Make something

It's always nice to see your thoughts being expressed out in the wider world. I would rather that I be the one getting the notice, but I'm not willing to put in the effort to make that happen. I have other things to work on.  I could be making more blog posts or trying harder to get those posts noticed, but that's not where I'm choosing to exert my time and energies. I'm working on making something else.

When I was exhorting job seekers to show me more than what they think I want to see, I was begging them to show me what they've made.  Making something is more than coming up with a gadget that people can hold in their hands. It's an accomplishment. It's a goal that's been realized. People focus too much on what they do. They see executing the process as progress. No, the process is just a step towards something concrete. Something that you can point to and say that you made that. It's just evidence that you can finish something. It's also evidence that you can go face all the challenges that come with making something and keep going when things get a little sticky.

This notion of making seems like another element in some kind of guide to finding that one big thing that I must do. Push it to The Edge. Make something. These notions aren't limited to professional aspirations. Overcoming challenges is more than being physically uncomfortable. There are all kinds of Edges in our relationships. We work hard with the important people in our life to define a nice comfortable space for our interactions. We find that space and don't work too hard to expand it. I spent too much of my relationship with my wife focused on what I was feeling. I was ignoring how I was making her feel.

The something that you make doesn't have to be tactile. It can be a mood, a feeling, or an impression. What we make is our impression on the world. We can let circumstances mold us, let the world make an impression on us, or we can figure out what we want to make and change one little something in our life, in our world.