June 3, 2013 – While driving to a client meeting last week, I was struck with my low energy level that day. Not only that day – it seemed to me that I was in a low energy period for the entire week. I was about to chalk it up to “just one of those days” and simply hope to squeak by and make it to the end of that day. Then I remembered a lesson my teacher, Professor H.I. Sober, often gives: There are times in our lives when no matter what we do we cannot help but succeed; Conversely, there are times when no matter what we do, nothing seems to go our way. Our task lies in understanding the time we’re living and not to fight against those times.
We can understand Prof. Sober’s teaching as follows: The Universe has its ebbs and flows like the oceans’ high tides and low tides. Just as we cannot fight the high or low tides, we cannot fight those periods of time when energetically we are not at one with the Universe. Hegel, in his Reason in History, refers to this as the Weltgeist – the world spirit. World leaders of every generation are those individuals who instinctively realize the nature of the current Weltgeist and the direction it is moving as they lead in the same direction. Such leaders are essentially unstoppable until the tide shifts and the Weltgeist changes direction.
The underlying concept is the recognition that there are some things we can control and some things we cannot. Sound familiar? We’ve discussed this many times in previous postings. Things happen in the world. Other people do things which impact us. We have little to no control over these things. The only thing over which we have consistent and total control is the choosing of our own responses to these external acts.
Now, when we talk about not having control over external acts, and when we talk about the times when we cannot change the course of events, we are not advocating the victim’s apathetic, lethargic, reaction of allowing undesirable things to happen. There are always courses of action to consider which will allow us to persevere through challenging times and perhaps position ourselves to “hit the ground running” when times change. Consider the recent economic recession. There were some who hunkered down and simply waited for the anticipated economic upswing. And there were others who proactively laid the foundation for future growth when more favorable external conditions would prevail.
So how did I choose to respond to my low energy day while driving last week? I simply reset my goals for the day taking into account the lowered energy levels I was experiencing. I knew that energy levels would soon rise. I also knew that just giving up for the day was not an option which would serve me well in the long term. Long term goal setting tempered by short term reality checks. That is the recipe for increasing drive and engagement levels.
Consider the Possibilities.
Adam J. Krim
www.driveconsulting.net
