Discover the Unseen. T.J. Wagoner

       Have your heart in your life’s work.

      — Batten’s Wedge

       Who am I? - The discovery of my Righteous Cause

      My journey of discovery has been alive and with many angles. What I mean is that I have had a sense of awareness and appreciation of all that has been happening in my life which has led me to my Righteous Cause. It all coincides and involves the development and crafting of this book; it shows even in the title. Allow me to share with you how Discover the Unseen… came to be, and how those events have led me to my Righteous Cause for my life.

      The book started out as a business book, with processes and tools to help transform any business to efficiency. I would use the 25-plus years of my experiences and stories of how the processes and tools would lead companies to success. I had spent months outlining and preparing the manuscript for the book and felt good about the coming together of the material. As I have seen and facilitated the processes successfully for many companies in my career, I wanted to share those successes in the book. This all happened prior to my move to another state to finalize the book. Eventually, I moved to Seattle to be close to my publisher, and later the team that is a very important link to the success of this book. However, at the time of the move I was totally unaware of the exciting and unanticipated things that were about to happen in the following 10 months.

      The book started out with the basics of how to identify the vision of a company’s purpose, then explored the tools and processes necessary to sustain the direction and improvements. I had written over 65,000 words and structured it around a flow, with steps to follow that would assist the reader in achieving the desired results. I had used these processes and tools with leadership teams to set the direction for their company, departments, and employees. One element that was paramount is “ownership,” not only from the top management but all the way to the shipping of the product or service to the customer, so it was a holistic approach, getting everyone engaged in the process. Things were coming together and we were pleased with the material; the time had come to edit. However, this is when the shift began, a shift in the direction of the book and/or the message. It seems the book went from a business instructional guide to a book with a message not just for the reader but for my own life.

      I was sitting in a restaurant parking lot one afternoon when the transformation showed itself. I had gone to a favorite restaurant I had found in Seattle, a Mexican restaurant that served familiar food much like the TexMex I had grown accustomed to while living in Texas for 25 years. I was just gathering my stuff to go in and have lunch when a presence came over me. It was a presence that was very intimate with me and it filled the car. A voice kept playing in my head over and over again, “You have to fill the void, you have to fill the void, you have to fill the void.” This wasn’t like a voice you normally hear, but rather one of authority, and it wasn’t going away. My body couldn’t move from the car. I began to analyze what was happening, thinking it must be my ego at work, but no, this wasn’t an ego sounding off, not at all. I sat in the car talking out loud to myself and overcome to tears; the voice wouldn’t go away. I am sure the restaurant got reports of a grown man in their parking lot, crying and talking to himself, as many people passed me during this episode.

      I asked myself, “What void? What shall I fill it up with?” Then it came to me. It was the book, the book needed to fill the void.“Ok, the book was to fill the void. A business book?” After allowing it to sink in and accepting that something needed to change, it came to me: Ok, ok I will change the book. The book we have must change; we must change the direction of the book with a message. The voice that was so very present and consistent had shifted from “You have to fill the void,” to a single message that “this isn’t big enough.” So I texted my publisher and told him what had just happened and, being the compassionate professional that he is, he agreed and said we should discuss this new direction.

      My publisher and I had not seen each other in some while, so later that week we decided to meet at a downtown Seattle hotel to discuss the book’s new direction. We were in the hotel lobby seating area in an open discussion. I kept saying, “It’s not big enough,” becoming my guiding principle throughout the conversation. My publisher would ask me, “What is it that you want to say to the reader?” and I would respond, “I am not sure, but this isn’t big enough.” This went on for over three hours. Finally, in response to what I was sharing from my episode in the parking lot and to the emotions I was exhibiting, he came up with “It’s about your Righteous Cause. The message, your message, is truly about a Righteous Cause.” That was it! I felt a great sense of relief. This was the “void” to be filled. My Righteous Cause was not only to fill my void but many others’, and the book was the voice to make that happen. So then, “How could a business book help in finding your Righteous Cause?” became the question to answer.

      After brainstorming and mapping out the process, it became clear what was needed and that using the book’s existing material was perfect. Let me explain. Companies have a vision and a mission to carry out that vision, and so do you and I. We all have a Desire and a path to fulfill and these ideas, concepts, and processes also apply to an individual just as they do to a company. It made sense; the outline of the business book was the outline for Discover the Unseen…

      An example from the business world is a story of too much and not everyone understanding the direction. A client had a vision and mission posted on the walls in the office and throughout the company. However, when I would ask random people I would come across in the office and factories,