Master of the Universe?
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"It is time I stepped aside for a less experienced and less able man."
~ Professor Scott Elledge on his retirement from Cornell
MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE?
Today's quote has got to make you laugh. Professor Elledge had a clear concept of his intelligence and qualifications, but also a sense of humor about his confidence in himself (or lack of confidence in others!). Then his words make us start to think about how we perceive our own talents, and how unwilling we might be to "let go" of some of our control, meaning our control over our responsibilities and tasks - what we are expected to do and how well we are expected to do it.
What happens when the time comes to relinquish some of that control? Perhaps you have finally gotten to the point of needing an assistant or - horrors - to train someone else to perform your duties. Personal confidence is a superb trait, to be sure, but what happens when that confidence makes you feel like you're the only person in the world who can handle what you do? Maybe it's time for a reality check.
If you have these feelings, it's possible that you've already got too much responsibility in the first place. Sometimes it is very difficult to give up some of your responsibilities out of the fear that someone else will just "screw it up." Did you know how to do everything your job involves on the first day you started? A time always comes to let someone else learn how to do things, and allow them to help you if necessary.
Chances are that we all started out as "less experienced and less able," and along the way we surely made our own mistakes, learned and coped and ended up where we are today - Masters of the Universe! So don't worry about relinquishing some control - in the end it often proves to be better for you and for whomever needs to develop the experience that led to your own success!