Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Just the Facts

I work in an intense Corporate environment. There is never a black or white solution to any obstacle in this work life. The ramifications of any business decision being made are analyzed for political, perceptive, time cost and quality impacts from every point of view before the hammer drops on the decision. Although I have some autonomy over staff and my firms internal process compliance...it becomes to a large extent...management by process. Very little creativity can be used in the official side of decisions. I do get to throw some practice pitches which test out what the most effective angle of a decision might be. While decisions are made using facts, the facts are selected, positioned and emphasized in an effort to gain the best result. Lots of the people that are a part of the process become intensely frustrated either short term or long term, which has a hangover through exposure on many others. The amount of restraint required to personally communicate negative facts in a personally accountable position does lead to life ending stress for some. In the big picture corporately, the work of this environment is self-regulated by policy, who has the power, and what decision comes closest to the answer that power holder requires. That is one slant or mindset on this work life.

On the other hand...

If you have been through enough years of this type of result driven process to get a paycheck, ultimately you can choose to have your personal identity created by it, and effected by it hourly....or do the best you can (which means get enough sleep, food, vitamins, and stress relief routinely) and find a more consistent identity outside of your work life. This gives significant weight to the cliche' "God, then family, then self". You or I can choose to be a one of a perceptively insignificant number or "workers" or take the work to live stance and become a person instead.

...a person.

On my journey, I am finding at this, ahem, middle age of life (much too late in my opinion) this a value generating attitude. A prioritizing philosophy for self identity. The freedom then to choose an identity of passion is evident. Right now its a Catholic Journeyman...and this journey is worthy of my focus.

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