II.02.2019 - An Even Bigger Picture
In mid-December I realized that I had passed “peak creative” a few days earlier when I made a mistake that was humbling and disappointing. It all started at the end of November when a client consortium of non-profit community agencies engaged us to write a funding proposal on their behalf. They had a December 11 deadline for submission and limited resources to dedicate to this money project that could be a game changer for the community. We are known for writing well-researched, evidence-based proposals but even more for our ability to design the content so that it is compelling and persuasive. When the consortium explained their situation and the proposition — with a heavy dose of flattery related to our skills — I agreed to lead the initiative.
Skip ahead to December 8 and I found myself with a serious case of writer’s block with only three days until the deadline. Anyone who knows me realizes that I am pressure prompted and that I work well in challenging situations. But my escalating anxiety was only adding to my frustration and I was losing my edge. I needed to escape the emotional tailspin (I’m more Spock than Kirk on the emotional spectrum) so I picked up a book by Yuval Noah Harari entitled, 
Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind. The reflection time and Harari’s insights helped me to grasp a higher level of understanding about our genus and species. After several hours of deep concentration, reflection and mediatation, I embraced the fact that an impasse is just a pause between ideas and I broke free from my cognitive logjam.
But wait, there is more. I completed the proposal with three hours to spare and I flipped it back to the client consortium to perform the cosmetic edits and press send. The send button was never pushed. The deadline passed. The client thought that I would send the document and, of course, I thought the same thing in reverse. The miscommunication disqualified our proposal. The mistake wasn’t noticed until early the next day since the online system usually issues a notice of receipt via email and, of course, nobody received the notification. It was a demoralizing gut punch.
Our client was beyond gracious. There was no finger-pointing or blamestorming. In fact, they expressed concern for my feelings along with their appreciation for taking on the challenge and they reassured me that the proposal had exceeded our usual standards. Their outreach of support was before the funder agreed to let our client submit their proposal in the next round of funding. I felt humility and gratitude for being associated with such amazing people. Mistakes are not fatal but not learning from our mistakes may be.
Back to Harari and his exceptional book. He makes the point that if our technological evolution continues at or beyond the pace that has been set over the past 500 years, Sapiens will approach a-mortality by the year 2050. That’s not immortality but it is pretty close. One may succumb to an accident resulting from an unsuccessful attempt to jump off a cliff in a flying suit or being hit by an autonomous vehicle during a pub crawl but diseases and cellular degeneration (old age) will be an artifact of our human journey. Think about the implications for your grandchildren. I hope that they take the time to read positive, evidence-based predictions about our future like the ones Steven Pinker expressed in his book, The Better Angels Of Our Nature. Or to quote the pop prophet Edwin Starr, “War, whoa, lord / What is it good for / Absolutely nothing."
I experienced a quiet, refreshing and enlightening 2018 holiday break. It reinforced the fact that sometimes we have to slow down to go faster.