Tag: mindset

Can I Say…Something About That?

“Doing The Right Thing Is Always The Right Thing…” – Unknown

I’m not sure who originally said this. I know I have heard Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Russell Brunson, Gary Vaynerchuck, and many others all say similar sayings. I have heard many people use variations of this long before I started following any of these guys.

Now I haven’t asked them personally, but being a follower of them all, I would take a wild ass guess and say that each of them have said it because it’s true and they wholeheartedly believe it. Really, it just seems like common sense to me.

So what’s not to believe? It’s true! Then why is so hard to do? If something is the right thing to do that’s means it’s right and therefore it can’t be wrong. End of story. There isn’t anything to discus, nothing to debate or argue about Just do the right thing now and stop thinking about.

Again I ask why is it so hard to do? Is it just me or are there plenty out there just like me that make decisions harder than they have to be? Decisions that don’t really leave much room for discussion, yet I can burn tons of my energy and waste countless hours of my precious time pondering, evaluating, weighing the pros and cons, looking at all sides, exploring every option, and on and on. When all I need to do is stop thinking about it and just do the right thing. Why do I make it so difficult? Do I just have to make extra sure, one more time? Is it fear? Is it self-consciousness? Is it stupidity? Is it the need for drama or attention because even negative attention is attention. Is it a combination of all these things?

After years of learning the hard way by doing the wrong thing I would love to say I always do the right thing today. That would be a lie, however, but it sure gets easier the more I try. It takes less energy; mental, emotional, and spiritual. It’s like a muscle and the more you exercise your do the right thing muscle the stronger it gets. The stronger it gets, the easier it is to do the right thing next time. You do the right thing then move on and focus on the next right thing. No need to mind trip and worry if you did the right or become consumed with whatever you did, how you did it or how you should have done it. You place all your energy on the present and doing the next right thing today.

So take it from me and the wise guys before me and just do the right thing.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 7: What’s The Score?

“At the center of your being
you have the answer;
you know who you are
and you know what you want.”

― Lao Tzu

Do you know who you are? Do I even know who I am? This entire series has danced around that topic. At least part it. That topic is really just an invitation to discover the greater part of the iceberg below the surface. In this series I focused on the things that occupy most of the space in my brain.

What occupies my brain is really a surface level topic, not the center of my being. However, the journey to the center must start somewhere. I feel the brain is as good a place as any. Looking deeply at what occupies my brain and really seeking to understand and answer the questions the brain eaters conjure will lead me to the center. The real questions and answers are there.

Have I found the right questions to ask? Have I found the answers? Have I listened to the answers? Do I know who I am? Do I know what I want? How does my scorecard look today?

I believe self discovery and growth is a life long journey. I have felt many times throughout my life that I had discovered who I am and what I want, later to discover I was wrong or that there was more to it than I thought at the time. Looking back I have realized that early on I might have been wrong some of the time but as I have moved forward and honestly sought the truth, it was more a matter of peeling layers. We are a complex species and it seems that more will always be revealed as we progress through life.

At this point in my life I do believe I know who I am. Will I learn more? Absolutely, I am a firm believer that once we stop learning our purpose in this life is done. Even after we become the teacher there is more to learn.

So where do I stand today? What is the score? How am I doing? This really could be a long and deep conversation which is better left for another time. Instead I will focus on how I am doing within the context of what I have discussed throughout this series.

The questions then become:
Am I keeping the brain eaters contained?
Am I staying focused, present, and calm amidst the chaos in my brain?
Am I doing the things that are good for me that help manage the brain eaters?
Am I…? See, there the brain eaters go getting carries away.

The most important lesson I have learned about self awareness, self discovery, and self evaluation is that there are no wrong answers if answered honestly. Nothing counts but honesty as you are only lying to yourself.

I am doing better about managing the chaos in my brain. I am not taking it out on others and I am not trying to do everything. I am focusing on just a few things and trying to do better at each.

