A few years ago while attending a Leadership course in San Diego I saw a presentation by Gary King. It was incredible, not only did he talk from the heart, but what he said was profound in it's simplicity and as he touched my soul he changed my life. At that event he issued, and I accepted, a challenge ... that challenge was called the "The 24 Hour Truth Challenge" It was hard, especially as 24 hours turned into a week, then a month and now a couple of years. I have learnt a lot about myself during that time as I did find I told some little white lies, as I think we all do. More importantly however I suddenly realised how often I didn't "say" the truth for fear of hurting people, and I kept things to myself. I kept my 'mouth closed'. Think about that, it's pretty profound when you suddenly realise how much the breaks have been on in your life because you weren't expressing yourself completely. I learnt there is no such thing as an 'inconsequential lie' and decided that starting with myself it must stop ... I had to learn to say what needed to be said, and I had to go back and say things to people that I should have been said earlier ... it's been a challenging but also an incredible and wonderful journey. Maybe I'll talk more about that more some other day, but the Power of Truth was my introduction to Gary and I don't want to get distracted. Anyway, I was at Date With Destiny as a leader last month and got the opportunity to hear him speak again and there was absolutely no way I was going to miss that, as he has become a bit of a hero to me. In that presentation he told us of an experiment he does... "He drops a piece of crumpled paper on the ground, stands back and waits for someone to pick it up." Sadly no one does, ok maybe a few per hundred do but most people look, step over it and keep walking, thinking it's someone else's problem. Now here is his suggestion ... It is, that you are either Part of the Solution, or you are Part of the Problem, stepping over the rubbish is part of the problem. I for example used to say to myself ... someone will pick it up ... it's someone's job, but Garry is right. By that simple justification I am actually making it ok to litter. I am not taking a stand and saying NO. I am not setting a high standard ... I am actually saying, although subconsciously and unintentionally, it's ok to drop rubbish, someone will pick it up. I am not doing his point justice, but this is not just about a bit of trash, the same concept applies every time we choose not to engage whether it be to stop littering, violence, abuse etc ... we immediately go from potentially being part of the solution to being part of the problem. Anyway, in perfect Gary style he leaves us with another challenge, that is for the rest of the seminar to think about his words every-time we see some rubbish. grrrrrrrr Hours, have turned into days, which have now turned into weeks :-) I used to walk Dylan (the dog) around the neighbourhood every morning and notice the birds in the trees and the sun rising, but as soon as I got back I also started to notice the trash along the road. Not a lot, but enough to not be able to ignore it. I'm embarrassed to say, I did try to. I didn't really want to be walking around picking up litter and Gary our neighbourhood has a school thrown in for good measure ... But I couldn't ignore it, as his words started to scream in my head PART OF THE SOLUTION ... OR PART OF THE PROBLEM? So I started to pick up the rubbish, not everything, but enough each day so I felt like I'd done my bit. The plastic bag I carry around for the doggy mess, has now become a garbage bag to. Actually it's started to become quite satisfying. The streets look better as the litter is all gone, it's kind of like tending to your garden as progress is made little by little ... Actually it's strangely relaxing to look after something that goes beyond the bounds of ones own front gate. So now I pass on Gary's challenge to you, are you going to be .... Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution? Good luck, have fun and of course let me know how you go below ... how about doing so even if just for a week.