I’m working with a friend of mine putting together a seminar on overcoming stage fright for a church. Yesterday, I think we finally hit a point where we were rubbing each other wrong. We were in an email exchange firing back-and-forth the details of our endeavor. I hear him droning on about minute details on having every little point meticulously planned. We even got into a detailed discussion about the brochure. I’ll be honest. As long as the brochure looks good and communicates the basic points we are going to communicate, I’m good with it. I had reached the boiling point on all the little details.
Now, I can only imagine what my friend was thinking. I live in the fantasy world of daydreams and possibilities. He is grounded and detailed oriented. He was likely thinking, “This guy needs to get his feet on the ground. He’s daydreaming again—all concepts, but no clear practical application. He’s far too intellectual and not being practical.” I suspect he was growing weary of my creative spirit, which is a nice way of saying my head is in the clouds.
Anytime two people collaborate there is going to be a point of friction. If there isn’t, you’re dealing with two closed-minded people: two people who are simply pulling the status quo and don’t have an independent thought in their minds. But, why do these points of friction happen and what can we learn from them?
Often friction is a result of ego. We want things our way and when someone else doesn’t see things our way we become angry. That kind of friction causes a diminished final product. That kind of friction is also the hardest to deal with, because the solution is to look at ourselves instead of the problems around us. I will readily admit I have a strong ego. It’s an issue I constantly have to deal with.
In this case our primary issue was simply we view things from a different perspective. There is a great deal of strength in my creativity. There is also a great deal of strength in my friend’s grasp of reality. The friction was really a result of our two strengths meeting each other. It’s like rubbing two pieces of sandpaper together. There’s only friction when both grit sides (the useful part of the sandpaper) meet! I’m of the belief that this type of friction should not be avoided. It should be embraced!
