear from me anyway?”
That question ferociously pounds the back of my head the minute I start to create any type of output. I hear it whispered in the back of the ear when I start typing.I don’t want to bother. I have something to say but I get worried when I hit the save and publish button. The tides are turning, whoever is reading this is one post away from hating my guts… I just know it.
To salve this, I remember that while people matter, ultimately being quiet, fitting in, not having a voice leaves me in a worse place. When I don’t express myself and I question the world, I quickly realize that I haven’t done anything to change it. I spent a lot of my life being out of the game, judging from the stands. I recently realized that it isn’t a place to grow, and for a high value person, the motto is grow or die.
“You are doing too much – they are going to block you!”
This charming sentence takes a spot in my mind when I send the work that I make out to people, especially if it is direct. If I have ever sent you an email, I heard this before I sent it to you. As ridiculous as it sounds when I read that sentence out loud, it sounds that much more convincing when it rattles inside the echo chambers in my head.
To salve this I remember that email as a one way communication. I can choose email as a two-way if I like, and if I do that, I have to make sure that what I send is an absolute value add to the person I send it to. The best way for me to feel better about email is to get away from the transactional approach I learned with, and to a simpler place where I am getting generous.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 