I would love to say that I am doing great with the four things that help me most; writing, talking, exercising, and meditating. I do them all but the truth is, the quantity of each has dropped off a bit since taking over the pie shop a year ago. I need to find a way to put more time and effort in to each because they really do make a huge difference in the quality of my life.

The two that I have been able to do the most are writing and talking. Journal writing, not creative writing is what I have been able to do every day. Just writing things out helps to get them out my head. It takes some of the food away from the bran eaters and takes some of the power away from the thoughts. I do hope to create more time for the creative writing as it produces a very similar result. Talking things out with another person has really increased over the last six to nine months and has been very helpful. Sharing with another person helps get different, unbiased perspective on everything. It is very hard to calm the chaos with the same mind that created it.

In conclusion, I have been able to mitigate the damage caused by my bran eaters but I definitely need to put a few more points on the board for Kevin. My goal is to carve a bit more time for all of these things but focus more on quality instead of quantity since my time is limited.

How’s your scorecard looking? 

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 6: Coronas On The Beach

“‘Cause I feel our time has come
And we can walk down to the ocean,
And sit with the rising sun”

– Dustin Bushnell / Jared Watson / Roman Rene Ramirez -The Dirty Heads

Coronas on the beach anyone? Not for me, despite all this Covid business. However, a walk down to the ocean would be nice.

I know I said the last part was the conclusion but I have to add this another part because I started writing this series before the ‘rona hit and there are brain eaters as a result. I thought I would share on some of my covid brain eaters.

Of course, during a time like this there fear. The uncertainty of what will happen today. Will we make enough today to stay open another day? Will we even survive this pandemic? Will we still be around when this passes and things return to normal? Will there ever be a normal again? What will I do if this doesn’t work out?

Fear; it consumes and eats me away from the inside out. Fear pushes me to the edge and for some, over. As you can see if you look closely at all the fear based questions, they all have to do with the future. How can I combat that fear? The first thing is get back in the moment. Fear is never present-based, unless one is in eminent danger, of course. Most of the time, the fear is about something in the future that I think might happen. To mitigate that and weaken the fear I need to realize that I am good right now. Any of the three things I discussed in the previous part, writing, meditation, or exercise, help me to do this. Once I bring myself back to the present and understand that in this moment I am good, the fear begins to subside. It is important to realize that fear can only feed on what offer it.

Another big one during this pandemic is resentment. When fear has a thorn in me I am already off balance and sensitive to my environment. People have been acting much different during all this. Some have been a great example of what a good neighbor really is and has restored some of my faith in humanity. Others, however, have demonstrated the darker side of the human race. So I judge and get resentful.

Fear and resentment is a dangerous cocktail so I have to do something to rid myself of them otherwise I usually end doing something that I regret. Again, the three things above help a lot. I also talk to others and share what I am thinking and feeling and that takes much of the power out of whatever I am tripping on. Just like fear, resentment can only survive if I feed it.

Enough of the bad brain eaters, how about some good ones? Ideas! The entrepreneurial tendencies never subside, even during a pandemic. The ideas have been flowing because those squirrels have been working overtime. Part of it is definitely the survival instinct kicking in because the reality is this is life or death for my two main businesses right now.

I need to be focusing on ideas that will help them survive. Change is always part of business. The ability to adapt and change course is imperative to survival. I have made it this far in business because of I have been able to make tweaks to adapt to the changes that happen beyond my control. There are so many external factors like regulations, administrations, competitors, disruptive technology, just to name a few.

I would definitely put pandemic on that list as well. The ones I listed about are very common, a pandemic is not. A business often has things in place to respond to the common changes but not pandemics. Fortunately, they do not happen that often. This current coronavirus pandemic, however, is definitely proving to be a major force to reckon with for businesses. Especially when one business is a restaurant and the other is travel dependant.

Currently, the ideas are winning the brain eating battle in my head. The fear and resentments has subsided and only make rare cameo appearances. When they do I quickly take their food away. This pandemic has really opened my eyes to the reality that it can really change the way we do things moving forward after the threat of the virus passes. As a result, I am focusing on both present and future ideas. I need to first focus on ideas that are going to keep the businesses alive through the day, and then I need to look at ideas that focus on our long term survival.

