What good is a category if all it does is burdening our days with indignation, anger, resentment and negativity?
It’s positive to identify as this or that, use categories to make sense of the world around us, but let’s forgo their capacity of pitching us against the others. It is just another face of resistance, and it does not serve any of our purposes.
When a crisis hits, the human tendency is to focus on the crisis itself. Finding ways to mitigate it, get past it, sometimes leverage it.
But if you have a system, a strategy, a story you have built throughout the years, the focus should not be on the crisis. How does the system/strategy/story changes? What can you keep, what do you have to put on hold, what will you add? What can you do today that serves it and how will the crisis enhance all of this?
When you take this longer term approach, you’ll be ready to go once the crisis is over (instead of depleted of energy). It takes time, and it’s worth it.
The things you say no to – and the things you say yes to as well of course – they signal what you care about. In the day to day, for most things, it might seem not too important (it is). But when you are in a leadership position, there is no excuse. You might have very good reasons to dedicate your attention or energy to this or that, yet eventually you are telling those around you what matters and what you all together are about.
Tread carefully with these kind of decisions, they do not affect yourself only.
If you want to be successful, wake up at 4 am every day.
But actually, 4.30am is THE right time if you want to get more done.
Want to feel empowered? 5am is the time for you.
Try 6am if you want a healthy business.
Or you can go with 7am, as long as you are mindful it can ruin your health.
If you think about it, 10am is a perfectly good time too!
And since that’s the case, why not try to extend that until noon?
We are all busy trying to replicate what others do, and not quite as much actually doing our own thing. Find your way. It is the only way.
If all you give people are facts, they will take note and move on with their lives.
Give them a story they can feel and relate too, and you will have their long-term attention.
Give them empathy for their own story, and you will have them ready to change their behaviour.
You've got this 