I found my first cousin Jack from a DNA search and my life has never been the same since that moment in time.
Jack is my late mother’s first cousin. His mother and my grandmother were sisters. I lost my very beloved grandmother 71 years ago when I was just seven years old. Finding Jack was like finding a fresh link to her all over again.
Like her, Jack was born and raised in close proximity to New York City. Like her, Jack is talented in dance and the culinary arts. And like her, Jack is blessed with a creative and active mind. He never stops learning, doing, and producing.
His latest endeavor is an 87-page paperback book available on Amazon: Uncommon Sense: How To Think Clearly When The World Has Lost Its Mind
As Jack says: This is not a book of clever ideas. It is a book shaped by experience – growing out of a lifetime of watching how people think, decide and act in the real world.
Quite simply, Uncommon Sense upended my world by raising my awareness of the consequences of my actions (and inactions).
JACK’S TIDBIT #1 Good enough isn’t excellence
Excellence is comprised of small acts of awareness and care when people go beyond what is expected. As Jack notes: It’s the space between “that’ll do” and “what else can I do?”
I‘m definitely a person who buys into the “I’ve already done enough” syndrome – settling where it feels comfortable rather than daring to ask two key questions:
Could this be better?
Could I do more?
Applying this mindset to EVERY situation and opportunity could quickly deplete our energy. The trick is to go the extra mile – the final ten percent – on things that are really important to us.
I go to great lengths to post just the right picture of one of my jean jackets on Instagram. A good buddy of mine in California notices the post and suggests I “share it” – then confessing she has no idea how to do that.
Here are my choices:
A. Not follow through at all
B. Put learning how to share on my to-do list
C. Figure out how to “share” today
If I am committed to doing all I can do to sell my upcycled jean jackets, it’s pretty obvious the answer is Choice C.
JACK’S TIDBIT #2 Practice does not make perfect. Correct practice makes perfect.
I go to physical therapy once a week. Too often I half heartedly repeat the PT exercises at home. I don’t check my notes carefully – I run through them with haste – and I pay more attention to crossing PT exercises off my to-do list than actually performing them with precision and care.
Jack’s tidbit made me re-think my actions. If I’m not going to do something the correct way, why do it at all?
When I started writing today’s column, My GUT said offering three tidbits of Jack’s wisdom was ideal. BUT it’s getting late.
- I still have groceries to buy.
- I still have a yoga class to attend.
- I still have a salad to assemble for company coming tonight.
I am tempted to stop at just two tidbits. But after absorbing Jack’s lessons, how can I NOT go the extra mile???
JACK’S TIDBIT #3 Don’t learn from the best.
When we choose an instructor, how many times have we all focused on how well that person performs in their field and NOT on their ability to teach? As Jack notes, unfortunately we assume excellence at performing automatically means excellence in teaching, but it doesn’t. Doing the job and teaching someone how to do the job are not the same skill. What matters is what that person is able to teach us, not what that person is able to do.
And here is IRIS’S TIDBIT: Find yourself “a cousin Jack.”
I’m so glad I found mine. (Here’s a caricature of Jack.)
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
This week, instead of featuring one of our jean jackets, here is a very funny behind-the-scenes look at FUNKY CREATIONS…