Experiencing Your Competence

I had a wonderful long lunch with the maestro of fun, Bernie DeKoven last Friday. I've been blessed to work (and play) with Bernie some over the past few months, and I'm especially lucky that his daughter, son-in-law and new grandchild live in Indianapolis. Hence, our long lunch.

During our fun and stimulating conversation we talked at length about people finding the true fun in their work, and at one point Bernie described it exceedingly well for me. He said, "People feel the fun when they are experiencing their competence."

Experiencing our competence.

You know what he's talking about - the times when you are really working well, the times when your ideas get legs in the meeting and everyone is onboard. The times when you are working on the parts of your work you know the best - and your excellence shows through with out any apparent effort.

I expect you'll hear and read more about this concept from both Bernie and I in the coming months.

But for now, I encourage you to think about the times in your work when you are deeply enjoying yourself. Think about when it happens, how it happens and what it feels like.

It is my guess that as you ponder this, you will begin to contemplate these times as times when you are experiencing your competence.

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