Pardon Me Ranger There's An Elk In My Sunset: A Book About Perceived External Limitations

By Jim Leligdon

Do you struggle with facing your fears, keeping your focus, helping others, maintaining your integrity, being or following a leader, or pursuing opportunities? These are the areas in life author Jim Leligdon defines as perceived external limitations triggered by the outside world. Through his own real life experiences and the perspectives they helped create, Jim explores these perceived external limitations. Each anecdote is followed by a series of questions to help you reflect on and examine your own life experiences, personal feelings, perspectives, and goals for success.

The book is divided into seven sections:
Fear
Focus
Helping Others
Holiday Help
Integrity
Leadership
Opportunities

Each section contains 4 to 6 chapters. Within each chapter, you'll discover an anecdote about that topic followed by a few Lighthouse Questions. These questions are intended to guide you on your journey as you explore your own life experiences, personal feelings, perspectives, and goals for success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667848334

Book preview

cover.jpg

Copyright © 2022, Jim Leligdon

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without prior written permission.

To request permission, contact the author: [e-mail]

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-66784-832-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-66784-833-4

Edited by:

Barbara Leligdon, Larry Lawrence, Melanie Ward, and Monica Lee

Cover art by:

Nick Leligdon

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

FEAR

1: Pardon Me Ranger, There’s an Elk in My Sunset

2: Mace Your Fears

3: Release the Brakes

4: Push Don’t Shove

FOCUS

5: Stop and Smell the Soup Cans

6: No Big Deal

7: How Was YOUR Day?

8: A Walk in the Parking Lot

9: The Legend of the Monocular

HELPING OTHERS

10: Unexpected Dinner Theater

11: Legally Blind

12: A Face in the Crowd

13: May I Help Who?

14: Let Me See What I Can Do

HOLIDAY HELP

15: The Land of the FREE

16: F-A-O Customer Service

17: No Room?

18: Tis the Season

INTEGRITY

19: Pass the Stuffing

20: Mind Your Own Business

21: Celebrate Independence

22: KIAping Your Word

LEADERSHIP

23: The Intersection

24: The Nature of Trust

25: In Whom We Trust

26: Where Consistency Leads

27: Leaders with Levers

28: Create a Leadership Legacy

OPPORTUNITIES

29: The Power of Seven

30: When Opportunity Knocks

31: Window of Opportunity

32: A Face for Radio

33: Bring Your Passion to Work

34: Creating Something from Nothing

INTRODUCTION

The Other Side of the Glass

From an early age, I have always had an interest in radio. As a high school student, I’d call the local station to request songs and try to win contests. I talked with Kevin, the morning announcer, so often that he eventually invited me to the station to see his show. On Saturday mornings, I’d walk about 2 miles to the station where I’d sit in the lobby and watch through the glass. Though I couldn’t go into the studio, Kevin would give a big wave, but he never came out to the lobby.

He did give me one piece of advice. He suggested I get my broadcaster’s license, so I’d be ready when opportunities presented themselves. I spent part of my Christmas break that year with my uncle and his family. My Uncle Dave, an engineer, helped me study for that test. When I was ready, a nice woman at the government office read me the questions aloud (reasonable accommodation, even in 1978), and I provided my answers. Upon completion, she very excitedly shared the news with me that I had passed.

While I was the feature editor for the high school paper I had a unique opportunity to interview Tommy Edwards who was the midday announcer on Chicago radio station WLS. He lived in a neighboring suburb, so we conducted the interview at his house. I also went downtown to watch his show through the glass at the State Street studio.

As I headed off to Bradley University to pursue a degree in Radio/TV Production, I wondered when I’d get my chance to be on the other side of the glass. My sophomore year, I finally had my first radio production class, and did so well that the Professor asked me to be his Teaching Assistant my junior year. Then, first semester senior year, I finally got my chance. I was awarded an internship hosting a weekly prerecorded public affairs show called Context. I had to secure the guests, host the show, and distribute the reel-to-reel tapes to three local radio stations. Yup, truly old school... hey it was 1984. Then, I had to get up at 5 AM on Sunday mornings to listen in and confirm the shows aired as planned.

As many college seniors do, I began to apply and interview for jobs during my spring semester. There was a country station in town looking for an overnight announcer, and I was (and still am) a night owl. I knew Peoria well having just spent four years there, so I was familiar with the community. As an acoustic guitarist, I knew my country music too, so I thought this would be a perfect fit. I submitted a resume and a country format demo. I was thrilled when I got the call for an interview. My very supportive roommate Dave even drove me down to the station, and waited while I had my meeting.

