Opportunity

We do not have equal opportunities. We are not all capable of being Chairman or CEO of BHP. The key capability lacking, in most of us, is any desire to be Chairman or CEO of BHP.

We do, I hope, have the opportunity to become most fully ourself, and to make most fully our unique contribution to the world.

To achieve this we have to want to be ourself. We have to ignore the insidious voice of doubt, the disloyal whisper that we would be more acceptable if we were more like someone else. This someone else is usually someone we perceive as more successful, in our eyes or the world's eyes.

To fail without trying, to miss an opportunity should be our greatest regret. Should, coulda, woulda: didn't. In regretful moments we assume these missed opportunities would have led to greatness. Maybe, maybe not. I'm certain they would have led to integrity, to the honest expression of who we are.

This is post 27 of 43 posts.
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Persuasion

Good persuasive writing, everything from a love letter to an advertisement, to a public service announcement should focus on the readers' needs rather than the writer's.
This is why it's so hard to write your own resume. Its hard not to be invested. It's hard to remove all traces of either your ego or your insecurities. It is hard to separate your needs from the readers' needs.
Come to think of it, that can be a flaw with love letters too. The writer's need can overwhelm. The object of desire is not necessarily served by the protestations and agonistes being directed to him or her. The love letter 'works' best if the object of desire wants the heart the writer offers, wants the writer. The most perfectly written love letter in the world cannot overcome true indifference, it can at best fan a spark into a pilot light.
So perhaps persuasion has nothing to do with it. Whether in love letters or in resumes. at best they are a phantasm of the mind that crafts them, as a suit of clothes roughly delineates the body within.
This is post 22 of 43 posts.
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Seeing ourselves as others see us

If only we had some idea of how others see us. We might be made uncomfortable at times, but we would have some chance of amending our least admirable traits.

Regardless of the increase in society-wide inconsiderate behavior, most people feel too uncomfortable to call others on their bad behavior.

It takes only a moment for most of us to call to mind some behaviors we least like in our friends and colleagues! Usually traits they are utterly oblivious to... And which we don't have the heart or the interest to tell them about. It's easier to avoid the aggravation unless there's a compelling reason to do so.

So we stumble through our lives, fibbing, excusing, manipulating, demanding and generally being focussed on our desires and needs to the exclusion of others'. Worse, we think we're getting away with it because no-one has pointed out how transparent we are, some if not all the time.

According to Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule, we all act like a jerk sometimes: a bona fide asshole is someone who acts like that all the time.

If we could only see ourselves as others see us.

This is post 94 of 100 posts in 100 days.
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