Before I met Chet and began this journey of becoming “fully alive”, I played life a lot like Animal from the Muppets. When I was passionate about something, I banged and banged and banged away, exhausting myself and others around me. I used to get into heated debates arguments fights in very unproductive and unhealthy ways. I believed my passion gave me permission. I. Was. Wrong.
Every time I tried to lure Chet into this dance, he listened while I pounded on my drums. When I paused for air he’d ask, “Are you done?” That only spurred me to double down on my position. What a dumbass. Finally, when I was in fact done, he’d calmly ask me to write. Ugh, did I hate when he did this. Over and over and over and over and over he’d always point me back to writing, especially in my CORE.
Eventually I learned this new rhythm and integrated it into my day to day life – slowing down, reflecting and writing. I was a little bit more controlled in moments, but I was still aimless in my overall focus. Enter the OPUS. This concept lit me up, but I didn’t like the BTL OPUS acrostic (Overarching vision, Purpose, Unifying strategies, Scorecard of Significance). And so, the passionate fool that I can be took over and I feverishly came up with some of my own: Our Purpose Unified Strategies, Overarching Purpose Unique Selfhood, Objective Purpose Unique Skillset, to name a few. Once again, Chet would let me play myself out and then calmly ask, “Are you done?” I knew the drill.
Five years, countless CORE iterations and 11 OPUS’s later, I finally wrote my first one using the BTL language and it all clicked. My passion to be a unique individual had me chasing differentiation at the expense of deeply connecting. What a dumbass. I began asking insatiably curious questions and learn more about the melody line of BTL. At the end of these concerts of connection, I remember saying to Chet, “It’s all here, everything I need.” He’d smile, sometimes Duchenne’ly and add, “That’s right, Doscher. Trust the process, do the work.” Nowadays you won’t find a more staunch defender of it. Funny huh?
Carpe diem…
BUILT TO LEAD 
From “Are you done?” to “Done So” — that’s a good melody line.