The Only Thing That Will Get You Through Bad Situations

It's so bad, but you have to get through it.The only way out is psychological reframing.

The reality of how bad things are isn't going to change.

So if you can't change that, the only thing you can do is change your attitude.Military groups call it "embracing the suck."

It sucks. In fact, it sucks for all of us.

Once you can adjust to that, you can stop complaining and get going.

The faster you can adjust, the faster you can move forward.

So, it's not about avoiding the suck or alleviating the suck--that's often not feasible.The trick is to adjust quickly and make things happen anyway.

2 Minute Action

What's something that is going to suck no matter what you do?

• Working out.
• Dieting.
• Sales calls.
• Surgeries.
• Angry customers.
• Absent students.
• Car accidents.
• Being mugged.
• Having your business robbed.

These are just a few examples off the top of my head.I bet you can think of a few in your own life and take the next two minutes to mentally embrace the suck.Once you do, you will already be more resilient and ready for the next mission.

Don't Do More And Don't Do Less, Here's Why

If you're like me, you probably think a lot about doing more.

How can I increase my output?How can I check off more tasks?How can I reduce friction so I can get more done?

And here's the part where I'm about to start talking about doing less.

Right? This is where I go into a tirade about how we should be focusing on doing fewer things, better.

The truth is, that might be true for some of us.

For others, you might just really love the feeling of checking stuff off your list.And that might change depending on where you are in your career or life.

It might be true for a while and then not true later on.

And vice-versa.The most important thing here is just knowing what makes you happy.If you're like me, feeling like I'm making the world a better place is the feeling of happiness.So it's not really checking off boxes, for me--it's seeing real-world results that I impacted.

2 Minute Action

Write down a list of 5 times you felt most alive.Write down a list of 5 times you felt most dead.Boom.Now you know what kind of experiences to integrate into your life.

Have You Said This To Yourself And Does This Work For You?

Maybe this will work for me. New diet. New exercise routine. New language learning program. Maybe this time, this new way of doing it will work for me. Maybe. 

But can you guess where I’m going with this?

Maybe this time you need to do the work to make it work. Maybe this time, it’s more than just trying something new.You know you need to eat your fruits and veggies and not too much. You know you need to work out everyday. You know that if you want to learn a new language or instrument, you just need to practice. 

Stop thinking that a new, shiny thing will motivate you to do the work just because it’s new.

This happens across people and it happens across industries like mine.It’s a normal human problem.It’s all in your head. And the long-term, sustainable change is all up to you. 

2 Minute Action

Jot down a quick list of the things you think you need to do/have before you get started. Pause.Look at it again.Start crossing stuff off. Because those are excuses.