Lucy Whittington - Find Your Thing: Being Brilliant at What You Do Is Easier Than You Think

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

To my favourite Things The colouring-in
department, Miss small person and Master small
person xxx

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 hadnt 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. Weve 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 its 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? Its 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. Thats the spotlight that Lucy talks about. Its magnetic and exciting and it inspires others to do the same.

Ive 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 weve experienced the exceptional, we begin to expect it, and it becomes the new norm. Thats 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.

Thats 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 youve 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 arent 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.

Dont we all want it? That world full of people everyone doing their Thing?

Thanks, Lucy. Youve changed countless lives already. Youve changed mine. Thank you a BIG, BIG thank you for doing your Thing.

Jennifer Manson The Flow Writer doing my Thing.