I’m a pretty good listener — I’m sure some of my friends and colleagues will attest to that claim, but the ‘listen’ here is really more in relation to actions than words, because as the cliche goes, action speaks louder than words.
Wha, wait, how does one even ‘listen’ to an action?
Well, if you think of it as interpreting an amalgamation of gestures, words, intonations, body postures and of course, the all telling signs of a pair of eyes that are the surest giveaway of emotions whenever you’re in a conversation, then yes you can certainly listen to actions.
Yep, I read into actions a lot.
And so I got good at masking emotions too — a skill that I’ve honed for the past 33 years, and especially ever since late mum passed on — and maybe that’s why sometimes I behave like a noble gas of the periodic table, unreactive at room temperature.
It’s not that I’m guarded, introverted, or braindead or anything, but it’s more of a tendency to be calm and collected when emotions run high — so that I am able to think, and let my mouth spout calculated, calm words while my brain is desperately trying to digest chunks of data, where if it was a country, a state of emergency would’ve been voted for unconditionally.
Um, so it got voted for sooner than I’d like it to be.
This afternoon when big Boss HQ mentioned of leaving Stalwart to ourselves, due to the team’s inactions, a state of emergency was called for, but fortunately I had spent the full week working on our ‘secret’ project and incidentally knew what was needed to be said diplomatically, and curfew was averted.
That cruise missile was on my radar for a while but didn’t expect it to hit today.
And then tonight, when Iris finally ‘let loose’, it was the ballistic missile that you could see creeping in and out of the atmosphere, heading towards you while you stand in stupor, unsure of taking cover or running away.
After days of trying to communicate her thoughts to me, where me being me was frequently ‘out of office’, if you knew what I mean so… a state of emergency was probably what woul’ve been called for tonight, but not of the bad kind, but more of the ‘hmmm this seriously needs some deep thinking and rendez-vous’ kind.
So I’m really happy that we talked of things past and things future and a little bit of things present, and while there’s still a lot more to talk of, I’m determined that this year, 2016, is the year where I’m going to give that little bit more focus into everything little and big things that I do, so I’m very prepared to listen.
I’ve been ‘listening’ for a long while now and I’m glad we had the little private talk, although I’m still a little unsure where we’re heading towards, ‘cos things are still a little blurry as they’re falling into place.
I can’t even remember the last occurrence of intermittent intimacies or late nights of endless giggles, but one thing for sure, I know that if Iris needs me, I will always be there for her.
Even in a curfew.
2016 has just arrived, but I’m hoping that my emotional quotient stays sane a little bit longer.
Time blurs away, ebbing profusely with every passing night, seemingly going both out of and into focus at the same time.
It’s strange really, when you reflect on days gone by, trying to string up the things you’ve done with the things you actually need to accomplish — a sort of a mismatch made in earnest, and it makes you want to believe that everything that has transpired is good work done.
Really, time flies, and so did my family, returning home on EK354 (Emirates) on a Sunday afternoon, and it was reassuring and calming to hear again from Sis and family coming back on their last leg after almost a week of no contact, which was surprising indeed, because Sis isn’t the type to scrimp on getting good wifi/network and forego little talks!
All those nights without news I know in my heart that all is well, and that they are preoccupied with something bigger, and that’s good enough for me to sleep on.
So everyone’s back, alhamdulilah, and it’s really good to see everyone back together again, ‘cos I really missed them all — but I’m sure they miss Medina and Mecca more than they’d miss me! *wink-wink*.
Everyone except me went for their Umrah trip, and I just came back from sending them off at Terminal 1, an hour earlier where they took flight at 0120hrs with EK405 (Emirates).
Even bro and his 9 month pregnant wifey was there to grace the occasion and lend their precious time, as our family faded into the departure halls along with about 30 other participants from Jallaludin travel.
The send off was clean, peaceful and a little joyful too, fortunately.
I vividly recall my last trip to Umrah, circa 2004, as a homage to my late mum’s passing, as the opportunity to get closer to god presented itself, many many years ago.
Today, is Day 0 of their trip, as well as my solitary sabbatical, albeit at home — a much welcomed change of pace, as I’ll be aiming to complete tasks and achievements within the next 2 weeks.
Tonight, actually, is a challenge that I am looking forward to, one of many to come.
Last night, I occupied myself watching John C Maxwell’s videos again and particularly one kept me awake an hour — an hour long speech where he impromptus after finding out he’s going to be speaking to an awesome bunch of leaders from a certain company. (Youtube link here)
He titled his presentation “The rule of 5 for for lifting your leadership lid.”.
It’s about how you, as a leader, if you could rank your leadership capacity and based on that rank, the type of followers you’ll attract are the levels below which your leadership capacity is on — and in terms of an institution or a company, your followers are your business itself.
This means your organisation rises and falls on the level of your leadership.
So to build a better company or business, you’ll need to attract better people/customers by raising your leadership rank, or in this case your leadership lid.
John’s 5 rule to lift your leadership lid, by employing them EVERYDAY, are:
1) Lead Yourself — Lead by example. People do what people see.
2) Add value to people — Value your people. Don’t discount anyone.
3) Study leadership — Never stop learning about leadership.
4) Practice Leadership — Empower and teach others to lead others. Train more leaders.
5) Grow intentionally — Employ yourself to be in an environment where you can grow as a leader.
Harvest these 5 rules every single day, and John says that you’ll be able to raise your leadership lid.
IMHO, he’s basically repackaging the mantra of teaching yourself discipline and intentionally moulding yourselves into a successful leader.
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