Well Scripted Life

Just a quick note to subscribers. Feel free to skip. 

I spent a few years riding in the back of airplanes for the Air Force, and we'd have a safety debrief after any accidents. I remember one particular briefing. It's been over 30 years, so I'm sure I've forgotten the exact details, but the idea is accurate.

A blinking light indicating engine trouble held the attention of all four crew members, and the plane hit a mountain; no one was looking out the window.

It' a tragic story, and sadly, it isn't rare. Can the lesson be applied to the work environment? I think it can. I've sat across from very capable people and often been told they are too busy to entertain a good idea. Teams are forced to run so thin that they don't have people to look out the window. They don't have people to dream, wonder, check into new ideas.

As a sales rep, I'm the guy looking out the window.

I was visiting with a client and asked, "If we were new members of your team, what would you have us do?" The question led to a lengthy conversation about what should be done, what should be researched or understood.

The list of what should be done keeps growing. Who's watching out for you?

I too suffer from this will to win without the will to prepare. I have the will, the desire to write a book, run a marathon, speak Chinese. All of these are childish dreams if I don't have the desire to prepare. Do you ever pine for success? Do you think they got lucky? Do you wait for your chance? These are signs of the disease. The antidote is daily hustle.

Why am I writing this glimpse into my life? I’m concerned that we go about coaching and motivating all wrong. We focus on the mistakes and look only at the final results. If my story makes any sense at all, look for the spark in people and fan the flames. Focus on what’s going well and think about what can be improved.

http://gregdyche.com/2020/08/27/do-you-believe/

Do you believe? The question requires an object. A normal response could be, “Believe in what?” In my context today, I’m talking about the result your seeking. Do you believe you will get the result if you put in the action? What if the result will take months or years? Belief comes from hearing and hearing and hearing. If you hear something often enough, you will begin to believe.

Action is the best cure for fear, especially dread.  To quote some MIT research,

“Since our brains only can consciously focus on one thing at a time, once you are in the act of doing, your fear fades away. Therefore, taking action reduces conscious fear.”

Who are you? Are you the same person all the time? I'm not being philosophical. I'm being practical. Who I am does fluctuate a little with each context. I'm not talking about anything important. I'm taking about tools, preferences, activities.

I've often struggled with logins when I switch roles. For instance, I have personal windows account, and I have a company account, and I have a school account. Seems like I'm always logged into the wrong one at the time. I've tried different web browsers, like Firefox for school, chrome for personal, and edge for teacher life. This approach is hard to remember and easy to get mixed up.  Sometimes a feature only works in Chrome anyway.

What about different user accounts on the laptop? Works wonderful.

Are you like me? Do you get caught in a trap where the bar is too high, and if you reach the bar, you’ll just raise it again. You can’t be good enough. I’m guessing you are familiar with the imposter syndrome, but just in case, the imposter syndrome is a feeling you are faking it. A feeling you aren’t good enough, and if people only knew, you’d be discovered.

Snowball Express. Fun movie for a kid, and it has one scene that taught me a valuable lesson. The ski-lift motor is at the bottom of the hill, and they need to get it to the top. They talk about several crazy schemes before the kid in the room asks a simple question, “Why can’t it pull itself up the hill?”

Have you heard the world doldrum? Do you know what it means? I had to look it up to be sure. It’s a nautical term to describe a still zone circling the globe at the equator. The combination of north and south trade winds meeting and the intense heat causing the moisture to rise eliminating nearly all surface wind. Sailing ships could be stuck for weeks.

I’ve been working out the problem of the long middle of a poorly defined project. When a job, project, or season goes on too long and the end is unclear, you can get stuck in the doldrum.  What can be done? How do you get out?

I'm sharing a few ideas. What's your solution?