Ever admired someone from afar?

She doesn’t know I admire her.  In fact, I’ve only interacted with her once.  But I see her fairly often and am fascinated by what I observe.

She moves with purpose.   Intention.   She’s clearly CLEAR on what needs to get done.  She thinks about what will be efficient and helpful for her customers.  She directs her team in a direct and friendly way. She’s quick.  

So who am I talking about?  Well, isn’t it obvious?  It’s a hard-working woman at my local Homesense, of course!

I love Homesense - it’s a visual feast of shiny objects!  Sometimes I visit and don’t even buy - I just wander the aisles a bit and walk away with my creative juices flowing, completely energized.  It’s the first place I visited when non-essential retail was allowed to open again after lock-down!

The woman I’m referring to must be the team leader for the furniture area.   I first encountered her when I bought a sofa for my house about 4 years ago.  Since then, I often see her in action when I visit the store.   She’s tiny but mighty - moving heavy objects onto dollies along with her teammates.   She’s polite but not overly friendly - she’s too focused for small talk. Wow, is she efficient!

So why should you care about my local Homesense lady?

You should care because what we admire in others is often a clue as to what we value and what we enjoy!   This knowledge brings you CLARITY around what you want and need.

For instance, in my case, when I analyzed why I valued how this Homesense woman approaches her work, it made me realize that there were a couple other places that gave me the opposite feeling and caused me to feel irritated or worse, victimized.  So I stopped going there and putting myself in that position.

It also cemented my thinking around a core part of my business approach, which is to make it as easy as possible to work with me. One decision that came out of the clarity was deciding to move to online calendar bookings a couple years ago.  Best decision!

So here is reflection challenge for you: think about someone you’ve admired from afar - in passing.   ASK yourself: 

• What was it about them, their actions or approach, that you liked?  
• What does this tell you about yourself?  
• How can you leverage this awareness in the choices you make every day?