I’m deployed. I have limited time to fix what our country is doing in Afghanistan. Luckily I can work as much as I want. I am only limited by time, my energy and concentration.
Picture me moving from meet to meet, task to task – building bridges and breaking down walls in order to enable action. I am empowering my team and my command to get things done. Like in a video game, I have a little box in the top right of the screen that measures my health. Interactions with some people are like picking up little health pellets, while interacting with others is like getting hit by a shotgun.
I run into a lot of people that need things. Some need my time. All need my attention. Some just want to talk, cause I’m a wild and crazy guy. Some want to vent. Some want to run an idea past me. I’m happy to do all of this, it’s my job.
Many of these people give and take. I depend on many of these people. They also give me the opportunity to vent, talk, deliberate and conspire – these are the givers. Some of these people only take – these are the takers.
Be careful, don’t become a taker. Here’s how you avoid it.
- Be efficient. Learn to communicate well. Communicate clear, clean and correct.
- Know your stuff, explain the why you’re talking then get to the f’in point.
- Be aware. Understand your surroundings and know when to communicate what. Don’t grab people “for a minute” when they clearly don’t have one. Example – if you approach me in the middle of a workout, I will cut you.
- Be humble. What you have going on isn’t the most important thing everyone has going on. We all have our shit.
- Be positive. If all you ever do is bitch, you’re robbing people of their energy.
- Be good. Get it right the first time. If people have to tell you the same thing several times, you’re screwing your buddies.
Look in the mirror, are you a giver or a taker?
Now go and do likewise.
(Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William McCann, DVIDS)
