How much of your energy aka thoughts aka time is spent trying to solve tomorrow’s problems? It is a losing battle to work from today to solve issues that could come up in the future. In a meeting with one of the people in my inner circle yesterday he shared with me how he was learning that things he thought would be hard were more often showing up as easy, and that what he thought would go smoothly would surprise him time and time again by being hard. We can plan and strategize and forecast endlessly, and yet it is impossible to solve tomorrow’s problems from today. Granted, as a leader your job is to see more and to see before, to look around the corner and anticipate what is coming in order to lead your team successfully. That’s not what I am talking about. I am talking about the thing we call worry. Achievers call it stress. It is the energy/time/thoughts we use up thinking about all the things that are not in our control.
The What Ifs. My son Nick’s third grade teacher is always quoted in our family for calling out “That is a what if question”. In other words, it hasn’t happened. You can create all kinds of scenarios in your mind with lots of juicy things that could happen and may happen and holy shit what if that happens. But the only way to deal with the inevitable sideswipes that come our way is in the moment. The work you invest on a daily basis on yourself and with the people you work with and with your family especially your kids, and again, ON YOURSELF, is what will give you the tools to solve the problems that will always arise as long as you are alive. Problems are inevitable. Trade not having enough customers for not having enough product to sell. Trade not having enough time with someone you are dating to figuring out how to co-habitate once you are living together. The secret is to see that every problem presents an opportunity. An opportunity to solve it and grow and trade it for a better quality problem.