Absolute.

 A while back, I read “Trust” by Dr. Henry Cloud.  He writes repeatedly about how humans are hardwired to trust.  We are built to trust others and form relationships.  The book covers a lot of ground but one of the over-arching ideas is that when you spend time with someone, the natural by-product of that time is that you begin to trust them. It does not matter much about the person’s actual conduct or character.   It also does not matter much how they treat you.   If you stick with them, you deepen your trust in them.   The books goes in depth about how this plays out in your daily life (it IS a worthwhile read), but I think we should also be very conscious of the inverse side of this equation… The people who are spending time with you, most likely trust you.  Even if there is no conversation with a trust litmus test or any other form of a DTR (Define The Relationship), they probably trust you and more significantly- your opinions.  Our ...

  “Great is the enemy of good.”   I do in principle believe that statement.   I have seen this play out.   I have come up with this elaborate Olympic high dive routine for something in my life and ended up doing a belly flop instead.   It has happened.   The statement has relevance and application and there are many tasks and areas of life where good is good enough. There have also been times when I have intentionally decided to be good, not great.   My last year of teaching was also the last year that three of my kids were going to be home.   I decided that I didn’t want to sacrifice my last year of major influence on my kids’ lives, for my classroom.   I chose to be a good teacher (not a great one). But still, great is the enemy of good, is not a statement I want to build my life around.   There are many parts of my life that I don’t want to just be “good”.   There are areas, tasks, and roles where I want to be “great”. ...