Dog Days of Summer

August is the month of summer heat, humidity and maybe indolence. You know, the lazy, hazy days of summer, where sameness of weather wears you down and makes you sleepy and absent minded. When I was a kid, especially a teenager, I remember those lazy days. All I had to do to earn pocket change was mow lawns. And I had a few.

Between lawn mowing gigs, however, I had plenty of time to read, listen to music, ride the bike in the back pathways of New England, and generally commune with my inner self. Yes I was bored. But I learned to deal with it.

As an adult I didn’t have time to be bored. There was commuting to do. A job to go to. On the weekends the house and yard begged for attention. Evenings during the week were spent reading official material and watching some mindless TV. Then early to bed to prepare for the early to rise commute routine.

In retirement I sometimes catch a glimpse of the teenage years when time was more lazy and unformed. Now 55 to 60 years later, I have more on my mind and with more consequence than when a teenager. Still my time is amorphous to a point. I can do what I want whenever I want provided energy and health allow!

I keep myself busy and involved in several projects. SCORE provides a lot of focus. I work with clients alone or with partner mentors. I help clients focus on their business dreams, one idea at a time, one business at a time. This is a pleasant challenge. It is a huge issue for them, but an easy one for me. I think of the easiness. It was not always so.

I think what comes easy for me today is the ability to observe and process multiple threads that impinge on a central idea. The gestalt of our worlds are complex, but they are perceivable, watchable if you know what to look for. For those people caught up in the detail it is not always easy or possible to notice things that matter. That’s where distance and perspective make a difference.

I know. Some people would call this accumulated knowledge. Maybe even wisdom. I’m not sure what it is. But I do know something real is happening.

The other day I sat down with three clients at the same time. They were attending a 6-meeting workshop series on business plan writing. At sea with the details, but focused on their own business idea, it was easy to spot where each person’s development of process was. One was very advanced. Intuitive and then explosive when teamed with the right order of ideas. Fun to watch the eyes pop open and the jaw drop. Discovery. It is exciting. To experience and to behold.

Another is fairly well focused but still playing around the edges of the particulars. The plan is taking shape but in fits and starts. Her style is to be documented from the beginning and in narrative form. That’s OK. It is slow but it is certain. Very much like how I would handle it.

The third party was amorphous to the core. He doesn’t really know what he wants. He is capable of much. A gem of a past career. Great preparation for the future. But the options are many and narrowing down what is best and practical is time consuming and painful. Remember when you had several choices but each decision eliminated something you were still interested in? We can’t do everything we are interested in. Not enough time, energy or other resources. We have to choose something. Which means we choose not to do something else. He’s in the middle of that process. It cannot be rushed. He must be very frustrated.

Each client needs nurture different from the others. This is a challenge for them. But also for me.

On the other hand, I am energized by this work. When I get home, I reflect kindly on it, and then fall into a deep nap! I waken afresh ready for more.

Thank God for email, computers and interesting people. They make life worth living each and every day.

August 18, 2015