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“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought
and the thought has found words.”
—Robert Frost
Last week I found myself at a conference in one of the top tourist attractions in Ireland, The Guinness Storehouse, in Dublin, which also has a super events facility.
It’s a pretty unique venue and the reason I was there was because I’d been asked to speak at an annual employer conference held by a leading Irish recruitment company, with the theme of the event being ‘Future Proof Your Business’.
The speaker before me was David McWilliams, an Irish economist and listed and one of the top ten in the world.
I was very impressed by his skill at making the complex, and normally boring world of economics interesting.
Indeed, he opened and closed his talk with reference to a poem by William Butler Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’, written 100 years ago in 1919.
McWilliams only read the first verse of the poem and the focus of his point was really these two lines:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
The lines hit me like a ton of bricks.
Because they’re true.
Great people I know often fall victim to the ‘someone else will do that’ mindset. Or the ‘I’m not good enough’ mindset, so they don’t do what they can.
And hence don’t make the impact they can and should on the world.
While the nastiest people I know, rarely doubt themselves, take plenty of action and cause plenty of trouble because they only think of themselves.
We don’t have to look too far in today’s world to see examples of this.
If you’re reading this, you’re most likely someone who at their core wants to make a positive impact on your own life, that of the people you care about and work with, and the world at large.
But I have no doubt that there are probably areas where you want more change.
But perhaps you lack conviction.
Maybe you haven’t activated your passionate intensity.
Maybe you’re thinking ‘someone else will do or is doing that’, or worse, ‘that you’re not good enough.’
In my own talk at the conference, I explained that my own experience shows that the inner voice of most people is what most often hinders the results they’re looking for – and this reduces our creativity, leadership and innovation.
It’s an element of success that most don’t see because they think that inner voice is real.
And the best people I know are affected by that inner voice just like everyone else.
So, regardless of where you ‘think’ you’re at, think about this question:
If you were fully showing up, as the best version of yourself…
what would you be doing differently?
And before your inner voice jumps in and shuts you down…
Maybe this week, you can take action on your answers…
Because just in case you haven’t realised yet, your organisation, your community and the world needs your ‘passionate intensity’.
Shane
