Walk Through the Fire
I like to believe that obstacles we face give us a choice. You can choose to overcome them or you can choose to let them deter your journey. Nothing worth having if you don’t put in the respective amount of time and effort it requires. Lately, I feel like the series of obstacles that have come my way are testing my stamina and courage in a compounded effort. The world is full of conflict but it really boils down to how you handle it.
I have this tattoo that I got back in 2015 when I was going through a significantly hard season. It’s a quote that resonated with me so much that it made me cry when I read it. To this day, even though I cannot see this quote (it’s on my left shoulder close to my spine), I know it’s there and it motivates me to handle these obstacles head on. The tattoo on my shoulder, printed in a novel type font, reads “what matters most is how well you walk through the fire”. While a bit dramatic for everyday situations, whatever keeps you going right?
Does anyone else feel like January was way longer than it needed to be? Maybe it’s because so much happens at year start: people are committed to their new goals and in turn creating habits for those is painstaking; businesses are organizing their calendars and budgets for the year; it’s flu season so a lot of people are sick; everyone hasn’t fully rebooted to work mode after the holidays; the list goes on. I know I’m not the only one who feels the pressure and overwhelm of January, so now that February has officially blessed us with its presence, I am leaving all that January crap behind me.
The past 4 weeks, I have dealt with cancelled workshops, stressful situations with my coworkers, fighting for a large project that I know will change our business strategy, and trying to keep my personal life intact. For all of these things, I could have chosen to brush each and every conflict aside, but how was that going to keep me moving forward? One of my other favorite quotes is from the movie Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. This eccentric, magical toy shop owner is explaining the importance how we approach our lives on a daily basis. He says, “Mahoney, life is an occasion, rise to it.”
So aligning with those two quotes, how are you approaching the challenges that life has presented you so far? I think it’s important that we control our mindset amidst the chaos of everything being thrown your way. I’ll share with you the method I use to tackle what has appeared in my path so far in 2020.
How can you still move forward?
This is the first question you should ask yourself. Do not play the blame game or try to figure out how things got to where they are just yet. You need a solution on how to combat your current challenge at hand. Whatever your roadblock is, people still want to see results, so keep your chin up and commit to a different strategy to move forward. There are so many freaking variables in business nowadays that it’s important to be able to turn on a dime, which is why I heard one of our directors use this word recently and have become obsessed with it: agile. Always think two steps ahead for any outcome, so you can be as prepared as possible when disaster inevitably strikes.
Schedule your action plan into your calendar
If you’re under a tight time crunch like I am on a regular basis, every working hour is valuable and should be treated with the respect you deserve for your productivity. Put it in the damn calendar. I am a slave to my Outlook calendar, but in a different way. I command my schedule and make sure I have the right priorities lined up each day, week, month, and quarter. I make an appointment for myself in my calendar so I give myself time to do it. This is especially important because if you already have a million things on your plate, how are you going to prioritize handling this unforeseen challenge? I have had many coworkers ask how I do what I do and literally lose their freaking mind when they see my Outlook. It’s not scary; it’s hardcore discipline.
Hold yourself accountable
I’m not just talking about in executing your action plan above. Who’s job is it to get this done? Yours. OWN IT. When you say you own something, it immediately amplifies the intensity to next level work ethic. It is your responsibility to see this through. I hear so many times: “oh well, I didn’t get this done because so-and-so didn’t do the whatchamacallit” and quite honestly, I think that’s a load of BS. As full grown adults in the business world, there is no reason to blame anyone but yourself when your project doesn’t pan out. No person in the business world wants to hear excuses. They’re like a**holes; everyone has one.
Reflect on your preparation and execution
It is best practice to do a post mortem meeting after project completion, and personally I like the title lessons learned better, but you also need to do this on a individual basis. You owe it to yourself to go back and be brutally honest on how you handled everything. I like to focus on the things that I personally had control over so I don’t get caught in the excuse cycle. Could I have answered this email sooner? Should it have been a phone call instead? Did I lose sight of this as a priority? Did I push this off for other things on my plate? Should I have allowed for an additional week in this step of planning? Did I lay out expectations for each party properly? This is where you will grow in the mistakes made because the only person that judges you is yourself.
While the four steps above might seem super basic, common sense is not always common practice. I have to remind myself of these steps regularly to ingrain them into my mindset habits. As humans, we gravitate towards things that are comfortable for us, and those steps are not comfortable by any means. Remind yourself what it means for you intrinsically when you face these types of challenges and I think you’ll be surprised to find how much personal growth is found along the way.
With the first month of the year already behind us, I challenge you to start February with a feeling of renewal. I feel like January was tough on everyone, but how are you planning to handle the rest of the year with the drive and endurance to make it your year? Rise to the occasion and walk through the fire. You got this!
