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The Sage of the Hard Drive

Written by: Elizabeth Mullen

Article Overview: Today I went to the store where I bought my computer several months ago. My third trip back to uncover the mysteries of a perpetually crashing machine. Many work days have been spent troubleshooting what my intuition told me was a bad hard drive. The software companies even got in on the issue, sharing stories of the bugs that are leaking onto the market. Perhaps I was experiencing that. Just try this one more thing...

The Sage of the Hard Drive

Today I went to the store where I bought my computer several months ago. My third trip back to uncover the mysteries of a perpetually crashing machine. Many work days have been spent troubleshooting what my intuition told me was a bad hard drive. The software companies even got in on the issue, sharing stories of the bugs that are leaking onto the market. Perhaps I was experiencing that. Just try this one more thing...

Multiple reinstalls, more phone calls, more experts on the case and I was still left with one buggy machine. "Please check the hard drive," I asked at the computer store, "I saw bad sectors in a pattern. I know something is wrong."

I got a dissatisfying "yes" and some shoo- shoo reassurance. "Don't worry," they said and called me to pick up my machine the next day, "we checked it -works fine." But I knew the hard drive was an issue.. and I asked them to look at it... More hours of crashing installs and frustration, same problem- not yet solved.

It took the third visit and an elderly Asian man behind the service desk. I had prayed for an easy resolution my whole drive there. He listened quietly to my intuition about the machine. He reassured me by his silence. He plugged it in, ran a diagnostic, and saw what I saw. "Bad hard drive. Will replace, " he said and I cried tears of relief.

I would be several more days out of commission, and maybe even have some software tangles to deal with when I get it back, but I couldn't be happier about my computer. I came home calm and peaceful for the first time in days.

It was not the computer being fixed, or even the resolution on the problem that made me feel so good. It was that the kind man had listened to me, my intuition, the unscientific mutterings of a non-expert. He shared my reality for a moment: he saw what I saw, said what I said, and reassured me in the deepest way that all would be well. And he used his skills to act too. A gentle man with a gentle way. Not one ounce of bravado, or showmanship or assertion of his obvious skill, but a man who listened to the beginner. A wise man, to be certain.

I've read that "he who follows is the greatest leader" and "he who evokes the song of the one before him, the superior man." I'd like to add to this: he who truly listens, is the only one who gets the job done.

Who supports your vision and acknowledges your reality?
How can YOU listen better today?
What will you lead out of chaos?

who do you lead? who leads you?

[button: get heard, be respected, get results]

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