We Are All in This Together
As we go through this pandemic, I am so aware of the importance of mindset. Many of us, individuals and businesses alike, have gone into survival mode – we’ve stopped spending money, we are holding on tight to what we already have, afraid of losing it, many have laid off people, closed their operations for some days out of the week, creating scarcity all around. It seems like the smart thing to do.
This past weekend, I drove to the North Coast, in need of a dip in the ocean and I couldn’t help but comment on how spectacularly beautiful Jamaica is and the tremendous opportunities this pandemic has presented for, not only us here in Jamaica, but all over the world. What it requires to bring us to this awareness, reminded me of something that happened many years ago.
It must have been my daughters 5th birthday party when one of the Mother’s said she needed to put on some protective gears on her child and she needed to go and watch him as he played to make sure nothing happened to him and on and on she went about protecting him from possible dangers. As she recounted this story to me a few years later (I had forgotten the incident), she said I turned to her, and with a puzzled look on my face, asked “why do you think anything bad is going to happen to him? If that is how you’re thinking, something bad must happen to him” I went on to explain to her that if that is what she was “tuning” into, that was what she was going to get. I suggested that she “tune into a knowing” that all will be well with her child and whatever came, she had what it took to get through it.
As a leader at any level of an organization or as individuals leading your own lives, operating and living from a scarcity or survival mindset is sure to attract the very thing you don’t want and put you in a frame of mind that you interpret your experiences to align with your belief. The Mindset of the leader usually infiltrates the organization and often becomes the collective consciousness of the organization.
3 Approaches to Thriving
Approaching experiences from a place of learning and growing is a whole different energy from scarcity and survival.
1. “Knowing” that you will get through ‘this’ and ‘this’ is going to give all of us an opportunity to create and innovate is the starting point for shifting your energy.
2. Listening, “tuning in” to hearing what is occurring for people out in the world so that you can pivot, create and innovate to meet them.
3. Check your initial response to ideas or suggestions. Oftentimes these can at first, seem outlandish and frankly, quite crazy. Instead take the ideas through a series of questions. You will be surprised which one’s “spark” something life changing.