p>Lucy Whittington
Find Your Thing
FIND YOUR THING
How to discover what you do best,
own it and get known for it
LUCY WHITTINGTON
This edition first published 2015
© 2015 Lucy Whittington
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ISBN 978-0-857-08592-4 (paperback); ISBN 978-0-857-08596-2 (ebk)
ISBN 978-0-857-08597-9 (ebk)
Cover image: © istock.com/shaneillustration
FOREWORD
We all know when we meet someone who is doing their Thing. They are more interesting. More engaging. They wave their hands about more when they talk. They are more passionate – about work, about life, about everything. And generally speaking, they are better at what they do. They know more about it. They have thought more about it. The world is a better place because of all these things.
Lucy Whittington is definitely someone who is ‘doing her Thing’. When you hear her speak for the first time you know there is something different. Something resonates. You know what she is saying is true, even though you might not have heard it expressed precisely like this before. It catches something inside you and you begin to see possibilities you hadn’t seen before. Her vision is a world where everyone is doing their Thing. Her Thing is helping that happen, one person at a time.
As she speaks, that world unfolds before us. Imagine if everyone you interacted with had that same glow of passion around them. Plumbers, doctors, artists, teachers. We’ve all met some of these, and we all know the difference. Sometimes they appear in unexpected places: the school caretaker who greets everyone he meets with a cheerful smile and ‘hello’; the gardener who wants to talk at length about plans and designs and progress every time you walk past – whether it’s your own garden they are working on, or an unrelated garden five doors up the street; the shoe shop owner who goes to great lengths to get you the right fit, and explains it all in detail, and the shoes they finally sell you feel like you were born with them on your feet…
Imagine if everyone you met had similar passion for their work. Everything would be done well. There would be no customer complaints departments, and all the unhappy people who work in them could be recycled back into the workforce, ready to find and do their Thing; customer service would be a totally different world, a place where supporting the customer joyfully would be rewarding work for the people whose Thing that is.
In a world of everyone doing their Thing, everything would work. Inanimate objects would do what they are supposed to do, when they are supposed to do them – can openers and air conditioning systems and mobile phone networks – because the people who design them and the people who make them would be focused and creative and innovative, filled with the energizing joy of doing their Thing.
I could go on, but you get the point. So how do we create this Utopian world? Where do we start? It starts with you. Are you doing your Thing? In your work, in your family, with your friends, in your life? It’s probably a question you know the answer to without having to think much about it. It might be ‘yes’ – in which case, brilliant! This book will help you take that further, do it bigger and brighter, get it further out into the world, benefiting more people. It might be ‘no’ – in which case this book will help you find your Thing, develop it and start doing it for the benefit of yourself and others.
Once you are doing your Thing, you stand out like a beacon. That’s the spotlight that Lucy talks about. It’s magnetic and exciting and it inspires others to do the same.
I’ve been impatient to see this book complete. Online, in person, on the radio, in interviews and on stage, Lucy has been sharing this message with many, many people. I want her to reach more. This thing is like a snowball. As one person reaches inside them and makes the bold move to step into their Thing, the standard rises. Once we’ve experienced the exceptional, we begin to expect it, and it becomes the new norm. That’s what I want. I want everyone I interact with to wear the smile of someone who is totally fulfilled in their work. I want you to read this book and raise your standard – not in ‘professionalism’ or ‘quality’ but in inspiration, the wild flow of life pouring through you.
That’s what doing your Thing makes possible.
Read this book. Let your mind run as ideas pop up. Stop and make notes. Put the ideas into practice. Take some bold, brave steps. Then once you’ve done that, look around to see where people you know are doing this and congratulate them, thank them. Let them know you see it and appreciate it and want them to keep doing it. Then look around again and see where people are not doing their Thing, or not to the full. You know they have passions and skills and talents but they aren’t being used to the extent they could be. Encourage them, gently, tactfully; or boldly and rudely, to make some changes. And give them a copy of this book.
Don’t we all want it? That world full of people – everyone – doing their Thing?
Thanks, Lucy. You’ve changed countless lives already. You’ve changed mine. Thank you – a BIG, BIG thank you – for doing your Thing.
INTRODUCTION
You know when someone has found their Thing – they have that annoying ‘I can't believe I get paid for doing something easy