If you are busy doing your work, and keeping your light bright, others will notice. You will gain the attention, however briefly to those closest to you.
Quickly, many of those others will start to let you know that what you are doing does not suit them. They may make fun of you, tell you the foolishness of your work, or even actively obstruct your work.
Do your best to ignore these messages. If the work you’re doing lights you up, do it as much as you can. Stoke those fires, and disregard the naysayers.
Shine out bright
With your fires stoked and burning brightly, throw back the shade, lift up your light, and let it reach out as far as it can.
While your work may not be of interest to those closest to you, the more you shine out your light, the more chances you have to attract the attention of those that enter your vicinity, however briefly.
As I’m fortunate to live on the Left Coast, I helped out on a field trip for one of my sons some time ago to a lighthouse that is still being kept. During the trip, I spotted a navigational chart, and noticed that each lighthouse was marked by a circle indicating the distance from which the light could be seen by ships traveling the coastline.
Keep your light as bright as you can and build it up high, so that it can reach further out to the world as it sails past. The more ships that your beacon can reach, the more likely you are to attract someone to help you build your beacon higher.
Shine out clear
As you continue to do the work, keep doing what builds your beacon higher, and your fires brighter.
Those closest to you may try to persuade you to do your work their way. If their way makes your fire burn brighter, that’s great, gratefully accept the assistance. If, however, the change puts a filter on your light, then you may not be attracting the traffic that will help you build up your beacon.
Another detail that I noticed on that navigational chart was that the circle for each lighthouse was broken in a pattern that represented sixty seconds. While I had driven past this lighthouse for years, I had failed to realize that the light blinked in a specific pattern to signal to any ships that might need to use it for navigation, not only that there was a lighthouse here, but precisely which one they were looking at.
If you are letting those in your immediate vicinity put too much influence on your work, then your signal will be distorted. This distorted message may attract more negative influence, and may keep those whose attention you need to attract from noticing your light.
Like that lighthouse if you are truly doing your work, you will put out a clear signal that says this is me and this is what I’m about. That signal has a much better chance of attracting the help, tools, and goods that you need to keep building your beacon ever higher, and stoking those fires brighter and brighter.
This post is brought to you by the Friends of the Yaquina Light House, and Cathy Heller’s podcast Don’t Keep Your Day Job.