Don’t get the 3 Opus questions backwards. . .

This is an AND to Chet’s blog about ‘nosier and noisier’ and becoming more like a creative genius in the most important areas of life. . .

Many of you are familiar with our ‘Master in the Art of Living’ quote by Chateaubriand — this one’s by by another dead French guy named Blaise Pascal.

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?  This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself. [Pascal, Pensees #425]”

I think Pascal is on to something, namely that the ORDER of the 3 big questions we all have in life is SUPER important. … amidst all the noise, most of us have grooved answering them in the WRONG order.    Since we were in school, we’ve been trained that HOW I LIVE will (hopefully) answer the nagging question WHO AM I by (hopefully) making me a SOMEBODY which will (hopefully) finally explain WHY I LIVE.

Sound familiar?   That’s the lie of the of  Performance Trap which will produce a lifestyle of DREAD & DO leading to further and further emptiness.

Not so hopeful.

If you are extraverted like me, learn from your intraverted friends and SLOW DOWN.  Give yourself the gift of time, and WRITE about your W-orldview (WHY I LIVE), I-dentity (WHO AM I), and P-rinciples (HOW I LIVE).   And do NOT mix the order, or you will have the means justifying the end.  Then rinse + repeat …and re-visit at least once a year (e.g. do it every January instead of making resolutions) because we are all a Work In Process.   

BUILT TO LEADERS know what they believe and WHY, and are pursuing ALIGNMENT in what they DO with what they believe.   As you do so, you will experience less emptiness, less noise — and more & more CLARITY + CONGRUENCE in the 3 big questions, which is the BUILT TO LEAD framework for more & more OPUS.