I spend a lot of time educating myself in my craft. I read books, blogs and professional journals. I attend workshops and conferences. I keep up on industry news. I observe (and reach out to) diverse people and organizations to glean new ideas and perspectives. I write everyday.
I do all this because, like you, I want to be a leader in my field and because I want to deliver valuable services to my clients.
But last year, I re-read one of my favorite leadership books, On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis, and ran across this nugget of wisdom,
“Leaders haven’t simply practiced their vocation or profession. They’ve mastered it. They’ve learned everything there is to know about it and then surrendered to it.”When I read that last phrase, memories of sitting in front of my laptop — tense, focused, committed — flooded my mind. I can tell you. There wasn’t an ounce of surrender in the room! In fact, I had my heels dug in and my dukes up for an all-out battle with words.
Writing is something that I do well. After all, I’ve devoted years honing my skills and beefing up my knowledge in the field. But I confess, I’ve spent just as much time making writing very, very hard.
Of course, I found solace in the words of another mentor, William Zinsser, who writes in his book On Writing Well, “If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.” Ah… relief knowing that I wasn’t alone in my struggle.
I trudged along, accepting my lot — writing is hard. I carried on this way until I ran into that Bennis quote last summer. It was then that I realized that while writing may very well be hard, it didn’t have to be my dreaded albatross. I could love writing, completely, and be so in love with it that I desired it, even through its challenges.
But, I had to take the leap. I had to grow from studying my craft and learning about it, to fully surrendering to it. And that’s exactly what I did.
Zissner also says, “Trust your material,” which was my active step toward surrender. I released myself into my writing, letting it run free without the restrictive demands of my overly intellectual mind. And without sounding too “out there,” I learned to become one with writing. Although I must still concentrate and think, the act of writing flows with greater ease. It’s become a natural extension of who I am rather than an awkward appendage to be tamed.
Of course, the benefits of all this isn’t confined to how I feel about writing. I produce better content for my clients now. I interact better with them too. It’s been interesting to see how surrendering in a single area has improved other areas of my business and my life as a whole.
I know there are others who have dedicated years of studying and learning about their specialty or craft, yet haven’t fully surrendered to it. Are you one of them? I would love to hear your struggles, wins and stories.