That’s what is currently eating my brain.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 5: Conclusion

“So let it be written, So let it be done” – Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett, Burton – Metallica

Hold on to those lyrics for a bit, I’ll get there in a moment. Different context but you’ll see the relevance.

Have you heard the saying “too much of a good thing…?”

Just think of “healthy” fats; avocado, coconut, etc. They are healthy for you in moderation. At the end of the day, they are still fats and once you cross that line and consume more than your recommended daily serving, you are entering negative territory.

I touched on the old adage a bit in the last two parts of this series. I discussed two positive things that occupy my mind yet eat at my brain in excess; ideas and day dreams.

Both are great things and are the catalysts for all advancements the world has seen in history. Maybe not all started with a daydream, but I can’t conceive of any great idea or change not having a daydream involved at some point leading up to the change. Perhaps it was referred to as a vision or an inspiration. Whatever the case might be something initiated the desire to do something that created the change.

What comes first is a chicken and egg discussion and I don’t want to go there but here is how my mind works; I have an idea then I daydream about it and how it will impact my life and the world, or I daydream and an idea comes to me. It has happened both ways for me and is so common I have hard time thinking about it any other way.

Here is the negative side of it, however; I have the idea or daydream and I can’t stop thinking about it. I become totally obsessed and consumed and can’t focus on anything else. There is no resting moment of peace but constant chatter and banter in my head. It’s exciting and frustrating at the same time. That’s it when I cross the line into too much of a good thing territory.

In the last two pars I wrote about ideas and daydreams individually, but as you can read they usually go together for me. When I either occur they fuel the other and get trapped in the rabbit and I simply can’t function.

Regardless if something is inherently positive or negative, anything in excess usually ends up as a negative. There are always exceptions, love and kindness, for example. Unless, of course, you focus all your energy on outward love and kindness but neglect yourself. That could be a problem. I don’t want to go there today.

The point is we all have brain eaters that we need to be aware of learn to manage properly. There are plenty of things we can do to manage them so we don’t turn into zombies. What works for some might not for others. I only know what works for me and my personality type.

My head is like a water hose from the old cartoons that start to bloat and grow bigger and bigger until they finally burst from all the pressure. All the issues I have discussed in this series build that pressure and eventually they are going to find their way out. If I don’t open a pressure release valve, it’s not going to be pretty. Here are some things that I do that really help:

WRITE:
This helps me get what’s in my head out and relieves some of that pressure. It takes away some the squirrel food. Good or bad, I need to get it out of my head. It not only relieves pressure, but it also helps me gain a bit of perspective on it. Once I put something on paper it takes away some of the power an mystery. This is especially true for the negative things like fear and resentment. Once I put it down and read it to myself I can see how silly it all is.

TALK:
Share the secret. In business, when I get lost in ideas I need to share with someone else to help ground me so I can focus on what needs to be done to make the idea a reality. With the negative stuff, sharing with another takes even more of the power out. What is  even more powerful, is that the viewpoint of someone that lives outside of my crazy head is usually much more logical and practical, if you choose your sounding boards wisely, that is. There’s a common saying “you can’t solve a problem with the mind that created it.”

MEDITATE:
Great spiritual leaders have been advocating this for centuries. I have practiced this on and off for years. I just recently begun to burn it into my daily routine and it has paid dividends. There are so many theories, opinions, styles, and methods for meditating. It is easy to get overwhelmed and confused but it really is hard to do it incorrectly. It is a personal thing and I encourage you to explore the possibilities and give it a try.

EXERCISE:
This is my “active” meditation. Whether I am alone or with friends, it is me time. The health benefits of exercise are obvious, but the mental and spiritual are not as obvious. I am biker and a runner. My love is mountain biking and trail running. I love to be off the grid and away from the hustle and bustle. I have added road biking because the trails are not accessible year round where I live. These activities allow me to decompress and blow off steam and I also do a lot reflection and brainstorming. It just does wonders for me.  If I don’t get it done, I feel it, and so do those around me.

