“Your recommendation was wrong! You didn’t arrive at the right conclusions”.
That was the final text he sent in his series of replies.
My stomach stiffened as I read his texts.
This client of mine, whom I’d been working with for several months.
The urge to react and defend my position kicked in.
I was right.
Truly right.
I reread his texts over and again. Then I saw it.
I’d been keen on arriving at my preconceived conclusions, that I’d overlooked the real point. I was seeking answers to the wrong questions.
And yes, I was truly right and my conclusions were correct; but in the wrong direction, and on an issue not relevant to the task at hand.
I apologized; I set some queries, sought his responses to them, and upon receiving his reply, I set to work again; with a fresh set of questions.
And a fresh perspective.
It was a deep lesson I would learn this year;
To avoid overly fixating on answers to issues I faced.
To double-down on the urge to arrive at conclusions.
And to realize that true and full closure to any problem lay not in the race to answers.
But in seeking the right questions.
And that paradoxically, the answers I needed, automatically showed up in the quest for those questions.
I am content with this realization.
And I’m truly grateful to all who have played a major role in helping me attain closure this year.
God, my family, my friends…
T. C.
I learn lessons, and I tell stories…
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