I think we all go through periods where we strain to hear some feedback, any feedback, just a little bit of feedback, puh-lease, and all we get are Crickets! For some, that period can be short; for others, it can be gruellingly long. Irrespective of the road we travel and the kind of human we are, there is always a period in our lives when we are greeted and tormented by the sound of Crickets.
Of course, we both know the worst we can do to ourselves is to allow our lives to be ruled (destructively, of course) by that sound of Crickets. The better and more complex way is not to assume that Crickets mean no one is paying attention. The better way is to believe that many others ARE indeed paying attention — in the silence and comfort of their own worlds. Lapping up everything we draw, paint, create, write and generally put out using whatever talent we were born with.
When you hear Crickets, please do NOT assume no one is paying attention. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the delight of the unexpected is indeed delicious.
Remember a few weeks ago, my January started with a lovely surprise? An article I wrote was voted the best of the best for 2022 in the leadership category. At the time, I had no idea what it could be.
Then, when the list was publicly unveiled, one of my favourite pieces of lived experience and wisdom got its happy moment shining in the sun! You will recognize two sections if you have been on my Sunday mailing list for a while now. The first section I ranted on about in 2022. The second section I pulled from a post and my first podcast in 2019.
See it here (and note the ranking!)
https://tealfeed.com/throwback-2022-best-leadership-articles-featured-sckbr
I wasn’t convinced that the list was correct. So I verified with the organizers there was NO special programming which put every writer’s article at the top of the list in their feed. With confirmation that no such shenanigans had taken place, I was THRILLED to take the top spot. And as you can tell, the day I stitched the two pieces together, I felt very saucy, and that energy was very apparent.
So what do I get, and does this mean anything?
No money. No offers. On the one hand, it doesn’t mean anything other than a few people thought I was on to something. But, on the other hand, it confirmed for me that several things set in motion in 2019 are now showing some positive signs.
Here is the backstory
First, it took 30 years to live, experiment, fail, finally get right and then deliver mega-watt results and outcomes with the kind of leadership you read here. More times than naught, over 30 years, it was all Crickets!
In the fall of 2019, I scripted part of this for an episode in my first podcast, People First, Profit Second.
I thought the whole podcast was Crickets until I learned it won the best new business podcast for 2019. Two years later, in 2021!
Remember the story last year I shared about how someone found my writings on Medium and asked me to share my work on his Blogcast app? I repurposed ten specific episodes of that original podcast, including a version of this article and held my breath. Crickets!
I rewrote the script in 2022 to make it more readable and addressed some of the craziness I saw happening after the pandemic had swept through. Then, finally, I uploaded it to Medium and Tealfeed. (I have 60 followers on Medium and over 6,000 on Tealfeed.)
Again, Crickets.
And THEN,
Early in January 2023, I received notification I had made the year’s list. But, I didn’t know what list, didn’t know where on the list and didn’t know what piece of writing it was for. (I also didn’t know how to share this good news and begged my friends for help!)
And in January, the Crickets temporarily left the building!
Three Big Lessons
-Instant gratification is severely over-rated. Working in the salt mines, toiling away on yet another set of 10,000 hours, staying true to your beliefs, especially when it is outside the norm — that IS the way.
-Recognition, no matter the size, feels delicious!
-Regardless of how crazy you think you might be, and others believe you are, trust your heart and soul. Never your brain. Because your heart and soul ALWAYS find the best way through everything.