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
Hi, everyone, thanks for tuning in. This is
Leela Sinha:the one about making time. This is the one about making space
Leela Sinha:and making time and making the room in our hearts to do the
Leela Sinha:things we know we should do. Because the lie that we tell
Leela Sinha:ourselves, that everyone else tells us, is that we don't have
Leela Sinha:time. That we can't because there's no time, there's no
Leela Sinha:time, there's no energy, there's no money, there's no resources,
Leela Sinha:there's no something that's so limited, that we can't help but
Leela Sinha:not. And instead, we have to cut a corner. And that corner that
Leela Sinha:we're cutting is not just a corner of a box, it's a corner
Leela Sinha:of a toe or a heel. It's not just leaking a few loose spoons
Leela Sinha:in the move across country. It's leaking blood. And we tell
Leela Sinha:ourselves over and over that it's okay, it's got to be okay.
Leela Sinha:Here, have some have some bandages, have a styptic pencil,
Leela Sinha:have a have a have a have a something, something just to
Leela Sinha:stop the bleeding so we can keep marching forward, forward,
Leela Sinha:forward, forward, forward forward,. What if forward is not
Leela Sinha:always the right direction? What if even six is not enough
Leela Sinha:directions? What if there are more directions than there are
Leela Sinha:stars in the sky? And we can't even imagine them as long as we
Leela Sinha:are so focused on forward, forward, forward. What if
Leela Sinha:instead of forward there's something else? What if instead
Leela Sinha:of forward there's no cutting corners, there's no missing toes
Leela Sinha:or heels? There's no blood on the track, no need to look back
Leela Sinha:because nothing is up. Because that's not how we roll. We
Leela Sinha:don't. We don't. We don't lie. We don't lie to ourselves or to
Leela Sinha:other people about what we need or what we want or who we are.
Leela Sinha:Or whether today is a good day or just a bad day or really
Leela Sinha:shitty day, we don't lie. And why don't we lie? Because when
Leela Sinha:we don't lie, we don't have to remember what we said we just
Leela Sinha:have to remember what's true. And we don't have to pretend
Leela Sinha:that we don't care. We don't have to pretend that we don't
Leela Sinha:care. Instead, we can honor and acknowledge and tell the truth,
Leela Sinha:which is that we do care, we are built to care. We are wired to
Leela Sinha:care, we are wired to wish that everything could matter 100%.
Leela Sinha:And that is a capacity problem. Everything does matter 100%. But
Leela Sinha:what we individually can do about it is limited by the body
Leela Sinha:parts we have, the brain parts we have, the food, the shelter,
Leela Sinha:the energy parts we have. But that's only when we act
Leela Sinha:individually. It's when we act individually that we begin to
Leela Sinha:think that cutting corners or toes is okay. That it's
Leela Sinha:necessary. That it's part of life. It's not. It's not part of
Leela Sinha:life, though. Everybody, all the time, is part of life. And if
Leela Sinha:we're running businesses, that's not half-true, that's
Leela Sinha:double-true. Because of all the people we touch. And so what
Leela Sinha:happens when we can't, we can't find the resources. When we
Leela Sinha:think we need to cut corners, what happens is we speed up but
Leela Sinha:what could happen is we could slow down. We could stop
Leela Sinha:promising to do 10 things if we can only do five. We could start
Leela Sinha:sharing what we know about doing things with other people who
Leela Sinha:need a five things to do, we can give them five things and that
Leela Sinha:can be theirs. And we'll do our five things and that can be
Leela Sinha:ours. Or maybe we'll trade back and forth 10 things but not
Leela Sinha:always the same 10 things but making sure that all 10 of those
Leela Sinha:corners can stay whole. Wheels are good, but not every corner
Leela Sinha:needs to be chopped off. Not every object needs to be round.
Leela Sinha:Sometimes we need something that's robust and square or
Leela Sinha:triangular. Sometimes we fit a whole bunch of triangles
Leela Sinha:together and we get a hexagon. Sometimes the whole, the big
Leela Sinha:round, juicy, ripe whole comes from each of us showing up with
Leela Sinha:our own little pointy wedge.The pointy wedge that has all of its
Leela Sinha:corners intact. So How do we find the time? How do we find
Leela Sinha:the resources? Number one, we
Leela Sinha:work with other people, we don't have to have it all, we don't
Leela Sinha:have to do it all, we don't have to be at all. That is a lie that
Leela Sinha:we can leave behind in 1980, or 1880, or some other time, when
Leela Sinha:they thought that humans were at the top of some kind of
Leela Sinha:ridiculous structure. We are not. We are just part of it,
Leela Sinha:like everyone else is part of it. And our companies are part
Leela Sinha:of it, too. And our employees are part of it too. And our
Leela Sinha:clients are part of it to. Our companies are part of it, too.
Leela Sinha:And our clients are part of it too. And we are all just part of
Leela Sinha:it. We are all, together, part of it. We are all what we need
Leela Sinha:to be, we are all together in it. That's all. That's all. And
Leela Sinha:that's everything. And that's perfect. But if I personally,
Leela Sinha:you personally, we personally, individually, do need more,
Leela Sinha:where do we find it? We find it in the space of time, we find it
Leela Sinha:in slowing down, we find it in changing expectations and
Leela Sinha:promises. We find it in claiming the actual cost of our labor.
Leela Sinha:This will take 10 weeks. That will take six months. This
Leela Sinha:portrait cannot be painted by tomorrow. It cannot. That money
Leela Sinha:doesn't exist yet, so you can't have it yet. But you can
Leela Sinha:eventually. Because it will eventually. Because it exists
Leela Sinha:somewhere already, but it doesn't exist in my control or
Leela Sinha:in my pocket. And so there has to be some work, some
Leela Sinha:rearranging, some collaboration with the universe first. If I
Leela Sinha:don't have the resources, I'm just going to tell you I don't
Leela Sinha:have the resources. And because I'm human and you're human,
Leela Sinha:we're gonna figure out what the next best step is. Sometimes it
Leela Sinha:means that I can't hire you, or you can't hire me. And sometimes
Leela Sinha:it means that we can figure out a way for all of us to get what
Leela Sinha:we need in some other way. And when it comes to time, when
Leela Sinha:there is no time, when we're out of time, or energy, or
Leela Sinha:attention, or hope, that's when we slow down. That's when we put
Leela Sinha:an extra 50% into the calendar for everything. That's when we
Leela Sinha:realize that somewhere the demand is unreasonable. And that
Leela Sinha:as the business owner, we have the ability to change that. And