Doing, Being … We want both!

Over at Great Circle, Pete Aldin has a duet of posts on BEing versus DOing. In the first he mentions a question that caused him to reassess his goals in a defining moment kind of way, and in the second he speaks of how fellow coach Leah Maclean got him to think deeper into the entire process of it all.

Much ‘imi ola thinking for me as I read the words of these two people this morning, both of whom I greatly admire.

The pragmatic truth of this is that you will do both, you will DO and you will BE.

• The doing keeps you in action; a very good thing in my way of thinking.
• The being gives you nānā i ke kumu, looking to your sense of self; it’s the self-actualization stuff.

However, separating the two concepts of Being and Doing triggers mental gymnastics in thinking about your goals, for it gets you to more fully understand what will be involved. More understanding gives you more commitment because of the greater clarity you come to.

‘Imi ola, and creating one’s best possible life as we reach toward these goals, is the outcome we ultimately strive for.

The question that started this all for Pete was one his boss asked him, “What do you want to be doing in five years time?” Pete says that back then (1997) “I was stumped. The only thing I knew for sure was I didn’t want to be working for him doing what I was doing at that time.” However Pete BEING Pete, he arrived here; “If you asked me that question today, I could tell you exactly what my vision and hopes are for my personal life, my professional life and my personal mission.”

The question itself sent me into a bit of a rant. You can read about that on Managing with Aloha. In part,

There is this question that most managers have learned to ask. They ask it of the candidates they are interviewing for jobs trying to get to the “will this be a job, role, or career for you?” answer (they should just ask that question).

They also ask it a lot when they are doing annual performance reviews for the people they manage, because the normal (and broken) process is that at the end of the excruciating appraisal on how strengths versus weaknesses play out in performance, they want to then talk about goal-setting for the coming year so they’ll know what to beat you up on next time.

Next time, ask the ‘Imi ola question instead.

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Related posts:

• On ‘Imi ola: Ho‘ohana: Our Value for April is ‘Imi ola
• On Action: MWA3P; my October Action Cycle
• On Nānā i ke kumu: What it means to “Look to Your Source”

Pete has guest-posted for me here on Talking Story: The Wise Son

And so has Leah! 10 Ways to Become Fluent in Technology

Comments

[Amanda]

Great insights. Goals are so important.

Amanda

http://thetimemastery.com