Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

Andy

Hints

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It took me a while to trust my gut. After I’d make a choice, there seemed to be something there that would agree or disagree. It’d be wrong to call it a whisper that grew louder. It feels more accurate to call it an ambient sense that, once I paid attention to it, became a trust-worthy hint.

Interestingly, as I trust it more, and as I concurrently learn and develop skills, so too do the hints seem to improve. I also learned I don’t need more information or more hints to do a thing, but I do find that hints stick around if ignore them. If the hints are sticky, that tends to mean I need to take action on them.

Sometimes the hint is that I should call or text someone. Sometimes it’s that I should step away from a reaction. Still other times the hint has a grandiose plan or a minuscule inclination – either way the outcomes are interesting.

If you’re like me – you know hints don’t make things easier. Hints aren’t short-cuts and sometimes they cause introspection that is both necessary and scary.

These days though, I’m glad to get hints either way.

Try it

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We hear a lot of stories about success, most of them condensed so they fit into a convenient, episodic, narrative we can easily consume. Most have distinct beginnings and endings. All of them have hindsight bias.

In reality, we can’t possibly understand the totality of these experiences. There are emotions and details that are omitted for one reason or another. Rather than beginnings and endings, all of these people decide to try something and then make choices in the middle of the resulting situations.

There are many times at which the answers are not clear no matter whose story is considered. There are times when what seems obvious in hindsight started as a hunch, perhaps being followed stubbornly against the wisdom of others.

If you erase luck and privilege, and decide not to glaze over details, you’ll uncover a lot of average people simply trying something they’re interested in, navigating uncertain circumstances, and largely being surprised at the result.

If you’re reading this you have at least some luck and some privilege. Maybe it’s time to just try it.

In the middle

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As long as we can remember, we’ve been in the middle of something. Often we’re hoping for the future to bring some outcome or arrival that has some finality to it. Or we may be lamenting about the past; things we wish we would have done or wish we could get back.

This will always be the case. There is never a moment of your life when you’re not in the middle of something.

It’s the hoping for the future and lamenting the past that we can decide to turn off when it doesn’t serve us. That may make it a little easier to decide what to do next.

Second impressions

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Don’t get me wrong, first impressions are important; they get your foot in the door. Sometimes they get your whole body in the door.

But what about second impressions? What if you show up even better than the last time? What if your second impression is still just the tip of the impression iceberg?

Our lives are made up of impressions, most of which we’re lucky to get in the first place. The real trick is proving the first impression wasn’t a fluke, and that the second impression was just a glimpse at what’s to come.

What’s more? First impressions come around over and over, and you can always choose how you show up for the second.

The ecosystem

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Beavers used to be seen as hugely problematic, or at best, profitable. Over the years there has been occasion to kill them for their pelts or to exterminate them from an area to eliminate the side-effects of their handy-work. This nearly caused their extinction.

Lately in the US, beavers have been solving problems. Their dams create wetlands that have helped quench thirsty cattle and grow new prairie brush. This has been critical to farmers as temperatures have soared and water levels have dropped.

When we try to control and exploit our environment, it is hard to predict what effects our actions will have on the ecosystem. But if we choose to observe problems and flex to their idiosyncrasies, there’s an opportunity to create mutual benefits, and our problem might just be a great solution when we need it most.