There are so many things you can do. These are just the things I choose to do and are just a fraction what is available. I encourage you to find something that works for you and start doing it. I only touched on these for the sake of brevity, but I could write pages on each one detailing what I do and how is has impacted and improved my life.

Hit me up if you want to talk more about these or need that sounding board to help walk you through your current fire. Either way, doesn’t let your brain be eaten…let it be written, let it be done!

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 3: Ideas

“An idea is salvation by imagination.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! We can do this, and then we can add that. And then this, and then that, and then…On and on I dive deeper inside the rabbit hole of ideas. These brain eaters are more fun than my big three but they too can drive me mad. My mind is haunted by a million ideas that won’t stop multiplying. They won’t stop spinning in my head long enough to grab hold of one. I can’t stop long enough to focus on any one thought or idea.

It must be the entrepreneur’s dilemma; the inability to innovate and focus on one thing at a time. I simply can’t do it; it’s too much to ask.  This idea is great but what abbot that one?  How can I make them both work? Should I start two companies? Can I make a hybrid and have the best of both? Should I do one at a time and hope no one thinks of the other before I can get to it?

If I’m lucky enough to stick with one my brain goes down another hole where that one idea spawns a thousand more. Again, spinning, and bouncing, and banging, and thrashing from side to side; idea whiplash.

Maybe it’s just part of being an entrepreneur, or maybe it’s just me. I have listened to many entrepreneurs and believe it’s the first. I must admit, I love it; it drives and inspires me but it is also maddening. Fortunately, I have grown and matured as an entrepreneur, for the most part. I am still taken hostage often by a million ideas but today I have learned to focus better and slow the wheels a bit.  I have learned that I can only one, maybe two or three, things at a time. Beyond that, no matter how good the idea, the execution suffers.

For me this comes with guidance, practice, and experience.  I look to those that have come before me and I practice what has worked for them. As I continue down my path I gain experience and continue to practice what works for me. I used to want to do it all by myself. Whether it was pride, fear, convenience, impatience or something else, it made it much more difficult to navigate alone.

One of the best things I have done was to work with mentors and coaches.  Another was to build a team and a network of people with complementary skills and personalities.  Just think what it would be like if you filled your bus with a bunch of yous!…

Can you imagine what it would be like in that rabbit hole? You’d never make it out, at least not with your sanity. Besides, I already argue with several imaginary Kevins as it is.

We don’t need to do it alone, as with the negative brain eaters, isolation allows them to grow, fester, and take control.  An idea without action can drive one mad.  I can easily become lost in the rabbit hole and alone it’s hard to find my way out. With the right people in our circle we have a much better chance at surviving the brain eaters. We are the visionaries and need to fill the circle with people that plug the holes created by our weaknesses. People that can keep their heads out of the clouds, stay out of the rabbit hole, and keep their feet firmly planted on the ground for daily execution.  They can help formulate the tactics to get the idea from concept to reality. They help contain us so we don’t get lost in the rabbit hole when we need to push the current idea forward.

Ideas are great and it’s good to be creative, but like most things in life, anything in excess can be bad, Moderation is key and not easy for an introverted visionary like me, but just like fear, too many ideas can cause paralysis.

When there is too much going on in my brain overwhelm takes over and I do nothing.

I think I speak for many entrepreneurs when I say that if I can’t do the things in my head I go to a bad place. Entrepreneurs are thinkers and doers, if we are stuck we can’t function.

