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Marking an occasion

by | Oct 15, 2019 | Beautiful Leadership, Open Leadership, Writing I Love

mary oliver quote Marking an occasion

Two years ago today I wrote: “Life is Wild and Precious, Be Present“, where I posed the question above, from the last couplet of “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver. This was when (inspired by Seth Godin doing this for over two decades!) I committed to writing daily.

Today I feel to mark this as an occasion. When we choose to mark an occasion, we are honouring. We may be honouring many things, though often it comes down to the actions of an individual or group of individuals, taking time for them and us to reflect.

In that very first post, I wrote:

When people ask you how you are in a business context, have you ever replied: “busy”, to which they respond with pleased nods and “good”. Busyness has become something we all strive for, yet with this, we have so often lost our sense of presence.

So, for me, today I will take some time to mark this occasion, I’ll take time to be present on this occasion. On a personal level, I’ll go for a walk, stopping to take notes as my mind turns to certain experiences and thoughts, reflections on two years of writing.

For this post, I will first share a few thoughts that come to mind to mark the occasion.

So, some reflections on two years of daily writing. First, three themes, then three specific serendipitous outcomes from that daily writing.

Three Themes for Marking an Occasion

1: Writers write

It is said that it takes 30 or more days to form or even begin a habit. I noticed that, after 100 and more days into my practice of daily writing, when people would ask me “how do you write every day?”, I would reply instinctively: “I’m a writer. Writers write”.

Yes, I have developed practices both conscious and unconscious that support me in my daily writing, yet in simplicity, writers write.

Oh, and I wrote a post to mark one year of writing. Today I smile to note that to mark that anniversary I chose to give detailed tips for writers. Today I feel very different in my focus one year on.

2: Create Serendipity

On July 19th, 2018, I wrote: “Create Serendipity“, writing: “I don’t believe in luck, I believe in serendipity. Serendipity is not luck, it is not coincidence. Serendipity is something you can choose to create for yourself and in the way you lead and structure your organisation.”

I have always been someone who loves to connect widely and often seemingly randomly to people, to experiences. I actively do this, recognising over time that one connection can lead to another. Good things happen when meeting new people and being open to creating and connecting to possibility and potential for and with them.

Writing every day for two years has created some amazing serendipities for me, I’ll mention just a few further on here.

3: Crystallising Thinking

On June 27th 2019 I curated a post in: “Intelligence is both Fluid and Crystallised“, essentially noting the distinctions between the two kinds, with crystallised intelligence being an ability to “join the dots”.

Clearly, over time some key themes repeat themselves over and over, albeit looked at from different angles on each occasion. For me, this has meant that the discipline of daily writing around the theme of #OpenLeadership has meant that I have somehow crystallised my thinking not only around themes but also some core leadership models, such as the Scale for Impact (core post from Jan29th, 2019) and Cascading Leadership models.

On 10th March 2018, I wrote a post where some thinking around Chip Conley’s Modern Elder concept led me back to a leadership model I was taught years prior by Ed Percival. I then developed further thoughts around that model and realised there is a book in those ideas. I then spent much of summer 2018 interviewing leaders and developing the ideas for the book, yet then I met a collaborator for a new project and shelved the book.

Over a year on, that book is still “in me” and at the same time, I’ve developed several more models, models that have now led me to develop a second newsletter that comes out monthly to share models and methods for #OpenLeadership. (On the right-hand column of the “My Writing” page on my site you can subscribe to both the digest of daily posts and the monthly newsletter).

It stuns me to consider how many ideas have crystallised simply by writing daily.

Three Serendipities

So, writers write, and by writing it has crystallised thinking in many ways and also created some wonderful serendipities, a few I mention here.

1: Chip Conley

On December 28th, 2017 I wrote: “Emotional Equations – Chip Conley“, tagging Chip when posting this on Twitter. That felt brave, as Chip is a long-time business hero of mine, but hey, he retweeted it then we messaged, then we spoke a week or so later.

Fast forward to today and I’ve been to Modern Elder Academy in Mexico twice, am part of an amazing cohort that is closely and deeply connected, I’ve gained friends, a soul sister (mi hermana, she knows who she is!) and many amazing experiences.

2: Kilkenomics

In November 2017 a good friend of mine had been asked to be a panellist at this very cool event and asked me to come along to “lime” (yes, she is a Trini!). I went to support her, but also as I felt, at that time only a month or so into daily writing, that I would get material to support my writing.

Little did I know that, nearly two years later, not only am I getting ready to go to Kilkenomics again next month, but I have also made several new friends and become closely connected to new thinking in Economics in different ways that continue to inspire and stimulate me in lots of different ways.

3: Bruce Peters

Shortly after starting daily writing, and not related to that writing, a mutual friend introduced me to the brilliant Bruce Peters in Rochester, New York.

Whilst Bruce and I have not yet met in person, we have become friends and talk often over video, with my daily writing forming a regular theme for Bruce to ping me emails along the lines of “your latest blog had me think of this, take a look at this writing, this book” etc. Bruce is a brilliant and deeply wise and knowledgable man, it is a gift to be his friend.

In closing today’s “mark the occasion” post, then, on 20th June 2018 I wrote: “Are you a Serendipity or a Zemblanity person?“, a post inspired by Bruce, introducing me, as he often does, to a new word, in this case, Zemblanity, being: “the faculty to make “unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries”.

I finished that post as I finish this one, with:

I’ve found my discovery of the term Zemblanity (thanks again, Bruce!) to bring awareness to me of where in my life and my leadership I bring forward the faculty to make “unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries”, and where I design and structure my life and presence to have the opposite, “happy, fortuitous, unexpected discoveries” over and over again.

Go forth and be Serendipitous!