Whether it’s my Arsenal currently with 1 win from 5, or say working through back-to-back quarters and finding yourself behind budget, I feel we can all relate to being in a funk sometimes when it comes to results.
And like, in sport, life and work, we can even find ourselves performing well and doing all the right things, but the results just aren’t there.
What gives!?
And adding to this frustration can be a set of narratives that while may be comforting, continue to hold us back.
For example,
“Oh, we have a lot of injuries at the moment. When we get everyone back, we will turn it around.”
“The leads have dried up. Surely, uncertainty in the market isn’t helping. Hopefully it changes soon.”
Comforting, but not necessarily the language to turn it around and create new momentum.
On top of this we are currently living in a grand narrative that seems more comfortable in pessimism than it does optimism.
This was making the rounds the last week and yikes.
Source: Twitter
It was brought to my attention when a friend texted me the following:
This is the thing that stuck with me most from all the Tyler (Cowen) stuff you’ve ever shared. He said it in a podcast I listened to about 5 years ago, paraphrasing “Everyone is too risk averse and free riding off the few who take the risks for all of us.” It is beginning to catch up with us.
Speaking of Tyler, I come back to this post over and over and again as a reminder.
And often think who or where am I in this, am I a “Builder” or a “Nervous Nelly”?
I come back to this post over and over again as a reminder, but probably a bit of both. But with the awareness to try and become more of a builder. It can be scary out there.
And in that fear I think can emerge the ease of being a contrarian, a skeptic or pessimist that defines so much of what we see and hear, especially in media.
I am thinking back to grad school, and one of our profs (Italian) shared with us one of his favourite words: la tendenza.
Was shared in the architectural context of strategy and approach, in that case, towards building!
Tendency: an inclination towards a particular characteristic or type of behaviour.
Or one of my other favourites since being prompted way back then….
Disposition: a person's inherent qualities of mind and character.
It’s something I think about often.
How do we meet challenges?
As a builder? Or Nervous Nelly as Tyler frames it?
And don’t get me wrong, I am aware of what’s needed to overcome the latter.
I think we just have a better understanding and ability to relate to the zeitgeist and grand narratives in a better way than we allow ourselves to act on.
Source: Twitter
Look here, and reflect on how these moments throughout last year impacted you.
It’s not exactly filled with a lot of positivity or messages that are going to help us create momentum, turn a corner and find new success.
Given that Sam Altman features in the above, I felt compelled to amplify his message here too.
Or in the words of eternal optimist, Andrew WK…
We want fun and you better believe it.
We want fun either take it, or leave it!
This issue is brought to you by NarrativeDynamics.
It offers help to leaders and organizations to define and articulate the language that moves them forward, and the confidence to communicate it with clarity and enthusiasm.
Vocabulary, Stories, Narratives and Memes shape mindset in the individual and subsequent dialogue with each other, together scaling to create a specific approach to work.
NarrativeDynamics believes that tapping into this reality and working with it constructively creates positive outcomes for the personal & professional, a culture and its business.
Words matter.
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