If you are indeed like me, surround yourself with the right people because we can think and do all day, but if we can’t focus all that thinking and doing, it just drives us deeper down the hole, eating more and more of our brain.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 2: The Mind Killers

” We’ve got nothing to fear but fear itself.” – Neil Peart / Gary Lee / Alex Zivojinovich, RUSH

There are all different kinds of brain eaters; some are negative and some are positive. Life is full of the good, the bad, and the ugly and so is my head. I prefer to get the bad and the ugly out of the way first. I call these the mind killers; fear, judgment, and resentment. As you read those three words I am sure you can think of more that you can add to the list. Of course, I can too, but I am distilling them all down to the core or root of each one. We can often put different labels on our thoughts and actions but if we really peel the layers and get to the core, many of them belong in the same bucket.

Are any of these words worse than the other? I think that really depends on who you ask, and probably when you ask them. Some people might have stronger opinions on one than the other. Others might be impacted themselves by one more than the other, and yet another person’s mind might be more consumed by one than another. In my experience they all seem to feed the other but throughout my life, fear and resentment have been in a constant title match for the belt. I think fear might have squeezed by and pulled out the victory.

That said, I will start at the bottom of my mind with judgment. Judgment used to occupy a large part of my mind.  Every time I entered a new environment or someone entered mine I started judging. I would start picking them apart, sizing them up, and assassinating their character. I would do this for both people I knew and didn’t know.  As I have grown older and, hopefully wiser, I no longer practice judgment like I used to. I have learned to accept people for who they are; including myself whom is often the hardest person to be non-judgmental about. When I assess my own judgments of others, they are usually based on my pride or ego. I am feeling insecure, less than, or judged myself so I judge others to bring myself up. I think it is human nature and our natural instinct for survival and security to assess and evaluate our environments. I believe judgment is simply taking that natural instinct to an extreme.

Resentment rears its ugliness in so many ways, disguised with so many masks. Sometimes subtle and sometimes intense, but always negative. Outward anger or rage is obviously negative, but the quiet, subtle bitterness, indignation, animosity, hatred and the like are often hard to detect and see their full scope of damage. It is often that quiet festering that leads to the loud or violent outbursts. That has been my experience with resentment. In the past I have allowed it to fester, almost receiving a twisted satisfaction from the silent scorn. In the end if not dealt with and erased those outbursts would come and were never fun. But my mind is the great manipulator. As resentment eats my brain I allow it to grow and fester and I find a way to justify it all.

The root of it all in my own mind is fear. Fear is the one with many names and faces. Whether we call it worry, doubt, fright, terror, panic, dread, to name a few, it grips us and takes control. Brain eaters feed on fear and fear feeds resentment and judgment. Once fear takes control the vicious cycle begins.  When I am resentful or judgmental, I usually discover that it is really fear masquerading about. Something externally has tapped an internal fear and has been projected outward as anger or judgment. This is after the fact, of course, as I analyze and process everything.  Have you ever walked into a strange room, afraid of what the people might think? Afraid they will judge you, so you instantly go on the defense and start judging them? That judgment is justified because your fear has convinced you they are judging you, and thus you become resentful; a big, ugly cycle.

The voices of fear, resentment, and judgment feed my mind like the devil on my shoulder; these are the three negative brain eaters that occupy my mind.  Not as much as they used to because I have found ways to deal with them as they crop up (stick around for the entire series to learn how I do so). I no longer allow fear to consume me to the point that it takes my mind and body hostage. I no longer allow resentment to fester and dictate my behavior. I no longer allow judgment to be my first line of defense. Do I still fear, resent, and judge? Absolutely, I am human.

Today I try not to allow them to eat my brain and control my thoughts and actions. Nor do I deny or justify them, I simply acknowledge them and do what is necessary to clear my mind and work through them.

And, when the brain eaters start to gain control, I stop feeding them and I write it out or I grab a coffee with a friend, mentor, or coach and share the secret and sort it out because the brain eaters’ biggest weapon is isolation.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner – Operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

BRAIN EATERS Part 1: Introduction

“The brain is wider than the sky.” –  Emily Dickinson

Going to the left. Going to the right.
Do this, do that. No, not that.
The voices, the voices, won’t you stop?
Fill my head with constant thought.
he chatter, the banter.
How many of you are inside?

