Connecting Kūlia i ka nu‘u with Mālama

March is here! As promised, Kūlia i ka nu‘u is our value of the month on Talking Story, and we’re going on the warpath to conquer mediocrity. 2006 is a year in which we want excellence, and we want greatness, and we aren’t settling for less.

We’ll talk more about that soon, but for now, I’d like to go back to your mission statement exercise as we spoke of in my last posting here. Let’s look at the last part of it one more time; the part about Mālama. I think the timing will be good for this discussion before we head into the weekend.

This is the section of the form I’m referring to:

“I am equally committed to my own Mālama, for I understand that I must be healthy before I can affect those I lead in a positive way. As I ‘Imi ola, and seek my best possible life, these are the commitments I make to myself: they complete me, fulfill my needs, and contribute positively to my ho‘ohana: I will…”

Our tendency is to think about Mālama, and taking care of ourselves in pretty personal terms. We think of getting good exercise, eating and sleeping well, and things that are generally connected to our health. If I encourage you to think about it a bit more intensely, you may start to delve into some of your emotional needs, like love, and keeping your friends and family close. Perhaps you’ll begin to think of your spirituality and stretching your intellectual capacity.

All those things are good— more than good, they’re wonderful. Indeed, they are important. However what I’d also like you to consider, is how you Mālama at work. How do you “go to the well” and nourish your sense of well being at work?

Answering this question can get a bit easier if you go back in time to when you first applied for your job:

• What was the pleasure you were anticipating you’d be getting out of your days (or nights) there?
• Why did you think the company you chose to apply at, would be a great place for you to devote your time and energies to?
• What was it that attracted you, and excited you about the prospect of being selected to work there?
• Was it the organizational culture? Was it their professional reputation? Was it learning about the industry? Were there certain perks you expected, certain kinds of people you hoped to develop relationships with?

Remember? Now the question becomes, are you reaping that joy and experiencing that pleasure you had expected and anticipated? Are those things still part of the job you’d signed up for, and if not, what kind of goals will you set so that you can achieve them again? How will you Kūlia i ka nu‘u— strive for the summit, attaining them in a way that is even better than before?

Flip through Managing with Aloha again to Chapter 15 (page 181), and take another look at what it says about Mālama in that first tan-colored box:

“Mālama calls upon us to serve, to honor and to protect.”

How about serving your need for caring for yourself at work, honoring your original intentions about your job, and protecting your joy at finding it, by causing it to last (to Ho‘omau)? When you Mālama, how can you do those things too?

“Acts of caring drive us to high performance levels in our work with others. We give and become unselfish. We accept responsibility unconditionally. When we Mālama, we are better.”

One way we are better, is when we are complete. We fill our capacity with a collection of big achievements and small ones. What does this have to do with Kūlia i ka nu‘u? Despite their size, excellence is something they all have in common.

There’s one more thing I want you to remember about Kūlia i ka nu‘u at this part of our study: mountain climbing is sequential. You aren’t very wise if you try to tackle Mauna Kea when you haven’t yet scaled Mount Leahi and other smaller mountain peaks first. (From base to peak, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on planet Earth. It’s almost 13,796 feet ASL, or above sea level. More commonly known as “Diamond Head,” Mount Leahi is a mere 763 feet tall at its highest peak.)

The goals you set for yourself have to be achievable, and the mission statement exercise is one you can do every six months or so, perhaps every year, or on no strictly defined timetable at all— you revisit it, and rewrite it every time you achieve one goal and are ready to set another.

I haven’t gone completely off-track here: this relates back to Mālama in another way. One of the ways we Mālama ourselves at work, is when we consistently go for some smaller wins. We collect them as fuel: They become our energy boosters, and spirit soarers (no that’s not a real word, but I like it… spirit soarers). We groom a practice of self-encouragement into our work performance by leap-frogging over tasks and projects that may not be Mauna Kea monumental, but they are still Diamond Head important; they do matter in the grand scheme of things. They need to get done, and get done exceptionally well (with excellence) and you know what? We feel pretty darn good when we accomplish them with a good deal of regularity. They sort of feel like we’re filling up our dance cards at a really fun party. They give us reason to celebrate pretty often.

So, Mālama. Finish up your draft of your Personal and Professional Mission Statement thinking about those wins you love having at work, the big ones, and the small ones.

A last reminder: You’re still doing this for yourself. Next, you’ll coach someone else in the same mission-writing exercise. Get this to work for you, and you’ll have much more success getting the process to work for someone else too. In doing so, you will be giving them a gift.

But for right now, this gift is one you give yourself.

--------------------Tracking MWA Jumpstart:

NEXT JUMP: Key words, Key thoughts for Kūlia i ka nu‘u

BACK TO THE LAST JUMP: Our March Ho‘ohana: Kūlia i ka nu‘u! The Best We Can Be.
PRIOR TO HO‘OHANA: Your Personal and Professional Mission Statement