It's All About...Who??

We've had kind of a soft start to this 31 Day series on reaching your world, but if I would have started with "Sell your car and give your money away" and "Get on the first plane to the pygmies" I'd probably be sitting here all by myself.

I've focused on creating the notion that living our lives with the awareness of other people and the effect we have on them is the first step to reaching our world.

I'm guilty of being a task-structured person. I feel like this is the job interview question when you are asked to disclose your weakness and you let them know that you are incapable of settling for anything less than perfection in yourself. Being a task-structured person means that I put getting the job done in front of everything else, but it also means I tend to be independent, overly focused on something, and sometimes downright rigid in my approach. These are not intended to be pats on the back for me but rather an ownership of the fact that most of the time I function best alone.

We were not, however,  created to be alone and sometimes it is through being challenged in our set ways that we grow the most. Not that there is anything wrong with being an introvert (quick definition: an introvert doesn't mean shy or timid but is someone who recharges best alone while an extrovert gets their energy from other people.) but I can't let that define my life.

Friday I will post a review on a book called Small Things: Adventures in Loving Your Neighbor. The author goes deep on helping the reader find their best serving style and opportunities based on their particular life situation so I won't go too far into the whole introvert/extrovert thing.

But I will say that you will have trouble influencing the world around you if you insist of doing life on your own terms. If it's all about me, then it can't be about anyone else.

This week, look for opportunities to let others into your carefully constructed schedule. Invite someone to shop with you. Accept an invitation to hang out even if it means staying up a little later than you'd like. Let someone else's joys be yours for a while.

Tomorrow we will go a little deeper into what reaching your world might cost you.