What eats your brain? Hopefully not the creatures that attack the mind, turning you into zombies like the classic film of 1958. But does something? Please say yes as I don’t want to be alone. Of course, I’m never alone with all the voices in my head, but I want more. It’s just not the same.

In this series I am not writing a science fiction horror bit. I am going to let you inside my brain a bit and share what eats at my brain. Take you inside the world of an overactive, entrepreneurial mind. Not too far, though; I don’t want you to get trapped my Land of the Lost in Space.

For me, there is always something eating my brain; good, bad, indifferent it’s always something. Maybe it’s a Pisces thing, maybe an introvert thing, but it definitely a me thing. I have always been quiet on the outside and louder than life on the inside. I am usually the quietest one the room making the most noise; all in my head. I am always thinking, processing, creating, evaluating, writing, playing…Humming riffs, creating riffs, writing songs, writing poems, thinking up headlines and ad copy…Creating strategies, marketing material, benefit bullets, ad infinitum.

The activity just accelerates during a time like the present. As I write this sentence we are ten days into August of 2020 which will definitely become a standout year in the history books, or wherever history is documented in the future. This has been quite a year to date, but the biggest event has been the coronavirus pandemic by far.

We have had mandates, legislative orders, and martial law. We have been quarantined, forced to wear masks, and left toilet paper-less. This is a year for the books indeed. How about we make it an election as well. That really throws fire on the flame. The point is, with so much extraordinary external events in the world today, my brain is ripe to eat me alive.

It does make for some great content. However, if I can just capture it and find a good way to package and deliver it. So much of this activity happens while driving, riding, running, or walking, and most has vanished by the time I get somewhere to write anything down. Maybe I am just forgetful but I believe that these brain eaters have cannibalistic tendencies. Thanks to voice memo apps I can stop and record my thoughts and ideas anywhere. The problem is, most of the time I am so consumed with the brain eaters that I forget to do that. But, successful entrepreneurs are not focused on problems, they are interested in solutions

Don’t leave the table just yet; the next tasty course is on its way…
You don’t want to miss this tasty little treat.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W. @Leap272
Owner-operator

You have to leap if you want to live.

COME TO REALIZE Part 6: I Don’t Know

Once again I thought this series was complete but another one of my realizations popped up when I sat down to write. And, that is that after years of schooling, training, reading, life experiences, and a plethora of others things, I have come to realize one very important thing; I don’t know…

I don’t know everything.
I don’t know the answers.
I don’t know the questions.
I don’t know the next great idea.
I don’t know how things will turn out.
I don’t know if this will work.
I don’t know if I’m right.
I don’t know if you are wrong.
I don’t know if tomorrow will even come.
I don’t know what anyone, anywhere, anytime is going through.
I simply don’t know.

That realization can be a hard pill to swallow. It can be even harder to admit. What I have come to realize, however, is that with the admission comes a great freedom. The beauty is I do not need to know everything, nor do I want to know anything. Can you imagine the burden of truly being omniscient? No thank you.

So why do I so often fall back into the Mr. Knowitall trap? Because the ego wants to be right every time. Pride once again steps in and grabs the reigns.

One of these days I will come to realize how to let those reigns go for good.

Bonus realization: remain teachable. The more I can remember that I don’t know the more my mind remains open to learn. Once I believe I know it all I have closed my mind to all learning. Then there would be no reason to pick up a good book, have a deep conversation, dig deeper to discover more, and so many other things I love.  That sounds horrible; I will focus on keeping my mind open for more knowledge.

Talk Soon,

Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

Doubter & Shouters

“I really get motivated when I have doubters.” – Shaquille O’Neal

Have you ever hung up the phone and have the overwhelming urge to scream at it? Walked out of a meeting and all you can think of doing next is banging your head against the wall? Finished a presentation and said to yourself “they just don’t get it.” Left anywhere and said to yourself “I’ll show them!”

That last one is the right attitude.  Not necessarily in a spiteful way, but in a self confident, I believe in what I’m doing kind of way.

