About a month ago my daughter and I planned how we’d catch the tooth fairy when my son’s first tooth fell out.
It was super creative and reminded me of problem solving when facing limitations. Read about it here.
Well, last night, the time had finally come.
Tooth wrapped in a tissue, we set the trap.
This morning, when the kids awoke, it turned out my son had been sceptical all along, but was now convinced the tooth fairy is real, because there was a sign she’d been into his room!
He explained it to me, excitedly:
We didn’t catch her, but she must have flown past the rose bushes in the garden and some petals stuck to her and then they stuck to the door handle when she came in to get my tooth!
Here’s what we saw
However those petals got there, it was a little bit of magic to start my son’s day (my daughter, sadly, woke up tired and grumpy and it was all lost on her).
Creating magic at work
This afternoon I had a coaching session with one of my team at work. We spent some time talking about how he’s modest and doesn’t like public praise, especially if he thinks the effort he had to go to was small.
He gave me an example – he created a report which shows the progress of each development ‘ticket’. The change had such high impact, that the whole team and their manager praised him in meetings.
But he was embarrassed. To him he’d just written a query, returning a few fields and the status.
‘How many people are in that team’? I asked him
’10’, he replied
‘Did any of them think about an automated report, know it was possible to build or try to do it themselves’?
‘No’
‘So, what is simple to you, is like climbing mountains to them’.
We talked from there about modesty and taking credit for his achievements, and about how his skills allow him to create those moments of magic for other people.
On reflection I see that with a lot of people, especially experienced professionals. They discount their experience, like it’s assumed they’ll bring that to the table, and it’s not special.
That’s true to a degree, you get hired at work to employ the skills you have.
But if you look closely enough, you’ll find you interact with people all day who are glad you’re there.
The way someone sensible like you runs a meeting and keeps everyone on track.
The way you make everyone smile and feel better about themselves when things look bleak.
Or maybe you’re one of the lucky ones and people scream your name as you…no not get out of the lift at your office… I was going to say play electric guitar in front of a stadium audience.
Whatever it is you do, remember you can create moments of magic with the simplest of touches.
Your Clear Mind 