Is this the new normal?
I don’t know about you but I’ve always wondered what the shit hitting the fan would look like.
If a week is a long time in politics, then three days is a long time in a pandemic.
This week I’m thinking about Pain and Courage
Let’s do it…
COURAGE
Let’s start with a definition.The Ned Flanders of High Performance, the quite brilliant Brendon Burchard, defines courage as “taking intitiative in the face of risk”.
To do that, I have to have as clarity over the scale of the risk.That’s difficult to do right now.
One thing I know for sure is that concern is valid but the hysteria is overblown. While it’s important is to keep a long term view, my fabulous coach Allison gave me some solid advice, “don’t forecast more than 60 days out”.
I’ve always believed in offence over defence.My modus operandi is default aggressive. Jocko is my terrestrial higher power. To keep that I need to have a daily rhythm that builds confidence and momentum.
To do that I need a super solid mental/spiritual foundation. I do what I can do.I do my responsibility and then cast my care. When I’ve done all I can. I cast the rest upon God and trust Him. It’s perfectly OK for me to enjoy my life while I have a problem. I can rest easy knowing that God is working on it. It’s not that nothing’s happening, it’s just that I’m not the one making something happen. I waste my life if I spend it in sadness and worry. What I focus on is what I magnify in my life. I focus on possibilities not problems.
Here’s my Sunday Spiritual video about that.
Sounds easy, of course. It isn’t.
These are times and with new and frightening tasks that I have to struggle through. I try to honour the struggle, knowing that it’s a natural part of the process. That makes me more courageous. I enter into it knowing it will be hard. I can handle the struggle because I expect it. When I’m working with clients or addicts, sometimes I use different language to describe the phenomena. I suggest they be “patient through the process.” Or recommend that they be “OK with other people doubting or judging them.” It’s vital for us to honour the struggle as necessary to forge the kind of character that will help us deserve the outcome we desire.
Most people complain about the struggle. I know I used to, endlessly.
Leaders don’t.
They are fine being in the weeds, getting muddy.
We know that showing up, even when they’re tired, will help make us the best.
Knowing that the process will be hard – not just accepting that it will be hard but appreciating that working through the tough times is necessary for success – makes me less afraid.
Also it helps to have someone to fight for. A bigger cause. A higher power. Courage comes from wanting to serve someone or something: wife, husband, family, a small group of people. The will to work through uncertainty or fear comes from wanting to serve someone who needs help.
If I want the courage to stay the course, to overcome obstacles, to honour the struggle, I don’t focus on changing the world. I decide who I’m doing it for, and then work hard for them. A lot of my clients and peers need help and reassurance right now. I’m about to launch a campaign on SHOTS.
I’ve chosen to focus on who and what works… on the primary drivers of my business… on what moves the needle most and execute the plan.
And that means moving through pain. To be precise….
…. THREE TYPES OF PAIN
Watching the Coronavirus News Network play out has been fascinating. I think one way to characterize people’s responses is that some optimize for comfort and other people optimize for information.
That’s the thing about this pandemic, right? It makes us recognize our human fragility. All the nerves and stress so many are feeling right now… unsettled… fearful… anxious.
So much of that is the result of our human response to chaos, which fundamentally makes us recognize our own vulnerability in the world. Chaos strikes. Suddenly we realize we are more fragile than we thought – more exposed, unsafe, less in control than we thought.The spiral begins hard for those unaccustomed to chaos.Fear is concern about experiencing pain.
Mark Manson is a good guy to follow right now. He reckons we fear three specific kinds of pain: loss, hardship and disappointment/disaster. Loss is perhaps the most well-known. We fear trying new things because we might lose our status, power, relationships, comforts. We also fear hardship, which are the pains – struggle, doubt, overwhelm – that comes from trying to change. Finally, we fear outcome pain, or disappointment that things won’t go well even if we do succeed at change. All these fears have one thing in common; we worry about a question that sounds like, “What if this negative thing happens?” The trick is to learn to answer that, but also to flip it and ask, “What if instead of loss, I experience gain? What if instead of hardship, I can honour or enjoy the learning process? What if instead of fearing disappointment, I can imagine a positive future?”Pain comes from losing something you have or not getting something you want.
Energy flows where attention goes.
Here in Sydney, we’re hours away from lockdown.Production companies have told their roster of international directors that they can’t push them to local agencies thanks to travel restrictions. Shooting locally and with local talent and small, nimble crews is, for now, the way forward. Oh… and animation. And the wizards in Oz for that are Heckler: stunning work, fabulous people, amazing reel.
My sharpest clients are staying busy developing scripts and ideas with agencies, and still working through the process of treating, bidding and planning with production companies and putting schedules together based off the best information we have. We need to make sure that the minute things ease up, we’re ready to go and projects can start pre-production. We need to work together to minimise the quiet period so the impacts on all of us are kept as manageable as possible.
If you want help with that, download my free PDF guide, BoardFlow.
This is a major curve ball. Now more than ever is a time to focus on resilience and support. None of us know what’s really going to happen next. The virus is a great leveller but it too shall pass. How much is destroyed in the interim will be a factor of just how much generosity each one of us can find in ourselves to make the world a little easier for each other.
Together we are stronger than all the viruses in the world. What we need to do is support each other during these tough times, chat online, spend more time with our families, read books, wash our hands and wait till it’s all over.
It’s 2020. Tech and comms tools support us as never before. At a meeting last week someone said we should, “treat this time like the it’s the Sabbath”. That day, a friend sent me this:
Prayer for a Pandemic
May we who are merely inconvenienced, remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors, remember those most vulnerable.
May we who have the luxury of working from home, remember those who must choose between preserving their health or making their rent.
May we who have the flexibility to care for our children, remember those who have no options.
May we who have to cancel our trips, remember those who have no safe place to go.
May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market, remember those who have no margin at all.
May we who settled in for a quarantine at home, remember those who have no home.
As fear grips our country, let us choose love.
During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other, let us find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbors. Amen.
Meantime it’s business as unusual.
Money needs to move, commerce needs to happen… it’s time to trust, weep, trust reorder your loves and remember…when times turn weird, the weird turn pro.
Let how you’re doing and If I can help.