No matter what you do or aspire to do in life there will always be doubters. And, the doubters always seem to be the loudest shouters. I have come to the realization that they must be put in our life to test us and make us stronger. They appear in our life at pivotal moments to provoke us and to question ourselves; our motives, beliefs, and convictions which clarify and strengthen our “why.”If, and only if, we do not succumb to the doubts they shout about.

I have also come to believe that we are our own greatest doubters. We have the loudest voice in our head, we have the final say, and we control the volume dial. Self doubt is normal and natural, what is not normal and natural is actually believing what we say and allowing it to drive us. Or paralyze us. Once we begin to believe the lies we tell ourselves, we are doomed.

We cannot and must not take action based on doubt, in my experience, those decisions only lead to regret and unhappiness. Doubt is just a form of fear that we must acknowledge and push trough. It is important to remember that this kind of fear does not exist in the present moment. Fear is something our minds manufacture about something that might happen sometime in the future. Does that sound like solid information that we should base major decisions on?

The best thing we can do is act like Shaq and use the doubters, ourselves included, to motivate us to try harder. The best way to deal with the doubters is to prove them wrong. Put the ear plugs in and just keep moving forward.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what anybody else says or thinks. Can you put your head on the pillow knowing you were true to you and did your best?

If so you past the test…Get up and do it again.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live

COME TO REALIZE Part 3: Hope For The Best, Plan For The Worst

“I love it when a plan comes together.” – John “Hannibal” Smith, The A-Team

I share that sentiment. It feels great when a plan works and I can place another check mark in the success column. I love to plan for the best, who doesn’t? Isn’t that what we are all shooting for? I expect to hit my mark, every time. That is the expectation when I give it my all. Otherwise, aren’t I just copping out and selling myself short? Why wouldn’t I expect the best outcome when I put forth my best effort?

Because a business doesn’t operate in a vacuum and I am not perfect. Things do not always turn out as planned for a variety of reasons despite my best effort. There are so many variables at play that can impact the results no matter how good I am or how well I plan. I can compose the perfect plan and orchestrate the strategy of the century. I know it’s good so I host visions of grandeur in my overactive, Pisces brain. I plan for the future and what will come next because I know the best is coming. Until it doesn’t and I find myself racking that same hopeful brain trying to eek my way out of another worst case scenario I left out of the plan.

The reality is simple; we do not plan for the best, we hope for it. We aim for it but we do not plan for it. We plan for the worst, that is why there are contracts, contingency plans, and exit strategies. Besides setting the basic terms of an agreement, the meat of any contract is basically what happens in the event of disagreements or worst the case scenarios. It seldom matters what type of contract it is, 80% or more of the heady legalese that should be considered a second language, deals only with what will happen in the event of…fill in the blank with anything negative.

Hope is a wonderful thing but it becomes dangerous when it is commingled with expectation. We should always hope for the best. If we didn’t we would become pessimists and that is no way to live. The danger lies in the attachment to any desired outcome.  Once we place an attachment on to the outcome we hope for, we are set the dial to failure, or at the very least, disappointment. The attachment narrows our vision in a negative manner that restricts and eliminates the possibly in our mind for any deviation of what we expect as the final result.  We must free our mind from that bondage of attachment and be open to alternate outcomes.

The lessons that I have come to realize in this context from my personal experience in business and life in general are two-fold; one, as I eluded to before, it is rare that things turn out exactly as planned, and two, when they do, revel in it. Take the victory, enjoy it, and then move on without expectation of what will come next.

A bonus lesson; be flexible and enjoy the success whenever a plan comes together. The means and the end might be different than how you envisioned or planned it but if the end result is what you wanted then there’s nothing to complain about. Don’t let the things that don’t matter prevent you from appreciating what does matter. If the plan comes together in one way or another it is a victory.

The road is very narrow in a “my way or the highway” mindset, so do some road work and widen the road.

Talk Soon,
Kevin W @LEAP272
Owner-Operator

You have to leap if you want to live