Yes, that’s right, Baz is a tool, and before you say to yourself ‘finally someone is admitting it’, let me also say that you are also a tool and as a matter of fact, so am I. I wrote this after considering how to go about explaining the concept of ‘getting the most from the people around you’. I discovered that, if you can look at yourself and others as being specialised tools with the capability of working together to build something of mutual value, it can be a very liberating approach to take. Me being the tool that I am, I couldn’t help but extrapolate this perspective in the broader context of humans in general.
You see, we are born into this world with no recollection of how we arrived. For seven seconds (from what I’ve heard) we are a blank slate, pristine in our first moments of existence. Then, it begins. We are bombarded by the sights, sounds, tastes, smells and touches of the world around us. We grow quickly, we learn fast, we strive and stretch and take risks, just so we can stand on our own two feet.
From there, the system we have inherited from our forebear’s demands we conform to the tutelage of another system within that system, schooling. As a general rule, we then proceed to ‘get a job’ and commit ourselves to the false belief we’re just ‘a tool in someone else’s toolkit’. A tool designed by the ‘instruction book’ that was our schooling and the influence of the world around us at large.
Is this the (considered by many unfortunate) outcomes of our blind compliance to the system we are entrapped in or are we just not committed to being the very best tools we can be? Have we been given the wrong instruction books? After all, we weren’t supplied with one on that very first day … or were we and we’ve just forgotten what it said?
You see, tools don’t function of their own volition. A hammer is meaningless without a nail to apply its purpose too. Even the very best, most self-sufficient tools, are useless without access to a power supply to energise them or a competent hand to wield them.
All the tools in the world are not going to help you if you don’t know how they really work.
So, how does this apply to you and the toolkit you are a part of? First of all, start thinking of the entire world and the people in it (yourself included) as one giant toolkit. On a smaller scale, it applies to you and your direct network of colleagues, acquaintances, connections, family members and friends.
If you can learn to “use” the tools (again, yourself included) at your disposal to complete the ‘pieces of the puzzle’ that represent the “functions” you lack, you can achieve just about anything. If you can do this in service to others from an authentic place of ‘it’s not about me’, then you will be unstoppable and will uplift those around you by default.
Don’t get me wrong, it is always about YOU, what else could it possibly be about? – but you are me, and you are us, and we are you, and I and I. We’re all in this together …
PRODUCT REVIEW
PRODUCT NAME
Homo Sapien / Contemporary Human / Universal Tool
AVAILABILITY
In Stock: Approximately 7.3 billion units
FEATURES
These specialised organic tools have an incomparable range of highly evolved applications and when applied effectively, the power to achieve amazing results. Though each tool is uniquely individual, they are designed to function as part of a collective of tools and unlike regular tools, generally do so consciously, with the best intentions for the other tools in the toolkit at heart. (See also Common Defects)
Optimal Performance Indicator:
- Clear intent in conjunction with true purpose
Distinctive features:
- Capacity for love
- Thrives in groups
- Highly intuitive (when purpose and intent are clear)
- Ability to make choices
Distinctive features: Also characterised by:
- Bipedal locomotion
- Complex brains
- Manual dexterity
- Erect posture
FUNCTIONALITY
Contemporary humans have the unique ability to implement systems and communication models for the sharing of ideas and group organisation. These cooperative structures are the basis for developing a foundation of unity, values and purpose. When coupled with an innate desire to understand its environment and the circumstances of its existence, this tool has the ability to create a complex and rewarding variety of shared experiences for its counterparts.
Special functions (of an optimally performing tool):
- Gives value for no perceived return
- Contributes to the improvement of the collective without expectation
- Influences contemporaries with selfless wisdom
- Empowers other tools (non-competitive)
The main operating function (of a group of tools):
- Embracing the collective ability of a combined group of tools (because it far outweighs any individual tools singular potential)
- Plugging the unique abilities of each tool into the combined will and diversity of the tools around it
- Creating a potent ‘recipe of awesome’ to manifest the purpose of the tools based on their common intent
Warning: Not all tools are suited to this environment
COMMON DEFECTS
This tool generally needs an external stimulus of a negative origin to highlight the corrupted components of its operating system, although faults can remain hidden or unnoticed indefinitely.
It is common for the Homo Sapien to revert to a previous program than to instinctively pursue a system upgrade autonomously. Pairing the defective tool with a tool of higher calibration may assist in the repair and/or upgrade process.
Some noted defects in the current model:
- Potential to self-sabotage (when intent and purpose are not clear)
- Can judge other tools based on ‘perception’ rather than ‘intent’
- Can possess a strong desire for recognition and/or power (identity)
- Can be controlled by or with fear
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
Best practice for working with these tools is having the awareness that ultimately all tools are of identical origin, have the same needs and desires (whether justified or not) and more importantly, are prone to the same defects.
Important skills required:
- Compassion
- Love
- Empathy
- Ability to relate
- Ability to show gratitude
COMPARISON PRODUCT
Experimental cyber consciousness (Artificial Intelligence) is being developed and to what extent these new tools can be employed is yet to be fully realized. At present however, nothing on earth comes close to the power and abilities possessed by and accessible to ALL human beings (if yet mostly unrealised).
RECOMMENDATION
Bring the tools in your toolkit together and strive to understand the unique compilation of their various “instruction books”. Embrace their strengths AND weaknesses and see that each tool’s authentic vulnerability is it’s key to functioning more authentically. Treat your tools with trust and mutual respect (as a default program) and take responsibility by contributing to their wellbeing. Raise your awareness of their functionality and don’t be afraid of the enormous power capabilities. Help rewrite the instruction books in an effort to keep evolving each new model and do it at scale for the benefit of the whole toolkit.
While it may seem that my tongue in cheek product review is a little impersonal when used in combination with real people, sometimes we all need a reminder to put things in context. By taking a step back and looking at ourselves from outside of our own fears, concerns and immediate issues we can see that perhaps there is a better way for us to operate, both individually and collectively.
Are we really being the best versions of ourselves? Now, what do we want to do with 7.3 billion ‘tools for change’ at our disposal?