As I am flying back from Chicago to my adopted home in San Jose, I look down on the Great Salt Lake and wonder how this strange convergence of elements came to together in such a beautiful and, apparently, useful fashion. In my hand, lies a book lent to me by a friend, full of sharp prose that portends not answers, but a place to start looking.
Bill Bryson’s *A Short History of Everything investigates almost everything: from before the Big Bang through today and some glimpses into the future. He takes wildly scientific and obscure complexities and makes it accessible to normal people like us. Even though I am trained as an engineer, I am not an academic or scientist; I am a problem-solving technician at best. I have been through a good bit of what Bryson touches on in various classes and readings, but he integrates many angles which enables me to think and access my world in ways that the other independent pieces did not…
What does any of that have to do with the title of this essay? Almost nothing, but actually everything; read on and let me explain. Part of what he discusses is the massive confluence of circumstances that needed to take place in an exact sequence and in exact quantities to have us get to where I am writing this piece and you are reading it. If gravity was stronger, the universe would collapse and if weaker, it would have never coalesced. Starting there and going through all of the atomic cooperation, evolutionary shifts and genetic lineage that leads to me and the technical marvels of air travel and portable computers, it is by mere chance that any of this has happened at all. That set of miracles leads me to and has me hold my essential vocational calling: to help myself and others “Mind the Gap.”There are signs in Britain (and perhaps other parts of the civilized English-speaking world that I have yet to visit) that read “Mind the Gap.” Once perplexed as to their meaning, I now know that it instructs the reader to be aware of (and stay present to) the gap that exists between the rail car and the station platform where most of these signs are found. They are installed as common courtesies to help keep us conscious so we don’t fall or otherwise injure ourselves when entering or exiting the train.
I am a business consultant who works with individuals and teams in growing businesses to facilitate and catalyze the articulation and execution of their personal and professional ambitions. Like the sign, I help keep people from falling into the gap in their roles, skills, practices and tools that would prevent them from getting from where they are now (their present state) to their desired future (ultimate situation). If successful, they stay conscious and are able to remember what it is that they are trying to produce and the courageous action it will take to get them there.
Instead of looking at the gap as something to be intimidated by and afraid of, the gap should be embraced and well-known by its owner. For without the gap, there would be no ambition to start with, we would already be there. The gap may be (and usually should be) large and audacious; that is how powerful futures and wonderful lives that are worth living are created.
What sort of structure is required to produce the gap and to close it? First, it starts with a story: just what future are you out to produce? Once you have your ambition, there are all of the resources necessary to fulfill on the story. What amount of time, energy and/or money do you need to pull it off? Besides all of the roles, people, skills, practices, and tools we need to construct
our futures, we need to take time to reflect on where we are, criteria (metrics) to assess where we are and how we are doing, and to celebrate the small victories along the way to propel us to keep our rigorous action on track over time. More on all of this in future essays…Oh well, we are now entering California and passing over another set of miracles in Yosemite. I’ll sign off for now and hope that you “Mind the Gap” until we meet again. Go forth and prosper; this is not a dress rehearsal.
