Tag Archive for: flexibility

Built Right, Still Wrong…

At home these last few weeks, Monic has been on another mission, painting and decorating.
 
At times the house has been upside down and, on a few occasions, I’ve been enlisted to help.
 
It may have been to move a bed, lift a rug, order something online, build some flat pack furniture, pick up something from a shop etc.
 
Monic’s work ethic is amazing and when she gets started, you simply need to get out of the way.
 
It got me thinking about a few things – especially when it came to flat pack self-assembly furniture this week.
 
I ordered the items online, picked them up from the store and duly started to put the bedside cabinet together.
 
It wasn’t too difficult and within an hour the first was completed.
 
Having built one, the second was easier and within half an hour, the last thing I needed to do was put the drawer in.
 
But alas, for some reason, it wouldn’t fit!?
 
Cue that familiar DIY moment: denial, frustration, blame.
 
Was it me? Did I mess something up?
 
Stumped, I took a closer look.
 
The drawer rail pre-installed by the manufacturer was the wrong one.
 
I couldn’t do a thing.
 
I called on Monic to check it wasn’t just me seeing something wrongly…
 
She confirmed that no tool could fix that.

The Life Lesson

 
And that’s when it clicked, this was a real-world lesson in control.
 
– I had 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 control when I laid out the parts and followed the instructions.
– I had 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 control when I checked my work and asked for a second opinion.
– But with the faulty rail? I had 𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒐 control. All I could do was adapt. Accept. Return it and reorder.
 
On reflection – I followed the instruction manual with exactness, step by step.
 
But the part was wrong from the start.
 
There was nothing I could do to fix it.
 
Sometimes, even when you do everything right, things still won’t work—because the problem was built in from the start.
 
The real test is how you respond when the plan fails.
 
Are you solving problems—or just following instructions?

And we’re off! (again)

The 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 constant in life is 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆.
Fasten your seatbelts everyone!!!
Change in the mission field accelerates at an unprecedented speed.
Yet, our six-week mission transfer cycle ensures that the pace of change is also predictable.
While this is overwhelming for some, it isn’t going to stop anytime soon!
If you are serving as a missionary in any one of the 416 missions around the world, you’ll need to keep up!
The work of salvation is hastening even faster, there is an increased urgency and speeding up of the work, is an absolute, it is a given!
So how do you keep up?
Maintaining a regular constant regime of learning, through daily routines can really help.
In our mission, like others, there is a strong focus on 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.
We decelerate on a few occasions too, in order to accelerate once more.
Slowing down in our Mission Leadership Council, Zone Councils, District Councils, Zone Conferences, weekly huddle calls and 1-1 personal coaching sessions with every missionary, allows each of us to catch our breath just long enough, communicate, have some deep dialogue, get aligned, then set the right attentions and intentions for the remainder of the transfer.
I have experienced that our environment of constant change is as natural as breathing.
But, like anything else, it takes time to adjust and find your rhythm.
Weaving agility, flexibility, adaptation, and resilience into our personal DNA help us feel comfortable.
Ultimately, change happens through people.
I have learned that if you want to keep pace with change and tackle future changes, then the 𝐤𝐞𝐲 is to 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔.
How do you manage to keep up with change?