People Help

People Help

Left to Right: Stephanie, Andy, Me

People help.  People not only make the place, they make any place or situation or day or month or year…better.

This week I’ve been feeling tense, nervous, uncertain, scared, and a bit uninspired…for probably silly reasons, but we’re all human.  We have our days.  We’re allowed. 

Perhaps it’s because I usually start my mornings with at least thirty to forty five minutes of jogging, running, sprinting, or something active.  A couple of weeks ago I injured my knee (most likely from overdoing it on my morning routine) so lately I haven’t been able to run.

Not only am I a bit off because of it, I’m nervous because I’m uncertain as to how serious (if at all) the injury is…and I’m uneasy about navigating the whole insurance company/copay/doctor visit/referral to a specialist journey. 

This morning my friend and colleague, Stephanie, put my mind at ease.  She has the fortunate and unfortunate desk location directly in front of the door in/out of our office.  We must pass by her every time we come and go.  I usually say hello and/or speak to her and/or get on her nerves (but we make each other laugh either way, so it’s cool) as I pass by her desk multiple times a day.
    

Today I told her about my knee injury and that I’m a bit annoyed by it, mainly because I can’t run and workout to the extent that I would like.  And I told her that I needed to figure out our insurance, how it works, where to go to the doctor, etc.

She stopped what she was doing and proceeded to give me a quick, 90 second tutorial on how our insurance works, and she suggested a place for me to go that would be convenient, quick, and efficient.  She said with a smile, laughing, tongue-in-cheek, to “please get it fixed for ALL of our sanity, get it fixed so you can run again.  We know how you get.”  All I could do was laugh...

Not only did she put my mind at ease, giving me one fewer worry as to where/how I would seek medical attention, she did so in such a way that made me smile…laugh…and I walked away thinking to myself, “wow, she really helped…” She may not have known it, but she truly helped my day get better than it was five minutes prior to our conversation.  Steph…thanks for just doing what you do.  It helps!

People help.

Today we also had the pleasure of spending two hours with author, speaker, and truly inspirational Chief Curator and Provocateur, AndyStefanovich, from Prohet (Prophet is a strategic brand and marketing consultancy).  

Andy taught a bit.  He coached a bit more.  He told stories with passion, creativity, and emotion.  In doing so, he dropped inspirational pearl after inspirational pearl of wisdom…I mean he had some absolute dimes.  From ‘focusing on the ‘beauty’, to ‘asking people about their story’ to my absolute favorite, ‘purposeful disruption’…I mean the content was extraordinary.  So awesome.

However, the most helpful, most profound, and most important thing he did was inspire our team to focus on people…starting with each other. 

He facilitated discussion and conversations among a group of individuals in such a way that by the time our two-hour session was over, we all felt a little more connected than we were an hour prior.  We felt inspired to go connect even more with one another.  (Maybe I’m the only one…but probably not.)  I found myself transforming from uninspired to INSPIRED.  It was all because I took the focus off of “me, me, me” and redirected it toward other people on our team.

Actively pursuing opportunities to learn about their story was fun, entertaining, and enlightening.  Focusing on them, how they have truly been an inspiration to me…and proclaiming my appreciation for them publicly…turned an otherwise routine Thursday into a game-changing, attitude 180-ing day. 

And finally, spending good old fashioned quality time with the people on our team, purposely disrupting our everyday routines, helped my outlook, my mental state, and my ability to inspire and be inspired.  It was all because of the people in the room, and most importantly how we made each other feel. 

People help.

If people help so much…if people not only make the place, but also make places better…and if people help any situation…there’s only one thing you and I should do, and that’s HELP PEOPLE every chance we get! 

Go OneMoreStep…today…HELP SOMEBODY.  They need it.

Have a great day.

Taylor