Are You a Maker?

During a recent coaching call, I was working with a client as he developed his personal core values. By the way, if you have not developed a list of your own core values and defined what they mean to you, please do so. You’ll be happy you took this fulfilling step towards self-awareness.

As I read through my client’s values and how he defined them, one in particular caught my eye – “Making & Maker.” As I came to understand more about it, I was astonished I had never heard it in this context before because it made so much sense.

Here’s what it means to him. In his business and in his life, he prides himself on being a maker of ideas and actions that create value. He expressed his belief that someone can actively “make” things that cause improvement, or they can sit idly by and watch things decay, thereby essentially causing things to get worse.

I was really struck by this concept of making things better, and consistently working to do so. This idea is both simple in concept and powerful in impact.

As I pondered it, I began recognizing times in my life where I wasn’t focused on making. Instead, I was probably spending energy criticizing and finding little flaws or picking things apart and focusing on obstacles.

Rather than adding value, I was unmaking the progress and positive energy of others and myself. Rather than achieving at a high level, I was bringing others and myself down. Rather than propelling progress towards goals and aspirations, I was a drag on momentum and success for others and myself.

Looking at it now, I see that when I am in my unmaking mode, I am not achieving at a high level and I am not in a space I want to be. I’ll go so far as to say that I never achieve anything I truly want when I am unmaking. Even if I happen to get a reasonable result, I believe the negative energy I create in this mode is too high a price to pay and still consider it good.

I also recognize how powerful I am when I am in my maker mode. When I choose to operate in this space, I focus on ideas and actions that move me forward, and I identify solutions and outcomes that are effective and achieved without the baggage of negative energy. When I choose this mode, I am the person I want to be and the most amazing energy flows out of me and into the people, places and things around me. When I’m living here, my energy helps others be makers, too.

Many of you who know me know I believe that how you show up – how you think and act – is not an accident. It is a choice. Each of us chooses how we show up in any given situation.

I believe, then, that making or unmaking – whether you’re a maker or an “unmaker” – is not an accident. Instead, it is a choice. Each of us chooses to make or unmake in any given situation.

So, what choice are you making, or not making?

Ask yourself this week:

Am I a maker or am I an unmaker?

Which choice will get me a better result?

If I always choose to unmake, what will I have left?

If I always choose to make, what incredible results will I achieve?

Who will I enlist to help me make, and whom can I support in being a maker?

Where in my life will I start making something amazing this week?

Thoughts for the Month

“Time is too slow for those who wait…to swift for those who fear…too long for those who grieve…too short for those who rejoice…But for those who love, time is eternity.”

– Jane Fellowes

“They tell you that you’ll lose your mind when you grow older…What they don’t tell you is that you won’t miss it very much.”

– Malcolm Cowley

 “For each one of us there is a desert to travel…a star to discover…and a being within ourselves to bring to life.”

– Edward Ericson

 “The things you control, you take care of…The things you don’t control, you let take their own course.”

– Dom Capers

Here’s to your continued success, One Quarter Turn at a Time.

Tim Furlong