If you really took a look at your organization’s mission, you would probably find that enough urgent but not important tasks keep slipping into your days, then weeks, that you start to wonder what you actually have accomplished that month.

Is this because you are doing too much?

You will become overwhelmed and burned out if you continue at that pace.

We like to help and be super heroes but we can’t be effective if we spread ourselves too thin.

Carve out time to do the important – that which will move your organization’s mission forward.  Carve out time to eat a healthy lunch, go for coffee with a colleague.  You need to stay human while you do your human services work.

I caught two movies this weekend that reminded me why it’s so hard to play to your strengths.

A Reformed Arrogant Drummer

Drumline was on reruns on MTV, and it’s actually a really good movie so I watched it again.  This time I had a new lens to watch it through thanks to Dave Rendall’s Freak Factor blog.

Nick Cannon plays Devon, a cocky, superstar drummer in one of those great college bands who gets a scholarship to A&T in Atlanta.  He wows the crowd with his amazing drum solos and entertainment power.  It turns out that he can’t read sheet music so his arch rival calls him out and gets him kicked out of the band.

It also doesn’t help that he’s arrogant and doesn’t want to be a team player.  He is better than the whole drumline.

After a fight with Sean, his rival band member, Sean admits Devon is the best but gets him to focus on being more of a team player:

Sean:  “You’re the best, Devon! But when we’re on the field, nobody hears you! They hear the band.”

Devon becomes convinced he needs to change.  He teaches himself sheet music and focuses on becoming a team member of the drumline.  This proves to the band director that he has developed his character and he lets him back into the band, (spoiler alert) just in time to win the final band championships.

The band director and school system certainly socialized Devon into working with a team, but what will happen to his confidence in his ability to come up with new sounds independently?  No longer a freak, how will he be able to stand out again?

A Reformed Womanizer

The other movie I watched was Nine (2009) about an Italian film director named Guido who couldn’t come up with a new script for his film because of his personal problems with all of the women in his life.  It turned out his other movies were successful because they were about all of the personal problems he faced in his life.

(Spoiler alert):  Without giving too much away, Nine resolved by Guido making a movie about apologizing to all of the women in his life for how he’s treated them.

The movie implies Guido was a good storyteller and film director because of the practiced he had in telling good lies to all of the women in his life.  Now that Guido is morally better after he stops womanizing, what will happen to his storytelling?  Can you change for the better as a person without losing your unique talents?  I think so, but thought it was an interesting question.   When should you allow yourself to be socialized and when should you not change?

Hollywood Makes it Hard

Enjoyable Hollywood movies make it hard to stand out because so many plots focus on the drama of society morally reforming a confident outsider.  What’s interesting to me is that there would be no movie without this outside, or freak, character.  Think of all of those nerd makeover movies.  That’s who the movie is about.  No freak, no movie.  But it’s up to you to decide if you will become more like them or more like yourself.

Courtesy Photo

1. Make friends
   People with at least 3 close friends at work are 88% more likely to be satisfied with their lives.  When we were kids it was easy to make friends.  We actually put effort into it.  It does take time – to ask someone out to dinner, go for a walk in the park, or hang out at your family’s cabin for the weekend.  It might be uncomfortable at times as you adapt to their habits and re-learn social graces.  But it will actually make your other relationships stronger – if you do not have friends at work, make friends outside of work to give you something to look forward to at the end of the day.  Go beyond hanging out with your wife’s friends.  You will make your relationship with your significant other better if you have mates to give you a new perspective on yourself and relationships in general.
2. Wear Chucks with dress pants
   This works especially if you are young and work in a rather casual workplace.  But what if you were an executive and wore them?  Why not?  I wear them all the time with black and khaki pants.  They send the message that you are comfortable, approachable, and playful.  Try it on a Friday and see what happens.

]]> http://roxyallen.com/2009/10/the-secret-to-becoming-child-like/feed/ 0 http://roxyallen.com/2009/10/how-to-win-a-nobel-peace-prize/ http://roxyallen.com/2009/10/how-to-win-a-nobel-peace-prize/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:50:12 +0000 Roxy http://roxyallen.com/?p=55

Obama woke up at 6 am, same time I woke up, and someone told him, “Oh, hey, you won a Nobel Peace Prize.”

When I saw the news on Yahoo, I was elated – good for him!

Then several of my friends commented that he didn’t deserve it.  What has he done?  He’s too young.  Hasn’t been in office long enough.  He’s stealing my freedom.  All talk no walk.

Why is his win so contentious?

The reason is the reason he won.

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee he won for the creation of a “new climate in international politics.”

A “climate” is an intangible thing – it’s like an X factor thing – you can’t teach it or describe it or make it happen, it’s either there or it isn’t.

It’s really hard to tell why he won or should win.  Does that matter now that he has?

When an opportunity comes it is how you roll with it that counts.

Julien Smith says you can’t even prepare for when “it” happens.  You can only adapt to it.

Even Obama himself thought it was premature, but he’s not downplaying it or making an overly huge deal about it.

We will see how he adapts.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: