Like you, I enjoy the energy that comes with a new year, but often new year’s enthusiasm eventually starts waning. That burst of energy lingers and doesn’t last. Sooner or later, we get caught up in the humdrum of routine and monotony of our existence. What protects you form the mundane? What keeps your cup full? What is your answer to life’s question: “What’s the fucking point?” I believe we must find meaningful ways to ensure our cup stays full. If not, life will take its toll.
You can tell me you’re “owning it”, you’re hustling, you’re up at 4am getting your cold plunge, equipped with post-it notes and positive affirmations. But wait…Life will come for you, just wait. Have you had kids? Have you buried a parent? Have you experienced illness, setback, injury, divorce, retrenchment, depression, despair or failure? Just wait, life comes for all of us.
“The world breaks everyone, only some of us are stronger in those broken places. And those it doesn’t break, it kills.” Ernest Hemingway
Life’s challenges will come. Although I am an optimist, I know adversity and suffering is built into the fabric of life. After you have been dealt a few blows, you will go one of two ways. You will either orient towards safety, security, and survival or you will orient towards adventure, growth and purpose. Many orients towards the former to protect themselves from ‘life’, but they inadvertently protect themselves from really living. I’m not advocating for either, but rather for resolving this tension with awareness of it. This tension between safety and purpose is not a problem that must be solved, rather it’s a balancing act on a tightrope that must be mastered. We need both ends of this continuum. Both ends of this tension structure seek to be fulfilled and compete for our attention. This tension is inherent in every moment, every meeting and every decision we make. How you habitually resolve this tension will determine if you are more creative or more reactive.
What do you orient towards? A reactive mindset means you are motivated by reducing anxiety/conflict by fixing problems, solving your way forward. Trying to survive and playing-not-to-lose. A creative mindset means you are motivated by creating something meaningful, bringing into being something you envision and care deeply about, and living with the inherent risk that comes with that. You are playing-to-win. If you don’t live on the edge of your creativity, purpose and passion, you become toxic to yourself and those around you. You either move through the fear toward your passion or you die a slow death. As you orient towards what you want most, you will face what you fear most.
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you don’t bring forth what is within you, what you don’t bring forth will destroy you.”
The Gospel of Thomas
With your uniqueness comes a passion, curiosity and contribution that only you can make. What is it that wants to manifest in and through you? Leadership is the ongoing activity of creating meaningful outcomes that matter most and accepting the risk that comes with it. We live and work to fulfil these aspirations. If we don’t, we deprive the world of what we are supposed to birth. Many are looking for the safe path to be great. There is no safe way to be great. Leadership is inherently risky. You either accept this and move to the edge, or you retreat to safety and die slowly.
Here are three ways to help you move towards the edge. In this way you can orient yourself better and prevent the creep of decay that many will eventually succumb to. Seek peak experiences. Without this your creative capacities, motivation, immune function, joy, and experience of life will deteriorate. Read through them with this question in the back of your mind: “What would you do if you could?”
1.Seek novelty
We are primed to seek out new and novel experiences. Our dopaminergic system operates optimally during times of pursuit, uncertainty & unanticipated reward. This could be exploring new natural, relational, or cultural experiences. This can include things like a meditation retreat, a paint workshop, a music festival, running an ultra-marathon, hiking in the wilderness or my favourite, climbing a mountain. Go on an adventure.
2.Create something
We all have the ability to bring something new into being, to create or assemble matter into coherence. This could be art, gardening, writing, building a business or any other idea that you act on to bring something new into existence. If we don’t create order and coherence at a faster rate than what entropy and decay destroy it, we are not making progress.
3.Contribute value
This means leaving something in a better condition than what you found it. And includes contributing value to your environment, to yourself and to others. In this way you will be helping people you have never known and may never know. It’s being the change you want to see. If you want others to change, don’t tell them… show them. Action inspires people. Leaders are called that because they go first. Share the experiences and wisdom you gained from the lessons learnt.
How can you incorporate these three principles into your life? Here is a strategy that you can follow.
What can you do daily that will help? These are micro habits that I can recommend: prioritize sleep, eat natural (unprocessed) food, practice functional movements, get outside, play, make love, be grateful, breathe, pray, reflect, or meditate.
Now what meaningful thing can you do weekly for half a day?
What can you do monthly for one day?
What can you do quarterly for a weekend?
What can you do annually for a week?
Your answers to these questions is the outline of your strategy to orient yourself towards growth and adventure and to fight entropy and disorder. Keep climbing, even after injury or setback. You’re going to fall anyway, so become good at it.
Thank you for reading
Reinhard