Meetings and other wrecks

One-third of all wrecks happen within one mile of home. My theory is that when we are close to home, we are blinded by the familiar. We drive without attention, saying, “I don’t recall the details of getting home.”

Routine meetings and conversations often suffer the same fate. One Monday morning team meeting looks much like the one last week. The video of the town hall with the CEO could be transplanted from one quarter to the next. The strategic planning session mirrors the one from last year, and the year before . . . .

David Whyte’s poem, Sometimes, says, “… stop what you are doing right now, / and stop what you are becoming while you do it ….” My intention is to being noticing more of the immediate world around me, when I’m driving and when I’m in meetings.

When is the last time you made the effort to hold a meeting or conversation that went beyond the familiar, the ordinary? What are the questions that trouble you and won’t go away? What is on your stop doing list?