Leave it behind…

Another first practice, yesterday.  Lots of typical, first practice stuff.  One surprise, at least for me.

Yesterday, as this team departed together on this journey we call BUILT TO LEAD, I noticed something for the first time as people spoke and listened to each other.  I noticed a couple people who were leaving their baggage.  They were making a conscious choice to leave it behind.  AND, it hit me…

This is a really big part of the process and I’ve mostly missed it.  As the teams of four spoke and listened, I tuned in “like an animal being stalked.”

And it hit me fairly hard that we, at BTL, should prime people to purposely leave their baggage behind.

Leave it behind.

Yes.  Purposely, let it go.  Who, in their right mind, would go on the adventure of a lifetime with a ton of baggage weighing and slowing them down?  And yet we all carry a bunch of baggage and it’s not the kinda luggage you want to lug around.  It’s just not.  You see, this kinda baggage is filled with one thing packed a whole bunch of different ways.  It’s filled with the big “P” word…

PAIN.

The Builder’s journey is REAL, HARD, WORK and is best done without the weight and burden of your baggage.  How does one leave it behind?

I’m not certain I’ve got a lock on that one, but something tells me that it starts by digging it up, throwing it up on paper, and speaking it out to someone with really good hearing.  When you feel lighter and notice a little more giddy-up in your step, chances are you’ve dropped it.

Your Builder’s journey awaits.  A couple of your friends are around the  first bend in the road and are encouraging you to come.  You’ve still got your fears, we all do, but you feel ready to go.  And so you do.  With each step you are feeling lighter and stronger at the same time.  You are glad you’re here and are glad you’re not so sure what’s around the next turn.  You’ve got a little bead of sweat on your brow, you wipe it and notice that it feels really good to perspire like you once did.  Each baby step moves you toward your big dream and every baby step takes you further and further away from your baggage.  In fact, you’ve begun to forget what that baggage looked like and for the life of you, you can’t even remember what was in it.

You’ve left it behind.

Very cool…