Altitude for a Better Attitude
On a recent flight to Chicago from Boston, I was annoyed, annoyed to the point of having to flip my sour outlook. I needed to apply the same advice I employ with my coachees. But to see how I got to that point, I have to share how miserable the experience was.
It’s 5:00 a.m. at Logan, winding long lines with no visible endpoint, crappy and over-priced food with the only decent coffee shop a long haul from my gate, and the security guy who went through every suitcase. The only humor here was the crowd of people standing around waiting for their luggage to be cleared and gaping at the often shocking and hilarious contents of people’s bags. I’m waiting to read about the person who wins a mega-suit for a breach of confidentiality. Add to that the crowded gate area and the parents who couldn’t have cared less when their kid threw a foam football casting my $5 muffin to the floor. The flight was delayed and no one smiled, including me.
Then I said to myself, okay, enough! There’s humor here, time to find it. Well, humor may be a stretch, but positive? Yes there’s plenty of that. (I recall the Dalai Lama saying that when you force a smile, you feel more positive. He’s right about that.) First, I’m lucky to have a flight and a mission to accomplish. Second, I’m sane, healthy and strong for my age. My husband is a gem. I was lucky to have a great education and speak two languages. My clients are making great strides, and that gives me purpose. I wrote a popular book that’s helping people, and I’m working on a new one. Modern technology makes it safer to fly. I have two hours to sit, look out a window with few distractions and think. That is a luxury. Perhaps in the future, quiet undisturbed time to think at a high altitude will be a sought-after commodity meant to “uplift” sagging spirits? And, that muffin, for some cosmic reason, was not meant for my consumption today. A little fasting is good for the soul.
Need to re-frame your outlook? Get a lift from CoreCoaching. Contact me at Rebecca@MindfulCommunication.com
Sleep deprivation and wacky sleep schedules are synonymous with entrepreneurship. It is probably the most common condition my clients report. So much so, that they consider it normal — a badge of honor. Poor sleep is just what comes with being a founder, right? I submit that a founder who is not getting good quality sleep, not necessarily more sleep, has a lower chance of success. In my quest to get to eradicate the high failure rate of new businesses (70-90% depending on your sources), I look to the core of the problem which includes the well-being of the founder. Snap judgments, impulsive decision-making, concentration complaints and irritability are frequently signs of a founder in trouble. These are also symptoms of sleep deprivation. To make good decisions, and the rest, our prefrontal cortex (the CEO of our brain) needs to be able to inhibit the activity of emotional parts of our brain. With a good night’s sleep we experience a better balance between emotion and rational, logical thought.
Q: I’m an intrapreneur in my company. I come up with and execute revenue-producing ideas with little risk to me personally. But when a great idea goes bust, I have a hard time shirking it and moving on. I think this tendency will come to bite me when I’m my own boss someday. Transitioning is hard, what to do? Dan R. Toronto, Canada
"It takes more than courage to be an Entrepreneur, it takes CORE."