i-beams

in stepping into what this outlier life looks like – my purpose – I always resonate with: making things that move people and building things that build people.

yes, I want to be a pioneer, a trailblazer, a table-maker, an innovator. but all those dreams make me prone to a selfish bent. a first-person perspective of my narrative. so it requires a grounding, a foundation built on values like faith, service, growth, and excellence, to keep me outward focused, properly oriented for the course ahead.

in building the building, we start with the foundation, the beams, the structure – all must be sound to have the capacity for all that will be built on and around it. my inner structure must have sound i-beams or else the world will crush it.

i-beams:

• identity – who am I? whose am I? what’s my mission, vision, values?

• inventory – where am I? who told me that? what ingredients do I have? what soundtracks am I playing?

• intention – what am I stepping into? how will I do it?

• intelligence – what information and/or skills do I need?

• inhibitors – what is standing in my way? what giants may be blocking my path?

• inflection – what inputs can I control to keep an upward trajectory? how can I address that negative stimulus?

• intake – what am I feeding on? is it helping or hurting? what is fueling the mission?

• innovate – can this be done differently? better? what’s primed to be optimized?

• impact – what does this all mean? what’s the fruit?

• influence – how does this affect others? who is getting the glory for this?

what an overhaul to the blueprint.

the more I invite these questions in my life, the better the structural integrity of what is built. the more I check the map and the compass, the better chance I have at staying on the trail.