Talk about an epic fail.
The first week of “writing” was a total bust. Check out the report card:
| Week 01 number of words written: | 0 |
| Total number of words written to date: | 0 |
| How I’m feeling about it: | Shitty |
The irony is that what I’m ultimately writing about is (1) looking in the mirror and (2) working from the inside out to become a better version of ourselves regardless of the circumstances.
But the first thing that comes to mind about this past week is the circumstances AKA all the excuses.
Hear me out though:
It was the first week of summer break with kids going to camp only for a few hours a day
I had a colonoscopy, which had quite the build-up to it (think fasting + pooping)
It was Father’s Day so I couldn’t make up for it on the weekend
So really, it was a tricky week. But that wasn’t the real problem.
The problem was my discipline and commitment – or the lack thereof. I’m so far away from building the habit of a real writer. I let everything else get in the way, all the time.
Changing that is the biggest initial mountain for me to climb.
Now to the insight…
I hate asking questions that come with a baked-in assumption that we are somehow powerless.
Because I don’t believe we are. But at the same time…
Is it possible that the way life is set up for most of us – even privileged people like myself – is more conducive to playing defense than offense?
That’s the question I’ve been sitting with this past week. And here’s why it’s important:
Most of us think – or want to think – that the external conditions are the problem. That’s the easiest stuff to point to, right?
I was literally pointing in that direction for years!
And yes, it’s true that we deal with tough conditions as marketing leaders. And a lot of those conditions do push us toward a defensive approach.
But that’s not the real issue.
The actual problem is that we were never equipped with the internal skills to respond to tougher conditions from a place of strength. That’s what I realized too late.
The conversation has always been about outcomes, never about the internal conditions that make great performance possible. So we arrive at high-pressure situations psychologically underprepared.
Not because we failed to do the work but because no one ever told us that work existed.
That’s the starting point for this book.
