Lessons From The Obstacle is the Way: Part II (Action)

Last week I shared Part I of key lessons from one of my new favorite books, The Obstacle is the Way, focused on Perception. In this post, we’ll move into key points from Part II on Action.

The Discipline of Action

• In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to us or where we come from. It matters what we do with what happens and what we’ve been given.
• Romans 8:28 — all things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
• Personal Application: I consistently tell myself that whether events or situations look ‘good’ or ‘bad’ on the surface, the background truth is that it is ALL working in my favor and for a greater good that I might not see today. So far, this mindset allows me to navigate through challenging moments, days, and phases of my life.

Get Moving

• Courage, at its most basic level, is really just taking action. If we want momentum, we’ll have to create it ourself, right now, by getting up and getting started.
• “We must all either wear out or rust out, every one of us. I choose to wear out.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• Personal Application: Daily choice to do ‘something’ (no matter how big or small) towards my ultimate vision and goals for my life — read a chapter of a relevant book, have a project planning call or meeting, post a writeup online (like this one), share great laughs with a loved one, etc.

Practice Persistence

• “I will not be stopped by failure.” “I will not be rushed or distracted by external noise.” “I will chisel and peg away at the obstacle until it is gone.”
• Personal Application: “Life is a marathon, not a sprint” self-talk when I feel burned out, pulled in 100 different directions, and/or overwhelmed.

Iterate

• Action and failure are two sides of the same coin.
• When failure comes, ask what went wrong? What can be improved? What am I missing?
• Personal Application: Mindset shift; my fear of failure has significantly reduced because I understand that is an expected part of the ‘trial and error’ process that leads to any great outcome.

Follow The Process

• In the chaos of life, process provides us a way.
• The process is about finishing the smallest task we have in front of us and finishing it well.
• Personal Application: Attacking unfinished tasks, one by one (e.g. confirming a date for the next Dinner, Drinks, and Discussions ladies event in Abuja — November 30 — and sharing the Save The Date flyer on social media).

Do Your Job, Do It Right

• How we do anything is how we can do every thing.
• Only self-absorbed assholes think they are too good for whatever their current station requires.
• Personal Application: continuous ego check :)

What’s Right Is What Works

• Think progress, not perfection.
• Focus on Kaizen (continuous improvement a.k.a. agile methodology).
• Steve Jobs released the first iPhone without a copy and paste feature and other features — however, the MVP got done and it worked, albeit imperfect.
• Personal Application: becoming more comfortable just getting stuff done; albeit imperfect (that being said, I am still a champion of ‘the spirit of excellence’, they are not mutually exclusive:).

In Praise of the Flank Attack

• When at our wits end, we can take a step back and then go around the problem. We can find some leverage; we can approach from what is called the ‘line of least expectation’.
• We don’t convince people by challenging their long-term beliefs — one way is to find common ground and work from there (e.g. Matthew McConahough in final courtroom scene of ‘A Time To Kill’).
• Personal Application: Thinking/working more creatively and seeking common ground as a building block for successful relationships/partnerships I desire.

Channel Your Energy

• Adversity can harden us or it can loosen us up and make us better — if we let it.
• Personal Application: finding the humor in adversity as it comes, as much as I possibly can.

Seize The Offensive

• We can choose not to let a serious crisis to go to waste. A crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things we could not do before.
• Every chemical reaction requires a catalyst — let ‘this’ crisis we’re dealing with (bed-ridden illness, relationship lost, job loss, scandal, etc) be ours to use to write our book, start our business, travel, and more.
• Great people turn tragedy and misfortune into an advantage. Life favors the brave. Obama turned an ugly incident about something racially-charged he said during the election primaries into a teachable moment and gave the unforgettable ‘A More Perfect Union’ Speech.
• Personal Application: Get into the habit of seeing the benefit in the crises that come my way and not complain every damn time!

Prepare For None of it To Work

• Problems are a chance for us to do our best; not the impossible, simply our best.
• Sometimes we will not get the results we want and we must be able to accept that quickly and move on to the next thing.
• Personal Application: Acceptance that what will be, WILL BE — C’est la vie…I need to perform this acceptance exercise daily :)

And that ends part II on Action. Next week, I’ll be sharing the final post of the 3-part series that includes lessons from Part III on Will. Until then folks.