Mindful of Your Collaborators
Photo – Stan Baranski, CC
Self-observing is a step towards knowing. Asking why is another step towards knowing. Vulnerability and ownership are steps towards understanding.
We live in a collaborative world. Very little, if anything, is truly done alone without any guidance or contribution from another person. Even a DIY is in need of YouTube video tutorials, books, borrowing tools, etc.
So, when you work with someone else—whether for a project or a lifetime—it is essential to be mindful of how you act and react to them.
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Let’s use this three step process when looking at collaborations:
OBSERVE:
How do I work with this person?
How do I feel when they call?
How do I respond when they ask for something or propose an idea?
INQUIRE:
Now, ask “Why?” to all those answers.
OWN:
Now—here’s the difficult part—look back at all those answers and own it deeper. Are you acting or reacting? Is this person a recurring type of collaborator in your life? If so, what’s the pattern*? What was the outcome of those previous (and suspiciously familiar looking) relationships?
*HINT: the pattern may not show up solely in your work. This dynamic may pop up in your family, your education, your neighbors…
Own how you work with your collaborators. It’s vitally important because without self observation, inquiry, and ownership, you are destined to attract the same dynamics.
It doesn’t have to be magic or intangible fate.
There’s a reason you work the way you do.
There’s a reason you work with who you work with.
If it’s working for you. Fab! Own it. Be intentional about. Make yourself a stronger magnet for more of that goodness.
If it’s not working for you. Fab! Own it. Be intentional about that. Be able to smell another funky collaborator coming from a mile away.
And then, tap into one that worked. Even if it wasn’t in your professional life. It might be simply dynamics that are positive, pushing, and productive for you in other spheres (love, family, community).
And unless you want to keep tripping blindly into successful or funky collaborations… I’d do it now.
** Digging on this? This is a sample of the revolution we’re cooking in our secret Facebook group – The Revolution is YOU. Come on in, if you’re ready to flip your world on its ear.