Like the Sun #76

I knew a man who ran
a house building business,
and he often said,
“My workers are stupid,
and just don’t think about
what they are doing.”

Later I met someone who worked
for him, who told me the following,
“I have two saws,
a handsaw and an electric saw,
and each serves a different purpose.
When I get paid by the hour,
I use the handsaw.
When I get paid by the job,
I use the electric one.”


-Jim DuBois
2012

Like the Sun #1
Leadership - Like the Sun #17
In the Winter, I saw Ducks - Like the Sun #65
The Great Canyons - Like the Sun #66

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Like the Sun - #17

To lead people well,
you must be one of them,
no better or worse,
no more or less deserving.

Don’t glorify your achievements,
don’t hide your difficulties.

Who you are will be enough.

Let others go before you,
let others come after.

When you are just another person,
with no selfish desires,
your leadership will last and be effective.


- Jim DuBois

[This is an excerpt from my book, Like The Sun, from the section about leadership. Get the whole book]

Like the Sun - #66

Have you seen the great canyons,
carved hundreds of feet through stone
into the earth?

It was only flowing water and time
that achieved such a spectacular result.

But on any given day,
you won’t see much evidence
of this occurring.

It can be useful to picture your efforts
in life similarly.

Each day you put effort into
your work, a bit here and a bit there.

Most often there is no immediate drama as a result,
but sometimes you can see the canyon-like effect,
stretching backwards in time.

You don’t need to do more
than to be persistent in your efforts to achieve something.

Indeed, there is hardly a way
you could force all the effort
required for spectacular things
into one day.


-Jim DuBois

[This is an excerpt from my book, Like The Sun, from the section about getting stuff done. Get the whole book]

Like the Sun - #1

The sun!

Radiating warmth to everyone,
sustaining life on earth,
needing no credit,
exerting no extra credit.


You can be like that:

Doing work that comes easily and naturally to you,
improving the lives of those around you,
changing situations for the better with your presence.



- Jim DuBois

[This is an excerpt from my book, Like The Sun, from the section about relating to people. Get the whole book]

Like the Sun

I wrote a book of poetry philosophy, and will be putting up a few selections from it on this blog, but you can get a copy now:

Like the Sun

In the Winter, I saw Ducks

I hear the unceasing hum
of the traffic in the distance;

Everyone is rushing to get somewhere
and not spending much time
being anywhere.

In the winter, I saw ducks
swimming on an icy stream,
dipping their heads down into the water
to eat, like they always do.

I imagine the people turning off their cars
and placidly floating along like ducks
on the currents of life,
not controlled by those currents
and not resisting them either.


-Jim DuBois

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This is an selection from my book of poetry philosophy, "Like the Sun". You can get a copy here