I had been preparing for this moment for eight years. I met with the program director, and things seemed to be going well. He complimented me on my demo, asked me questions about my experience, and challenged me with a variety of scenarios. Then, he leaned back in his chair and paused for a moment.

PROGRAM DIRECTOR: (In a matter of fact tone) I’m not comfortable with a blind guy running my station by himself during the overnight shift.

ME: I’m sorry you feel that way. Thank you for your time.

To this day, it’s difficult to describe the range of emotions I felt as I walked out of that radio station. Yet, everyone else’s emotions were quite clear. My roommate’s emotion was one of anger. He wanted to go give this guy a piece of his mind, but that wouldn’t have changed anything. My parents were disappointed, not in me, but by the way I had been treated. My college advisor displayed a complete lack of emotion as he said, Well, maybe you should have gone into a field that required less vision... like accounting.

I walked out of his office without saying a word. Here I was, a month away from graduation, wondering if my desire for a career in radio was a mistake. I remember that time in my life like it was yesterday. However, I see the entire situation much more clearly now. I write and speak about navigating beyond your perceived limitations, but I haven’t really addressed how others perceive you and me. Sometimes... their prejudice becomes... our limitation.

By definition, prejudice is a pre-formed opinion, usually an unfavorable one, based on insufficient knowledge, irrational feelings, or inaccurate stereotypes. Let’s take that country station program director as an example. First, he had insufficient knowledge of what I could see. I was able to read every piece of equipment and documentation in that radio station with my customized glasses, but he never asked about that. He was afraid that I’d take out his precious equipment with my cane or that my Seeing Eye Dog would poop in the production studio. However, I didn’t arrive at my interview with either one because I have enough sight not to need them. Therefore, his fears were irrational. For some reason, he must have thought that my limited sight equaled limited ability, and that is a very inaccurate stereotype.

Do you allow prejudice to cloud your view? I’ve never had 20/20 vision, and maybe that’s been a blessing. Through my eyes, not one girl in high school had acne, the college dorm cafeteria food always looked good, and I can never judge someone on facial expression alone. An air brush and a makeup artist can help anyone look good on the outside. Yet, we need to start looking more deeply than that. In my first book, I invited you to look at yourself in the mirror. Now, I’m encouraging you to look at the people on the other side of the glass. What do you choose to see when you look at other people? Could you be creating their limitations?

This book is about helping you navigate beyond your perceived limitations. Born blind, and with only some of my sight surgically restored, I’m still learning how to navigate mine, and on the way I’d like to help you navigate yours. Each of us has some type of perceived limitation, and some are more obvious than others. Every day provides us with life lessons, if we really look for them.

In my first book, Look Where You Are, See Where You’re Going, I focused on what I call perceived internal limitations. These are limiting thoughts typically caused by our own perceptions of ourselves. However, in this book, I’ll share with you some perceived external limitations. These are different because they are the result of limiting thoughts triggered by external factors. How we behave, how we view others, and how we are perceived by others is influenced by those limiting thoughts.

As in my first book, each section of this book also contains chapters in which I share personal experiences and the lessons I’ve learned through them. At the end of each chapter, there are Lighthouse Questions. These guiding questions will help you to reflect on those lessons by looking at your own life, making decisions about your future, adapting behaviors, and taking actions to more clearly navigate your perceived limitations starting today.

Even though the focus of this book is perceived external limitations, be sure to answer the Lighthouse Questions based on your thoughts and not what others think or what you want others to think. It’s also your choice to focus on personal or professional areas of your life as you examine each section of this book. Your focus may vary based on the context of the specific chapter in which the questions are asked.

How slowly or quickly you move through this book is also up to you. For example, you could pace yourself by exploring one chapter per week. I encourage you to select a comfortable pace allowing yourself the opportunity to really reflect on your answers to each set of Lighthouse Questions before moving to the next chapter. As you continue on this road of self discovery, walk slowly enough to enjoy the journey.

FEAR

1: Pardon Me Ranger,

There’s an Elk in My Sunset

September is a beautiful time of year, especially in Arizona. It reminds me of the week I spent teaching at the Grand Canyon a few years ago. Conducting a