05-28-2014
Making Space for Success
Ilana Judah oversees the installation of mottainai: reduce, reuse, recycle, an exhibition in the FXFOWLE Gallery that she helped curate on the global effect of discarded plastic bags
In gathering my thoughts to write this blog post I reflected upon the moments when I felt that I had achieved "success." This led me to question the meaning of the term and through that, shape my personal definition of it. These thoughts are what I would like to share today.
As Director of Sustainability at a large architecture firm I have the privilege of interacting with women and men at all levels. They have varying roles and skills sets, each a unique character, as well as a diversity of personal circumstances. In these interactions I have come to understand that success should not be perceived as "One Size Fits All" but rather as "Made to Measure." As an advisor – or at least a friendly ear – to many young women in the firm, I want to stress the importance of forging one's own path while seeking guidance and mentorship along the way.
Living in our current society can be extremely confusing and distracting when it comes to understanding notions of success. Advertising and other media bombard us with suggestions as to what we should achieve, how we should look, what to wear, what we should like, how to spend our time, and what our financial ambitions should be.
"Having it all" is the fashionable definition of success these days. At first glance, it appears to suggest collecting – like baseball or hockey cards – the many external images being projected at us: executive, starchitect, wife, mother, supermodel (or at least model), athlete, leader, and so forth. The more one collects the closer one is to achieving the ultimate ideal. An overlay of perfection adds to the impossibility of getting there.
This excess of external images has led to a lack of space to cultivate internal images of who we are, rather than who we should be. As architects, we have come to this profession because of our love of space. We define and shape it so that life, place and community can emerge beautifully and successfully. Space is not a void, nor is it negative or empty. It is pregnant possibility, more successfully expressed through the Japanese term Ma, which correlates space, time and experience.
Success and "having it all" as typically defined have missed this important element – space to breathe, space to imagine, space to enjoy, space to become. In trying consciously or unconsciously to be superwomen, we fill every inch of internal space, quash potential and possibility, and will eventually suffocate from the burden. In listening more to external messages rather than internal ones, we limit our creativity and the opportunity to establish our true paths. These may or may not include families, spouses, designing skyscrapers or chairs, running firms, or pursuing a traditionally "male" field of expertise. Or none of the above. Or all of the above.
When we can make space to connect and listen the answers will emerge. Not surprisingly, our responses will vary. An advanced society will be one that acknowledges true self-actualization and rewards it accordingly.
Fulfilled Purpose. Joy. Passion. Flow. These are my measures of success. They are not always present but I am finding them more frequently along my path these days.
This post originally appeared on May 12th, 2014, on the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation Blog. It has been reposted with permission here.
As Director of Sustainability at a large architecture firm I have the privilege of interacting with women and men at all levels. They have varying roles and skills sets, each a unique character, as well as a diversity of personal circumstances. In these interactions I have come to understand that success should not be perceived as "One Size Fits All" but rather as "Made to Measure." As an advisor – or at least a friendly ear – to many young women in the firm, I want to stress the importance of forging one's own path while seeking guidance and mentorship along the way.
Living in our current society can be extremely confusing and distracting when it comes to understanding notions of success. Advertising and other media bombard us with suggestions as to what we should achieve, how we should look, what to wear, what we should like, how to spend our time, and what our financial ambitions should be.
"Having it all" is the fashionable definition of success these days. At first glance, it appears to suggest collecting – like baseball or hockey cards – the many external images being projected at us: executive, starchitect, wife, mother, supermodel (or at least model), athlete, leader, and so forth. The more one collects the closer one is to achieving the ultimate ideal. An overlay of perfection adds to the impossibility of getting there.
This excess of external images has led to a lack of space to cultivate internal images of who we are, rather than who we should be. As architects, we have come to this profession because of our love of space. We define and shape it so that life, place and community can emerge beautifully and successfully. Space is not a void, nor is it negative or empty. It is pregnant possibility, more successfully expressed through the Japanese term Ma, which correlates space, time and experience.
Success and "having it all" as typically defined have missed this important element – space to breathe, space to imagine, space to enjoy, space to become. In trying consciously or unconsciously to be superwomen, we fill every inch of internal space, quash potential and possibility, and will eventually suffocate from the burden. In listening more to external messages rather than internal ones, we limit our creativity and the opportunity to establish our true paths. These may or may not include families, spouses, designing skyscrapers or chairs, running firms, or pursuing a traditionally "male" field of expertise. Or none of the above. Or all of the above.
When we can make space to connect and listen the answers will emerge. Not surprisingly, our responses will vary. An advanced society will be one that acknowledges true self-actualization and rewards it accordingly.
Fulfilled Purpose. Joy. Passion. Flow. These are my measures of success. They are not always present but I am finding them more frequently along my path these days.
This post originally appeared on May 12th, 2014, on the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation Blog. It has been reposted with permission here.