Rip it up and start again…

I was talking to someone last week about how, when I started working as a junior news reporter many years ago, I spent months re-writing my own stories before I ever had a line published in the paper.

 

The process was that I’d be assigned a story – or would go out with a senior reporter to an event – I’d come back and write a piece and give it to the editor – and it would be sent back sometime later covered with red pen scratch marks and corrections.

 

So, I’d re-write it and give it back – and I kept doing this until I was proficient enough at the craft to finally earn a by-line.

 

I was thinking on this during the week, because I realised how that training has stood the test of time with me and made me understand the importance of always trying to get the details as close to perfection as they possibly can be.

 

Having to do that time and again was just part of the learning process. Even the senior reporters in the newsroom had copy handed back with corrections. This was not to say that the work they had produced wasn’t good, it was just to say that by taking care of the details, it could be better.

 

Sometimes, even, it could be a lot better.

 

Sometimes it took an entire rip it up and start again approach – but again, that was all part of the process and something that over the years has allowed me to never get upset or annoyed when asked to rewrite copy for a client or make changes.

 

After all, the very fact that changes are needed or wanted, demonstrates the fact that what has been produced, can be improved upon.

 

Over the past few weeks I have been involved in a series of different projects that have required many different changes and reminding myself to accept that they are part of the process – and more especially, being open to the fact that they are useful and necessary to achieving the best possible end result.

 

It is easy to get sucked in to a narrow view and to hang to on an idea with such belief, that it will drag you onto the wrong path and keep you there.

 

I was reminded of the story of the famous Sony corporation who were one of the first makers of the Betamax home video equipment that dominated the market for a few years until the competition began to develop VHS technology and customers responded with that market taking off like wildfire.

 

Rather than change, Sony believed they has a superior product in what turned out to be an extremely costly mistake back in the day when people watched film on tape!

 

The Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter once wrote:

 

“The individuals who will succeed and flourish will also be masters of change, adept at reorienting their own and others’ activities in untried directions to bring about higher levels of achievement.”

 

To be that master of change, it is sometimes necessary to accept that what you have is not what is right – whether that is down to an entire change, or just fine tuning the details.

 

But the brilliant thing is, that you are the master and you can make the change.

 

I’ve used this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson before who was replying by letter to his daughter. She was away at school and had written to say she was concerned about a past mistake that continued to haunt her.

 

In his reply Emerson said.

 

“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, but get rid of them and forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day and you should never encumber its potentialities and invitations with the dread of the past. You should not waste a moment of today on the rottenness of yesterday.”

 

The pursuit of excellence requires us to accept that we are human and we make mistakes, but we should also remember that we are adaptable and innovative and creative and resilient – so we can change things if we choose to do so.

 

And when things go drastically wrong to remember, there is nothing wrong with going back to the beginning.

 

To rip it up and start again.

 

Daily task

 

At its end

tear the day

along the

perforated line

of mistakes

and mishaps,

misfortune,

and mischance.

 

From top

to bottom,

curl it gently,

then skim

through every

mind minute.

 

Softly sliding

any slivers

of gold onto

a new page.

 

Tomorrow

can start

once again

all new

and fresh

and full

of hope.

 

 

(Liam Porter 2019)

 

 

Information is power.

I attended a workshop last week on positive mental health in sport and it was a great reminder that, while we can try to influence others in a positive way, the reality is that the only person we can ever have control over is ourselves.

 

But, as the speaker that night reminded us, getting to know ourselves is probably the hardest thing any of us can ever do.

 

That doesn’t mean we should not try, because in understanding ourselves – in knowing the things that affect our emotions and how we feel – we can try to steer ourselves in a different direction.

 

The analogy used that night was of our emotions and feelings as a car engine.

 

If we were to keep driving away ignoring the warning lights when they come on, then that will eventually lead to breakdown.

 

But if we work hard to understand ourselves, then we can use our thoughts to steer around potholes, and even if we feel the need – in for service if it’s something we can’t fix ourselves.

