Papercuts

Does it ever amaze you how something so small can have such a painful affect? Papercuts are traditionally annoying, small inconvenient pains that inevitably make you stop whatever you are doing and take an inventory of your body.  However small they may be, those little boogers hurt don’t they?! How is that something so small, something that so often does not even draw blood, can demand our full attention?

In social enterprise there are "papercuts" that make us stop and take inventory of our surroundings, of our current position on the path we are traveling to reach an objective set before us. Quite often we develop tunnel vision while tasking out plans, running towards goals, and hammering away at obstacle after obstacle. Progress is being made!! You feel fantastic in your new "Do-Something-Good" T-shirt. Everyone within earshot believes in your ideas and your ten-page implementation plan to change is running smoothly. Your inbox has just let you know that five new people, including David Bornstein and Bono, are now following you on Twitter and that your blog has eight new comments.  And then, what happens? A "papercut"! In the world of innovating spaces, social media impact, and social enterprise "papercuts" take on all shapes and sizes: prepaid shipping labels go missing, WI-FI magically disappears for a week at your favorite coffee shop, while in a foreign country your flat floods and your computer charger does not survive, negotiations for a new office space in Russia backfire and your market research team is now displaced, an earthquake in Santiago leaves your volunteer team scrambling to find survivors in the orphanage, or the photographer, who is coming to shoot local farmers in Kenya for your ministry website, misses his flight.

Some "papercuts" require minimal attention, while others bring your false sense of reality to a screeching halt. However, there are specific, defining, "papercuts" that make you or your organization sit up and reevaluate your circumstances. For me, "papercuts" are checkpoints that allow us, altruistic individuals in social spaces; to realign our passions with the challenge that has now manifested itself. These are quiet, sneaky questioners asking,  “Why are you doing what you are doing? Do you really want to be doing this?” These small inconvenient setbacks or challenges force a self inventory of personal drive and distinguishing characteristics that have lead you to the unchartered land of social impact.

In a recent article by New York Times columnist, David Brooks, he defines one such characteristic of “rugged altruists” as thanklessness. This is the “ability to keep serving when there are no evident rewards – no fame, no admiration, no gratitude.”  This is the underlying bass line, which keeps so many social entrepreneurs pushing ever forward, ever onward. 

I personally have had my fair share of "papercuts" during my short stay, thus far, in India, and I am certain I will experience more. Remembering that these stinging distractions do NOT define my focus, but rather fine tune my purpose is a way to take the good from the painfully frustrating. "Papercuts" come from actions, from DOING.  We are an actionable breed. So, as you work towards whatever cause you are a proponent for, wear those "papercuts" proudly, and acknowledge they are the bricks with which the road to change is laid.