Sand Castle Life-Lessons

I heard that it was snowing today in Saskatoon, which really makes me sad. I understand all about the cold guys.. But not here unfortunately.

First off, I just want to tell everyone who thinks like I used to do that "life would be better without winter" and that "I wouldn't miss winter if I was somewhere warm for a year" you are probably right... but probably wrong.

Being that it is just about Halloween I am starting to imagine the little kids running around getting costumes, old ladies stocking up on peanuts and whatever other sort of useless candy the old people of the world seem to deem as "healthy" for today's youth, and the students like me getting the "All out of Candy... Sorry :(" posters because quite frankly I am tooo cheap to buy candy I don't get to eat myself.

Here in Africa.. it is green. No fire reds, golden yellows or deep browns.. Just green.

I got burned to the third degree a week ago while on the beach. Blisters across 1/2 of my body and everything. Hospital and all. So I was thinking about life as I sat there getting burn-victim cream spread over my body by 2 people... that perhaps I wasn't born to be a beach goer.

I thought about the first snow fall, how the kids rush out to make the biggest snow man on the block. How the old ladies walk their little poodles out and you can see the tracks in the snow long after they go... finally the brisk cold of it all.

You may be thinking... Cold? Are you a maniac... no.. When you ask for a COLD soda here.. you get something a bit above room temperature most times.. I miss the ICE COLD beer and sodas. Those are key. Because the people here have never known cold.. when you tell them that you have felt minus 43 they don't believe you.

Frankly.. I think being cold helps to define me as a human being, but more over, a Canadian. If you hear some Mexican or Kenyan talking about how cold they are feeling you can simply sneer and say.. "COLD? you don't KNOW cold... I am from CANADA" and people basically stand back in awe... as they should.

But it is with that memory of winter and the love/hate feelings I have for it that I came up with life lessons, a sand-castle perspective.

All of these thoughts came as I sat in the scorching heat making a sandcastle with all the artistic talent I could muster (while trying to remain as covered as possible to not repeat my hospital visit). Please wait for a bit the pictures of said castle.. which may enhance your "Life lessons experience"

Life Lesson one:

Sometimes it is even harder to take something down than to build it up.

Take for example building a tower on your sandcastle. Really easy to pack on a mound of dirt on top of another one.. but try shaping the tower... more often then not.. you will end up knocking down some of your base.

In life I have found that sometimes that getting people behind a project or idea is actually quite easy. Once they buy into the project however, it often becomes their project as well. They have a vested interest in making the project work.

If you realize that the direction that the project or idea is taking is no longer yours, that it has taken on a form that was not the beginning intention you may try to stop it.

Being that you started the project you may think that it is easy to do, but now that you have amassed a following, it is impossible to stop (think Tyler Durden in Fight Club).

Life Lesson Two:

Even if you have a vision about what you want to create, sometimes your abilities limit you to fulfill your vision on your own.

Every time I step up to create something beautiful I have an amazing vision in my head of what I want created. Unfortunately... my artistic talent ends right about there. Despite the fact I can think of the most amazing sand castles I can barely lump dirt together without it looking like a 2 year old did it.

As a leader, you need not only a vision for the future, but a team that can help make up for the talents that you lack. You cannot create something amazing on your own, even if you are da Vinci, you still need something to paint. The vision you have is nothing without the use of other people.

Life Lesson Three:

Sometimes the extra effort you put into the details destroys the original project.

Think about trying to give your new sandcastle a moat. You dig a trench all the way from the ocean up to your castle, dig around your castle and wait for the water to rush around. When the water finally reaches your moat, you start to notice that the foundation begins to be crumbling, and eventually you see that all of the effort you put into digging has essentially destroyed your whole castle.

In life, it is easy to get caught up in the details. Maybe you have a company and you make widgets. There is new opportunities coming up to expand into one of the immerging markets and you spend time researching the types of widgets, how many widgets, when etc. You spend so much time researching one of the new markets that you fail to notice that your competitor has entered your domestic market and greatly reduced your market share, essentially taking away your market of scale and destroying your business.

In paying attention to small details and opportunities, putting infinite efforts into the details, sometimes the bigger picture slips away

Just think.. I had all that time to think about these life lessons while I spent hours creating my special lump of dirt.. only to see it destroyed by the high tide.

Life is pretty tough... hopefully midterms weren't TOO stressful Canada... I know that I was pretty stressed for you thinking about what color of shorts to wear ;)

Much love, please don't hate me.

Devan