Being Intentional

We're still on the subject of rewriting our book covers, but this is about being intentional about getting the new cover seen by the people who need to see it. I made a point of telling a musician friend about my ebook on music theory. He reviewed it and now he wants to use it as a reference for his students. The point is that you can't just wait to be discovered. At the same time, one shouldn't expect to do a complete makeover over night, though I suppose that if you're capable of that, go for it, definitely do not let my baggage get in your way.

Part of my personal inertia comes from lessons I was taught in church from the Scriptures; one such lesson is the story of a young leader in the New Testament named Timothy. Timothy was chosen by Paul the apostle to become a respected leader. Timothy didn't lobby for the opportunity, Paul heard good things about Timothy and Paul did his own due diligence, traveling to various places and getting other people's opinions about Timothy before approaching Timothy and offering Timothy the chance to join Paul.  I still believe that that is the Biblical approach to identifying leadership. But it's not an effective approach to marketing one's self.  It's further complicated by a principle instilled in me (again from the Scriptures) about how we should endeavor to do good deeds without making any attempt to bring attention to them. Of course, I violate this principle every time I point out my scar and tell people how I got it. Hey, I'm human. Then there's the values (albeit sometimes conflicting) I inherited from my asian heritage in how it's wrong to stand out (although it's seemingly OK to be bragged about by a proud parent).

The point is that it's not about my specific challenges per se, but the process of identifying what they are and reconciling them to what needs to be done to put yourself out there in a healthy & natural way. For me, I see a large part of it as reminding myself that as I put myself out there, it's not my only goal; there is no one more interesting than someone who wants to learn more about you, and I am out there as much to learn about everyone about me, and connect the dots where it makes sense to put the right people together. The folks who only want to talk about themselves and are not interested in discovering who I am, it's going to be OK to move on and prioritize my time accordingly.