“It’s not much of a tail, but I’m sort of attached to it.” That’s Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, known for his dim outlook on things. Most of us don’t want to be an Eeyore, nor be surrounded by Eeyores, though this year’s COVID-19 challenges have, at times, made it difficult to stay energized and keep a positive outlook.
During the Battle of the Pacific in World War II, General MacArthur would observe the briefings for major offensive campaigns. Once the briefings ended, he would make a few changes that he felt were the right changes, and would then work to get his entire staff to agree. This resulted in a simple leadership trick: disagree and commit. There were lives at stake, and they all needed to agree on the correct course of action.
Self-help books, various diets, workouts and exercise equipment – these are all tools people use to improve themselves and their lives. Unfortunately, they often fail, and it tends to be because they don’t fully commit to making the change. It can be especially difficult to commit to change when we’re busy, not fully in control of our time because we’re working full time.
“Putting things off is the greatest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future.” This is a quote from one of the great Stoics, Seneca, and it’s the essence of the first lesson from The Daily Stoic’s blog post, “5 Stoic Lessons on Time Management.” Delay gratification, work diligently, and don’t waste time.
We’ve all had times where we’ve found ourselves overwhelmed by stress, uncertainty, and difficulties in life. During these times, our emotions tend to run wild and we lose our control over them. It’s not a good feeling and we tend to want to minimize the amount of time we experience this. So how do we bounce back from adversity and regain control of our emotions?
Over the past few months, you may have seen articles and news stories about how wildlife returned to areas where it hadn’t been seen in decades. People photographed wild animals in cities around the world – coyotes running through San Francisco, penguins waddling around Cape Town, and jellyfish in the canals of Venice, just to name a few. These stories have been a ray of sunshine and source of amusement in an otherwise stressful and difficult time.
In school, you likely took a number of exams, many of which were true or false quizzes or tests. The answers were clear-cut, binary choices – they were either right or wrong, with no middle ground. If you didn’t know the answer, you still had a 50/50 chance of getting it right. There’s a simplicity to true or false tests, making them more popular with students (especially the poorly prepared students) than, say, essay question exams.
“He who has his health has a thousand dreams. He who has not has only one.” That’s a proverb from a very long time ago about what I believe is very important to all of us: our future.
We’re dealing with three issues right now; unexpectedness, shock, and disruptiveness. If we look at this situation from the standpoint of
You may have heard this story, but it’s worth repeating because it’s a good reminder for our daily lives.
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