In going through some magazines that were in my “Never Doing Now” pile, I read the issue of Fortune magazine in which they named Steve Jobs the CEO of the decade. In addition to wishing I was the one who came up with the iPod, the iPhone, iTunes, Pixar, etc., I considered something I hadn’t considered before regarding Steve Job’s success.
Probably like you, over the years I have read about different leaders and their uncompromising nature. Steve Jobs, like many of these leaders I have read about, could be characterized as tough, demanding, even tyrannical. This characterization never left me with much access to a new level of performance. What I heard differently in this article and began to consider is that Jobs seems to be oriented around something being possible, around the fulfillment of something important, and he does not tolerate anything less than that possibility being fulfilled.
I began to look for myself, and there were clearly areas where I was effective in fulfilling what was important, and areas where I was not effective. So, what makes the difference? It’s pretty clear that success is a function of effective action. And, in those areas in which I am not being effective, I don’t seem to have an access to effective action – pathways seem to elude me. A principle you might consider is that our actions are always limited to being no more than appropriate to how what we are dealing with shows up for us.
In those areas in which I am not being effective and have no access to action, it usually looks to me as if there is some circumstance that is thwarting my ability to proceed – that there is no effective action possible. Out of the insight generated by the Jobs’ article, I started to adopt the perspective that, rather than there being something external that was stopping me, there was something I was tolerating.
As a simple experiment, I began to take on an area in which I was tolerating less than what was possible. Lately, with an increased schedule and travel, the amount of exercise I was doing was less than what I would like (not quite like the challenge that Steve Jobs faced when he returned to Apple in 1997, but we all have to start somewhere). I began to consider how my schedule and exercise showed up for me – that I didn’t have the time to do exercise I was used to, which meant I didn’t have time for exercise–period. When shifting my outlook to consider there was something I was tolerating, I considered that was merely how my schedule showed up for me, rather than being a hard obstacle to exercising. Quite naturally I began to consider that there may be other ways I could exercise. As you might imagine, I was left with a new access to action.
(By the way, like my experience of most insights, when I saw this, one of my first thoughts was along the lines of, “That was so obvious, how come I didn’t see it before?” It just seems that insights happen for us when they do and not a moment before. The good news is that, when we have the insight, we have a new access to action.)
In considering this new opening and with the inspiration of Steve Jobs, I have begun to take on areas beyond exercising where I have been tolerating less than I saw possible.
I invite you to take on some area where you have been tolerating accomplishments and results less than you would like. Try inquiring into the limits on your action. See if you can find some view you consider to be the truth, that may only be how the circumstances show up for you. Let us know what happens!
