Tracy Otsuka is a dynamic, witty, and generous person, who I first met as a guest on her podcast “ADHD for Smart Ass Women”.
It’s that last quality I’d like to highlight here. Over my 72 years I’ve been lucky enough to meet scores, if not hundreds of hugely talented, successful, and famous people. As I reflect upon them all, one quality stands out as differentiating them into two quite separate groups. While they all share the various demographics of what’s conventionally called success, one group has achieved the heights by relentless, calculating, sometimes ruthless climbing up the ladder of life. They are single-minded in the devotion to their goal—personal success, peak performance, super-stardom—and quickly discard people or projects that do not contribute to reaching their goal.
The other group, which includes Tracy, works ultra-hard to gain success for sure, but do so in such a way that other people get helped in the process. Put simply, they care about people other than themselves. They don’t just achieve, they also give, often without notice or recompense. Some single-minded high achievers scorn such generosity as a form of weakness, of taking one’s eye off the ball, of losing focus.
But I regard it as grace. These are the people I love to see succeed. The others I might tip my hat to, but I can’t say I’m rooting for them in the game of life. They don’t need my support anyway. They will triumph by hook or by crook, never stopping for someone who might need their help. They know what they want, and they learn how to take it. But the people like Tracy, who do care about who might ask for help, who take joy in helping others achieve success, these are the people who I’m praying for, rooting for, and thanking every day.
When you hear Tracy on my podcast, notice how much of what she says relates to her delight in helping women who have ADHD see their lives dramatically change once they get the diagnosis, and how much Tracy exults in these women’s new found triumphs. That’s why I so love and admire Tracy Otsuka, because she loves, admires and lives to help other people.
