This has been a very different winter in Georgia. We have had more instances of snow than I can ever remember (and I have spent 40 winters here). It’s been very fun!
As a result, I have paid more attention to two very different tools than ever before: the thermostat and the thermometer. Honestly, I haven’t given these two tools much thought in my life. I always kind of put them in the same camp…you know, they have something to do with temperature. But in actuality they are quite different…almost opposites.
A thermometer is used to measure the temperature. To passively “observe and report”. To not interfere or influence.
But a thermostat is just the opposite. Rather than measure the temperature, a thermostat determines what it is going to be. Rather than passively “observe and report”, a thermostat actively engages and creates. Rather than stay in the background and not interfere or influence, a thermostat fully engages and influences.
Do you realize people have the same abilities as these two tools? We can sit back and measure everything that is going on around us and have no influence on the situation or we can get in there and make the changes that we want to see.
Reality Check: it is easier to be the thermometer, but much more rewarding to be the thermostat.
What is cool, though, is that we can be both!
Learn to “see” what is going on around you: the atmosphere at the kitchen table, the environment of the office, the climate of your relationships—this is being the thermometer. Then, if you don’t like what you measure, change it—this is being the thermostat.
Here are two questions to help you:
- What kind of an environment would I like (in the office, home, relationship, etc.)?
- What do I have to do or be to help move things in that direction?