It’s summer time at The Resilient Worker Headquarters! Bring on the cookouts, the ice cream, and, of course, the glorious trips to the beach. Speaking of, I spent this past weekend on vacation at the shore. There is nothing quite like the sound of the waves and the smell of salt and sunscreen to set your mind at ease and melt away your everyday stress. After a refreshing jog on the sand, I noticed the on-duty lifeguard mindlessly spinning his whistle back and forth around his fingers (They must teach that on the first day of lifeguard school!) Here was a guy who could spend day after endless day staring at the horizon without moving from his chair. But if someone were to get in trouble, his adrenaline must kick in and he must be ready to immediately pounce into action. Every second counts during those bursts of intense pressure. How can someone seamlessly transition from one extreme to the next with confidence? Because, while the lifeguard may look bored and inactive during his time in the chair, he has spent countless hours training for that moment when life or death is in his hands. He has spent countless hours researching first aid techniques. He has spent countless hours running on the beach. He has spent countless hours studying the currents of the water. His idle time may not be grueling or challenging. But it is the time spent intensely preparing for his seconds of stress and trauma that allows him to be successful. And so it is with all of us.
As resilient workers, it may feel as though as we are constantly busy. But the reality is, there are only certain moments in the week or the month or the year that are mission-critical. A pivotal sales call with a key client. A challenging deposition in a landmark case. A complex presentation to secure early-round funding. A brief but intense skirmish on the battlefield. A huge game against your arch-rival. It is incredibly important to rise to the occasion during these defining moments. In extreme cases, your entire career or even your life can boil down to a single moment or opportunity. So does that mean the other time in your career has been wasted? Of course not! The time preparing for your big moment is the most precious of all. This is the time you have studied the client’s needs. This is the time you have practiced in front of the mirror. This is the time you have performed countless drills in the field. This is the time you have identified your target market. This is the time you have put in at practice and in the weight room to ensure success at crunch time! Your opportunity to shine during these pivotal moments hinges on the mundane and grueling work you put into preparing for that moment.
But what happens when we come up small in our biggest moments? We talk too much and blow the sale. We stumble in our opening arguments. We fail to raise enough money to keep our business solvent. We lose sight of the enemy on the battlefield. We fall to our arch-rival. How do we stay resilient after a devastating defeat? First, we must ask ourselves if we truly put in the proper amount of sweat and work. Effort and preparation are the table stakes for success. It all starts there. But even when we tirelessly prepare for our one shining moment, there is no guarantee of success. If we are to maintain our resiliency after a defeat, we must double down on our efforts rather than curl up into a ball. We must address our shortcomings rather than blame someone else for our loss. Most of all, we must recognize that those moments of failure will always be followed by an opportunity for redemption. No mistake is permanent. No defeat is final. No chapter is closed forever. You need to tap back into that same effort and grit that initially prepared you for your big moment. You will surprise yourself. You will come back stronger than ever. You will recapture the glory that you were destined to enjoy!
Until next week, keep smiling!
I’ve found over the years, with regard to effort, the huge difference between “spinning your wheels” and “working smart vs. working hard!” The SEALS have an excellent short form description of goal or
Mission setup and execution, the 7p’s: Prior PROPER preparation prevents piss poor performance. I highlighted the word I’m convinced is the most important and most difficult to address when it comes to effort and preparation. Preparing incorrectly will always lead to disappointment save some blind luck. Knowing the proper way to prepare often takes wisdom and experience usually through failure and setbacks, hence the difficulty! My point though is a bit deeper with regards to effort and preperation. I believe one must really believe and trust in their “Why”. The big game, the pitch, the meeting with client, in my case audition after audition bombing at night clubs, etc. comes successful when we “practice hard the way we play” with a connection to WHY this is important to us. For example, my greatest comedic stand-up performance was not in a grand theatre or night club or even filmed, it was delivered before a medical school orientation class vis-a-vis a friend who had just finished his first year at that school (and was class President) and was loathe to give the requested banal, Rah-Rah speech heard so many times at so many orientations (“Look to your left, that person may be the one who pushes you through someday!”). So I agreed to give the speech on his behalf and we drove 11 hours from DC to Chicago (pulling over for safety reasons while laughing to tears) preparing this speech. Our WHY was super important to me and changed the direction of my life and career. I became a stand-up to get laughs and hopefully date hot girls. Simple, and and laughable goal in and of itself but I thought if
I could make people happy and perhaps make them think too … Great, and also girls. In this case, we wanted to truly shed light on the superficiality of orientation speeches, while actually providing a couple of real things they should know this coming year and make them laugh hard in the process to cut through the nerves these young , motivated kids must have starting their new careers! I was wearing workout shorts and white tank-top undershirt covered by my friend’s Medical formal white-coat and stethescope and shared with them small insights like, “Your vocabulary is going to change, when a friend tells you about their upset stomach you will not be concerned about that particular organ but you will suspect your friend has an infection in his or her GI or gastrointestinal tract … Vocabulary is everything ladies and gentlemen, you will long for the day when you innocently referred to a friend’s sweaty ball sac, it’s a scrotum ladies and gentlemen … S C R O T U M.” I watched a young, future doctor in the front row of this lecture hall laughing so hard mascara ran down her
Cheeks, I was close though because I was playing with her hair while discussing naming cadavers, but the effort and prep payed off and our message was well received. My friend incidentally married a girl who was in that class and told us the class voted us as the best part of
Orientation! All of this was to point out that the expression “Practice as you play” means the belief and WHY you are working so hard and understanding that the more you focus on practicing your endeavor as if it was that moment you seek (adrenaline pumping, life in slow motion, senses hightened or
Non-existent, then you’ll operate in that moment exactly as you prepared! To simplify and even inspire, that moment we are discussing, when all
The stakes are at their highest, will really be a celebration of your indelible preperation no matter the outcome!!
Thanks and good endeavors all,
Terry
Thanks, Terry. Wow, a blog post within a blog post! Appreciate you taking the time to comment. No doubt stand up is a fearless profession. The WHY always keeps us going when the stakes are highest. Keep slaying it!