Episode 19

making time

This is the one about making time. This is the one about making space and making time and making the room in our hearts to do the things we know we should do.

Transcript
Leela Sinha:

Hi, everyone, thanks for tuning in. This is

Leela Sinha:

the one about making time. This is the one about making space

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and making time and making the room in our hearts to do the

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things we know we should do. Because the lie that we tell

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ourselves, that everyone else tells us, is that we don't have

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time. That we can't because there's no time, there's no

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time, there's no energy, there's no money, there's no resources,

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there's no something that's so limited, that we can't help but

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not. And instead, we have to cut a corner. And that corner that

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we're cutting is not just a corner of a box, it's a corner

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of a toe or a heel. It's not just leaking a few loose spoons

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in the move across country. It's leaking blood. And we tell

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ourselves over and over that it's okay, it's got to be okay.

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Here, have some have some bandages, have a styptic pencil,

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have a have a have a have a something, something just to

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stop the bleeding so we can keep marching forward, forward,

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forward, forward, forward forward,. What if forward is not

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always the right direction? What if even six is not enough

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directions? What if there are more directions than there are

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stars in the sky? And we can't even imagine them as long as we

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are so focused on forward, forward, forward. What if

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instead of forward there's something else? What if instead

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of forward there's no cutting corners, there's no missing toes

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or heels? There's no blood on the track, no need to look back

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because nothing is up. Because that's not how we roll. We

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don't. We don't. We don't lie. We don't lie to ourselves or to

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other people about what we need or what we want or who we are.

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Or whether today is a good day or just a bad day or really

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shitty day, we don't lie. And why don't we lie? Because when

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we don't lie, we don't have to remember what we said we just

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have to remember what's true. And we don't have to pretend

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that we don't care. We don't have to pretend that we don't

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care. Instead, we can honor and acknowledge and tell the truth,

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which is that we do care, we are built to care. We are wired to

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care, we are wired to wish that everything could matter 100%.

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And that is a capacity problem. Everything does matter 100%. But

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what we individually can do about it is limited by the body

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parts we have, the brain parts we have, the food, the shelter,

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the energy parts we have. But that's only when we act

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individually. It's when we act individually that we begin to

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think that cutting corners or toes is okay. That it's

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necessary. That it's part of life. It's not. It's not part of

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life, though. Everybody, all the time, is part of life. And if

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we're running businesses, that's not half-true, that's

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double-true. Because of all the people we touch. And so what

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happens when we can't, we can't find the resources. When we

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think we need to cut corners, what happens is we speed up but

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what could happen is we could slow down. We could stop

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promising to do 10 things if we can only do five. We could start

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sharing what we know about doing things with other people who

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need a five things to do, we can give them five things and that

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can be theirs. And we'll do our five things and that can be

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ours. Or maybe we'll trade back and forth 10 things but not

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always the same 10 things but making sure that all 10 of those

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corners can stay whole. Wheels are good, but not every corner

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needs to be chopped off. Not every object needs to be round.

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Sometimes we need something that's robust and square or

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triangular. Sometimes we fit a whole bunch of triangles

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together and we get a hexagon. Sometimes the whole, the big

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round, juicy, ripe whole comes from each of us showing up with

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our own little pointy wedge.The pointy wedge that has all of its

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corners intact. So How do we find the time? How do we find

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the resources? Number one, we

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work with other people, we don't have to have it all, we don't

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have to do it all, we don't have to be at all. That is a lie that

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we can leave behind in 1980, or 1880, or some other time, when

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they thought that humans were at the top of some kind of

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ridiculous structure. We are not. We are just part of it,

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like everyone else is part of it. And our companies are part

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of it, too. And our employees are part of it too. And our

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clients are part of it to. Our companies are part of it, too.

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And our clients are part of it too. And we are all just part of

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it. We are all, together, part of it. We are all what we need

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to be, we are all together in it. That's all. That's all. And

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that's everything. And that's perfect. But if I personally,

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you personally, we personally, individually, do need more,

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where do we find it? We find it in the space of time, we find it

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in slowing down, we find it in changing expectations and

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promises. We find it in claiming the actual cost of our labor.

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This will take 10 weeks. That will take six months. This

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portrait cannot be painted by tomorrow. It cannot. That money

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doesn't exist yet, so you can't have it yet. But you can

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eventually. Because it will eventually. Because it exists

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somewhere already, but it doesn't exist in my control or

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in my pocket. And so there has to be some work, some

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rearranging, some collaboration with the universe first. If I

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don't have the resources, I'm just going to tell you I don't

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have the resources. And because I'm human and you're human,

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we're gonna figure out what the next best step is. Sometimes it

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means that I can't hire you, or you can't hire me. And sometimes

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it means that we can figure out a way for all of us to get what

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we need in some other way. And when it comes to time, when

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there is no time, when we're out of time, or energy, or

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attention, or hope, that's when we slow down. That's when we put

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an extra 50% into the calendar for everything. That's when we

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realize that somewhere the demand is unreasonable. And that

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as the business owner, we have the ability to change that. And

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Leela Sinha