 

In the sporting context, as a coach it was a great reminder on the need for positivity, for calmness, for remembering to have strategies in place to deal with things that frustrate or annoy.

 

To realise that ultimately if we are feeling that way, we need to understand why we really feel that way – not just to go for the easiest excuse as the reason.

 

Later in the week I listened to a speaker talk about successful living and much of what she spoke of was still ringing true from the sporting talk.

 

For instance, while it might seem like jargon, to understand that information is power – is something we should all be truly mindful of.

 

It’s important to understand that people – including ourselves – are social capital and they have a value.

 

So, when it comes to conflict for instance, when we remind ourselves that everyone has a capability and a vulnerability, then we also know that when it comes to conflict there can always be a solution.

 

When we remember that we are all human, we all have struggles, we can use that understanding to place us better in our own situation and help turn negatives into something positive.

 

And that is all within our own grasp.

 

I loved the reminder from the second speaker I had heard, that support systems can come from many places – but first of all it must come from within.

 

It is something we should all remember so we don’t forget to continue to work hard at getting to know ourselves.

 

After all, that information is power.

 

 

I was reminded when I was writing this week’s piece of this poem I had written last year.

 

 

 

Calendar of scars

 

Sometimes, in the evenings,

he would sit by the fire;

peel away remnants of days

that had dug themselves

so deeply into his being

they had almost taken root.

 

Those days tore at him then,

like briars skating on his skin,

but he pulled them all away,

determined to be free.

To start fresh once again.

 

Sometimes, in the evenings,

he would run a finger

over his calendar of scars.

Stand in silence and wonder

why he let so many things,

get under his skin?

 

 

(Liam Porter 2018)

 

 

You are not an imposter…

I was thinking a lot this week about the whole idea of imposter syndrome. That idea that a person doubts their own ability so much that they have an almost constant fear of being exposed as a fraud.

 

I have no doubt that most of us – at some time or another – experience a lack of self belief, but I also think it can often be made worse by the feeling that others are actually better than we are.

 

Okay, so I am no expert in these things and perhaps that may not be borne out by wider scientific research, but I can safely say that in my case it certainly is true.

 

When sent a photograph this week of a poem from my book that somebody had chosen as their favourite, my response was that I am still astounded that anyone likes any of them.

 

Asked by someone a few weeks ago what type of poetry I had written for the poem a day challenge in 2013, I simply replied – “Bad.”

 

Now I still think that wasn’t 100% untrue – some of those poems were beyond awful (although many were not) – but it isn’t the point, my point is that I had chosen to describe my work in a way that others have not.

 

A lack of self-belief can be a crippling condition, but the good news is that – even though it takes a lot of work – that is something we can change.

 

We are who we are today because of the attitudes we choose, so it is vital for us not to become conditioned to perceived truths and closed to the world of new possibilities.

 

If we do that, then, as John Maxwell once wrote we will only: “hear what we expect to hear – not what we can hear. We think what we expect to think, not what we can think.”

 

In my poem ‘Chase your dreams’ there is the line – living on the outside, starts on the inside and I believe that now to be true.

 

We must be able to cast off what we think others think, to dispel all kinds of self doubt and understand that if we are to really to feel happy and free, then all self-imposed limitations must be thrown aside.

 

Most of us don’t tell ourselves that we are worthy, that we are unrepeated excellence.

 

But we should.

 

Because, we are.

 

No more imposters

 

Try sometimes,

to view yourself

as others see you.

 

To see the light

that shines

within you.

 

Believing fully

that you are

worthy.

 

Dispel the doubts

that try to

steal you.

 

Flood your mind,

unease,

confuse you.

 

For they are fake,

not you.

Not ever.

 

You are deserving,

bright and

clever.

 

No imposters

any more.

 

Try sometimes,

to view yourself

as others see you.

 

For you are

incomparable

excellence.

 

 

(Liam Porter 2019)