For me this has been a “say what” moment.  I mean it is like so obvious it is a “durr” moment. (I am rally showing my age with that statement)
Anyway it was something I read in the James Clear email.  I actually find it great in that I have been a big advocate of the need to obtain a number of views on which to make decisions.  To me this states simply why that is a good idea.
“Charles F. Brannan, former United States Secretary of Agriculture, on the magic of sharing what you know. (Source: "The United States in World Affairs." NBC. April 3, 1949.)
"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas."
Part of my job was to present information to my boss.  I was one of many voices that determined his position on matters.
Also when I was in charge of something, I liked to make a point of getting many views and make decisions based on them as well and not just my own.  I personally find it really counter-productive to good decision making to have just one view.  It may be right but conversely it may be wrong.  I have found that the best decisions take in a number of views.  The way for me to make the best decision is to consider a number of view points and keep or discard them based on their analysis.
Being surrounded by “yes men” may stroke my ego but it is not conducive to well thought out positions.  I am not the font of all knowledge.  So often there are things I have not considered that are totally worth considering.
What stands out to me is a time I needed to write a policy.  I did so but asked a number of people for their input.  To my mind the end product was way better that the one I had written alone.  Things were added I had not considered which made it a way better document.
So when ideas are shared I have more of them and make better decisions.

To me it is amazing how things stick with me.
I reckon I would have still been a teenager or very early 20’s.  I was going through a stage which was right for me.  A stage of I can do this and it included a multitude of tasks.  The mistake I made was assuming because something was right for me, ot was the right time for everyone.  I had a whole list I was going to do and had put one on the fridge for others to do to.
The lightbulb moment was being told that just because something is right for me right now does not mean it is right for everyone.
Naturally I think there are decisions for everyone that are always right.  They are decisions that I have not invented but ones someone who really knows has set.  The amazing thing to me though is that I can choose to do what is best for me or choose not to do it.
When Merril and I got married there was stuff to bring to this house.  We decided not to micromanage stuff at the other end and to deal with it at this end.  That meant clearing desks by pushing everything on a desk into a box and then bringing out what was really wanted.
I really feel my life is like that.  Much has accumulated on the desk of my life.  Stuff that is useful now and stuff that may have been useful once, but no longer is.  I therefore decide what is important enough to put on my desk and discard what I do not need.
So often what was useful in the past clutters my future.  I take the lessons learned with me but do not let past lessons hinder future ones.  What I need once, becomes flesh and blood in me, and I move on.
I may have developed myself to do 10 push ups.  That does not mean I do 10 push ups for the rest of my life.  15 push up beacons and after that who knows.  I will reach my limit but right now I do not know what that is.  What works in the past is a stepping stone to the future.  It is a part of the journey rather than the destination.
That is why I think my journey is a very individual thing and it is not up to me to impose what is right for me at the time on another.  I have my own individual journey. I will love and pray for another, and hopefully inspire by my actions, but trying to force change in another never works.  Except as an instruction tool for kids forced obedience always leads to resentment.
Like when I made a list for others to do.  Didn’t work.  Change did happen.  Just not according to my timeframe.

My Serve
I am reading a book by a guy with a surname of Sheridan at the moment.  He is a reporter for a major tv network.
At the moment he is telling the stories of various ones who have been unique in their own ways.  He just mentioned the Abdullahs.  The wife was from Lebanon while the hubby is an Australian born Lebanese person.  They made the news as it was three of their kids that were hit by a car and killed as they were walking to get ice cream.  The remarkable thing about them was not that they just experienced overwhelming grief, but they exhibited forgiveness that impacted not just the genuinely remorseful perpetrator, but the prisoners he was with, and many others.
At the moment he is telling the story of a lady that helps homeless people.  She spent 7 years on the street herself and is now assisting ones from that environment.
It is a sentence of his that has impacted me big time.  It is from a heritage that is unfamiliar to some, but the truth of what he said I think is universal and applicable to all.  She not only helps, but teaches others to help also.  He said, “she was a servant before she was a witness.”  In his mind being a servant has made her a great witness, and being a great witness has made her a great teacher.
The point for me sort of validates something I have felt for a long time.  That is, life gives weight to words.  It is one thing to say good things, and quite another to live what I say.  Living something is harder than saying something.
Yet to me it is the living something I look for.  I do not pretend that any one is perfect apart from one that walked the earth millennia ago.  In my mind even the greatest have flawed thinking and display flawed actions at times.
It is a life that impresses me.  A body of work.  Something not just said but lived.  It is that that inspires and motivates me.  In my mind what better way to achieve a worthwhile goal than to be a servant.
I try to keep a good mechanic when I find one.  And a good doctor.  Anyone who not just says the right things but does the right things is in my mind worth holding onto. Someone who serves well I reckon is worth holding on to as well.  Many a servant has found themselves exalted into a rarified atmosphere of power just by doing their job well.  Not just saying but doing.
So for me I am happy to be a servant.  Who knows where it could lead.  But the point for me is even if it leads nowhere there is no satisfaction like a job well done.  I can talk about eating a cake all I like, but it is the eating it that satisfies.