Thursday, June 22, 2017

Do You Destroy, Maintain or Build?

It seems that most people maintain. They neither destroy nor build. Some destroy and destruct, continually tearing apart what's possible, and of course, others are builders--they like to create and make.

In each of our lives we probably mainly balance maintenance and building. We maintain what serves us well, and perhaps, build where we see room for better. At times we may destroy too in areas where we see no promise or possibility.

In general, I think we do best with a builder's mindset as that mindset fits a changing world. Our world one minute to the next is never the same--it is always changing and the builder knows that he/she needs to continually redesign and re-think his/her life to flexibly move with changes in his/her world.

The maintainer often loses sight of the changing world. He/she sometimes maintains for good reason, but at other times, may maintain long after a tradition, process, or routine is valuable--he/she may not recognize the impact change has on our days and our need to build and develop in response to those changes.

The destroyer may be one without hope, one who cannot see possibility and promise and therefore only pays attention to what's not working and looks for ways to take down or deconstruct his/her world.

The builder's mindset creates team, forwards possibility, and leads positive change. In general, this is where I'd like to put most of my time and energy.