‘When you are being the board, you present no obstacles to others.’*

We don’t tend to pay much attention to the board the game is played on.  And who notices the foundations of a building, yet both are critical to what takes place upon them.

On the other hand, we find it hard to be in the background.

We all want to be noticed somehow, whether it be on a stage, a mention in the acknowledgements for a piece of work, or a text from someone in the family (my mum once sent me a cross-stitch picture with the words, “Phone your mother – she cares!”).

One of the dynamic pieces of personal work for anyone in our age is to figure out how to turn our passion into something that can be foundational for others.

Pioneers wanted:

‘Do the emotional labour of working on things that others fear.’**

‘People who are good at questioning are comfortable with uncertainty.’^

This is deeper human work.  It’s about living in the high energy and skills of our passion and making a difference for others.  It’s not worrying about someone else providing the board or foundations are stage because we are the foundations.

Which brings us to the moment.

The moment when we make the switch:

“[B]reaking your programming requires a single moment of strength.”^^

(*From Rosamund and Benjamin Zander’s The Art of Possibility.)
(**From Seth Godin’s Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck?)
(^From Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question.)
(^^Julien Smith, quoted in Chris Guillebeau’s The Happiness of Pursuit.)