Deed of the Decade

 

 

 

 

"Forget what anybody else is doing or thinking

and discover your special offering for the world."

 

Kristen White

VOICE

 

 

 

 

A message announcing International Book Week circulated around my writers group.  Teri gave us the fun challenge to grab the book closest to us, turn to page 52, and read the fifth sentence.  I joined the fun and did as she instructed.  The quote above is the sentence I found.

 

We easily observe the gifts and talents of others, but when it comes to self-evaluation, we can get pretty intimated.  If we think in terms of our strengths, answers come a little more readily.  So we can make notes of our strengths, and create outlets to contribute what we do best.

 

Earlier in my career, I found my self attending many committees and boards.  When distributing tasks, I always ended up with assignments that did not hone my strengths.  The chair was not capitalizing on the talents before her/him.  The following month, I was pleasantly surprised.  The chair of the meeting announced what needed to be done and passed around a sheet to sign up for what we felt most comfortable doing.  It was amazing!  People attending displayed much more enthusiasm and responded in a more supportive way.  Creative ideas easily surfaced.

 

So what is it we do well?  What brings us pleasure, challenge, and creativity?  There is a saying, "If you have passion for what you do, you never work a day of your life."  We are not all rocket scientists nor artists, but we each have an individual energy that can be funneled out into the world.  It may not be the deed of the decade, but when we each contribute our donation it transitions into the whole.  Many small deposits of positive diversity creates an interesting flow.

 

Unfortunately, we tend to take our gifts for granted.  We think of what we do as something common to all peoples ... if I can do it, anyone can.  Simply not true!  One does not have to be an expert to share what they know or what they do.  It is better to do make many small gestures, than not to gesture at all!