I'm thinking of a Saturday Night Live skit where a guy sits on his couch tweeting out ideas/suggestions, but never acting to make those ideas/suggestions a reality. There's lots of couch-pundits/radicals/politicians who speak out a lot and don't act. This kind of advocacy can have a bit of impact, but not the kind of impact that occurs when speak and action work in tandem towards service, betterment and change.
Hence, how can I assure that I'm not one who speaks, but doesn't act? It's the big-idea-to-small-action flow that occurs. We read, research, think/speak big and then bring it down to your real-time work.
So today I tweeted about a lot of issues and process, and how can I bring those tweets down to my own action/speak.
We're all a mix of good/bad--it's a continuum
It's important to refrain from judgement about individuals or groups based on evident action or words, instead it's good to go deeper to find out what's really going on and what someone truly believes or represents, and see the continuum that exists of good and not-so-good actions/speak/think.
"Go hard on the problem, not the people."
This advice from the book, Getting to Yes, reminds us to figure out what the problem at hand is and work with others to deconstruct that problem and remedy it rather than staying focused on individuals.
Don't label whole groups
There's tremendous variations amongst people within groups, refrain from speak/judgement that labels whole groups. Look deeper and find out more. Know individuals well.
Be respectful
When cornered, disrespected, demeaned or dismissed, we can revert to our primitive selves with disrespect. Instead it's imperative to always be respectful as that paves the way to greater resolve and good collaboration.
Work Together
Acknowledge that we all come at living from different perspectives, beliefs, vision so it's critical to work together, collaborate, and use that diversity to come up with better solutions.
We live in a complex world that's often not simple to understand or navigate, but it's in our best interest during this short life to do what we can for betterment, positive change, and living well.
