What You Look For, You Will Find

I often start team meetings with quotes I love that seem pertinent to challenges our team may be facing or new ways we want to grow. One that now hangs on the wall in our office, among others, is “What you look for, you will find.” I think I heard it first in college, and it stuck with me. Over the years, in nearly every relationship and situation I find myself in, its profoundness continues to surprise me. It is not the idea that there is no reality, but rather the concept (think Schrodinger’s Cat) that we co-create reality in how we perceive things.

During a monthly lunch gathering as a team last week, where we try to touch base on ideas and concepts a little deeper than just the work day, we practiced a quick exercise during what we call “five minutes of meaning” to exemplify this idea. Everyone was tasked with thinking about someone in their professional or personal lives who is currently frustrating or annoying. Then, we each wrote five things that we find challenging about that person (all anonymous, of course). We took a moment to digest those, then we wrote down ten things about that same person we admire, like, or if that was a stretch, things about their life that might warrant compassion or that we might not understand. You get the idea. What you focus on will grow. What you look for, you will find.

As we discussed as a team, it doesn’t mean that the negatives of people, situations, and life...aren’t real. But I continue to be amazed, particularly in my close relationships, at how true this principle is. When I drive to work, if I am determined that there are only fires to put out, systems that are broken, and people who need motivating, that is generally what’s awaiting me when I arrive. When I remind myself of the incredible growth being made by a dedicated team doing something I’ve dreamed about for nearly half of my life, that momentum takes over. Even more so on my drive home. When it comes to my husband, my children, and my home, nowhere is it more powerfully evident that what I look for, I will find.