I really want (and need) to know

I have been accepted in to Seth Godin’s altMBA January class, and I am thrilled about it. Last week, I received the box of pre-reading materials, and because we were snowed in all Thanksgiving weekend, I have already devoured eight of the 11 books. If nothing else comes from the class, which I absolutely do not believe is true, it was worth it just to encounter many of these books.

Interestingly, my least favorite book so far, Thanks for the Feedback, by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen, has asked the question I am now posing to you:

What’s one thing I am doing that you think gets in the way of my own effectiveness?

I have had a lot of personal and professional rejection this year. And I have had a lot of success this year, too. But the rejection has been massive and truly significant in ways I am still trying to process.

So I am asking you to please consider helping me by answering this one, at once simple and extremely complex, question, and I hope you will take me up on it. I am the only constant in the midst of all the rejection, so I know I am shooting myself in the foot, often over and over, but I haven’t yet discovered how or why. The nature of how public I am on social media and how honest I have been in this blog means that even if you don’t know me very well in person, you likely have a pretty good sense of who I am, or at least of how I present.

This is not one of those bait and switch requests where I say I want critical feedback but am secretly hoping for praise from all corners. Despite the repeated failures, I still have a pretty healthy sense of self, so this isn’t about lifting me up. It’s truly about helping me find the patterns that are lurking in my blindspots and keeping me from achieving what I want to achieve.

I want to continue growing, and I desperately want some things to evolve in my professional life, so I hope you will take a few minutes to send off some thoughts. I may not love everything I read, but I will love that you took the time to respond, and I will thoughtfully consider every comment.

If you are willing, you can send me an email response at dayna@extraordinaryextraordinary.com.

Thanks for all the support you have shown this blog and for any insight you can provide.

Dayna