Carpe Diem

There is so much to learn and yet time can pass us by at a frightening speed!

There is a saying about success being where preparation meets opportunity. There is another about opportunity being disguised as an obstacle.

Over the last ten days I’ve been in quarantine at a hotel near Edinburgh Airport.

When I left home in mid-November to travel to Southern Africa for work, and a chance to visit my Mum, quarantine on return was not part of the plan… The Royal Marines call this “dislocation of expectation”!

I quickly realised that how I framed my quarantine would decide whether it was productive time or lost time. I realised that as a performance coach I had an unexpected opportunity to practice positive “moodset”. I was getting the test whether I was ready or not.

As the sun sets on Day 10, I feel grateful! Grateful for the chance to focus. Grateful for the chance to be still. Grateful for thinking time. Grateful to those who checked in on me. Grateful to those who picked up the slack for me. Perspective about what is important.

Moodset is about creating the conditions to thrive not just survive. This of course requires the right mindset which is why I believe that where mindset meets moodset there needs to be leadership. In this case I needed to ensure my hotel room allowed me to prioritise my priorities.

On reflection there are three reinforcements I want to share.

1. Don’t just settle for the status quo wherever we are. I ended up moving furniture around to be able to stretch and walk around while listening to audiobooks or logging in to virtual workouts. I set up my workspace to be exceptionally efficient. Optimise our environment to the degree that we can. Make sure our productive space is an arena for achievement wherever we are.
2. Identify inspiring videos to watch and inspiring books to read. With thousands and thousands of drama series and new movies vying for our attention, look for recommendations from respected peers and family. Watch YouTube Playlists or TEDx Talks which teach something useful and light a fire inside. I watched 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible, and listened to High Performance and The Ten Pillars of Success. The fire is burning bright.
3. Seize the opportunity and do not waste a second. Before we know it, we are back on the hamster wheel. Focus time is incredibly precious. We owe it to our families and to teammates to emerge from any deployment with a renewed sense of purpose and a passion for our priorities.

A moodset for mastery is not standard issue. But it does require high standards. Moodset is led by inspiration, ideally sheep-dip style with surround sound! Finally, seize any and every opportunity to raise the bar for ourselves, and more importantly for those we serve.