Another Chance to Self-Author

 I hit a moment the other day . . . a true test of my self-authorship journey. Remember, self-authorship is defined by among other things an ability to see others' perspectives, to be able to understand. Well, the other day, I was not "understanding" in any way . . . I was livid!

Why?

Well, I was invited to a conference call on microlearning. What's microlearning? Microlearning is training that is chunked into smaller portions. It's a great way to train, but it's challenging in the energy industry that I support.

Good thing they invited me to the call . . . I've deployed three microlearning systems in my career. That's sure to be a rarity in the energy industry.

So why did this make me so mad? Why did I have to use all of my powers of self-authorship?

I showed up early, as is usual for me. What was not usual was that the call had already started. I was five minutes early, but when I logged on the call was in full swing. Not going through introductions, not starting the conversation, I felt like I was a half hour or more late! I even asked the organizer if I got the time wrong since they were so far along in the discussion.

I was not a half hour late. I was early. They had just been earlier than I, and they had decided to not wait to get started. Now, is that a big deal? Not really. But it's a level of disrespect for my time and my thoughts that had me STEAMED! I almost hung up on the call! I almost wrote the organizer to complain, loudly, about how rude that was.

Then I realized two things . . . 1) I had never formally accepted the call. I had given it a tentative. They shouldn't wait for someone who hasn't even committed. Should they have waited? Sure. But, based on what they saw from me, I might not have been coming.

2) And this one is a bigger deal . . . I promote within departments a sua sponte attitude. If my managers see an opportunity to move forward and do the right thing without direct orders, than I should support that and promote that. That's basically what the organizer and my manager who was already on the call was doing. I shouldn't be upset by that, I should be proud. At my level . . . I apply vision, maybe some direction, they supply the work and the sweat equity, I help when needed.

This also is a challenge for me at the moment . . . the changing nature of the work I do. In the past I enjoyed getting my hands dirty and doing the work. Now, I'm an idea guy. Worse, . . . I'm an idea now leave us alone to execute guy. Almost a consultant. For a guy who enjoys the "doing" side of things, being the guy who just has ideas that the workers can take or leave is a challenge.

But, I found that within half an hour, by focusing on those two things up there, I was able to self-author my way out of that anger. It was a good test and I think I . . . for the most part, . . . passed.