In the progression toward awareness and fulfillment, we pass through a sequence once described by author Zig Ziglar as the movement from survival to stability to success to significance.
How does this sequence work? When we start out in the world or in business, we really are just hoping to survive. We wake up and think, let me get through the day and take care of my needs.
After finding out that we're not going to fall apart, we have to work our way to achieve stability. How we move from survival to stability is dependent on the habits that we adopt.
Those habits allow us to organize our approach and put tools in place that lead to greater success. To move to greater success, we have to stay in that place of stability until it overflows like a chocolate fountain. The top bowl fills until it flows down to the other, which overflows and begins to fill the next.
Whatever happens in life we all have the innate ability to survive. When times change and the sequence is shaken, we may fall backward — our top bowl slows and success starts to dry up. Focusing on the tools and activities that created our stability allows the bowl to fill back up again.
Sure enough, right now, we are facing some extraordinary changes! With the Coronavirus pandemic, most of us have stepped backward a peg or two in our sequence. We are trying to figure out how to stand our ground while dealing with a completely new and unknown set of circumstances. We keep telling ourselves that we just have to get through it and make it out on the other side.
For some, this new normal may only require minor adjustments. We talk to people on video calls rather than in person. We spend more time looking in on neighbors or trying to find a way to be helpful to others. We count on prayer and meditation to calm our ragged nerves.
For others, these circumstances have flung us to the deep end of the pool. We are caught up in fear, depression, anxiety, and inaction or paralysis. We are discouraged and veer toward negativity, which can play tricks on even the hardiest souls.
How well we respond to these unexpected changes may depend on whether we have practiced perseverance. What is perseverance? Some call it adaptability. Others describe it as endurance. I think of it as "staying the course" in the face of new roadblocks.
For me, perseverance means maintaining regular routines as closely as I can. For years my routine has been to wake up at 4:00 a.m., meditate, read, plan my day, and be out the door for my first meeting at 7:30 a.m.
These days, I don't have early morning meetings who-knows-where. With this change, I could just blow up my days, or I can persist in the habits I have developed — with some minor adjustments — so that I can get through the craziness and start the sequence as quickly as possible.
Lately, I have shifted my wake-up time to 5:00 a.m.! I still get up, meditate, read, and plan my day. Afterward, I time-block my phone calls to ensure that I maintain relationships with my referral partners and clients.
Routines provide me structure and focus. A couple weeks into our new lifestyle, I have started to fill my time with new routines. I participate in a Friday morning video call with 15 realtors. We work through the new reality, offer guidance, and share ideas to manage roadblocks. I have started to use a new video conferencing platform to check in regularly with family members who I'm not able to see in person.
These activities help me move forward with purpose. Everything I do has aim so that I'm not just spinning my wheels and hoping I survive. And that's key because perseverance without purpose means remaining in survival mode when we could be prepared to succeed in a post-pandemic world.
To persevere, you want to remain busy, but not busy doing nothing. So here are a few suggestions to persevere in the face of the unexpected:
1) Coach yourself on what matters. Make it part of your daily routine to find gratitude in the mess and decide whether actions you take serve you or others and why you choose to perform them.
2) Get an accountability partner to keep you motivated and moving. Double down on the activities that create outcomes.
3) Don't isolate. "Social distance" is a physical measure. It is not an emotional or mental order to go-it-alone.
4) Pick and choose. We still have work to do. Zoom watch parties, Zoom workouts. I've seen so many offers for online meetings and events that if I tried to attend every one of them, I'd be zoomed out in a week. Be careful what you commit to because it could take you away from where you need to go.
5) Avoid the "bumble bee effect." That's the tendency to buzz all over the place from one task to the next without a plan of action. It is a function of distraction, which is logical right now because we're being stripped of our regular schedules. But remember: climbing the hierarchy of fulfillment means achieving significance, not exhaustion.
6) Be authentic, not opportunistic. Everyone wants to be helpful and it can be overbearing. In an effort to be helpful, several people step out of their lanes. If you're an accountant, don't advise on the best arts and crafts for the kids. It's not helping. Focus on what you can provide your clients or customers that is within your skill set and expertise.
7) Decide what to do now and what to do later. I've been inundated with podcasts and virtual meetings. Some I need to attend, others I can watch in my spare time. Still others are never going to be in my wheelhouse, and while they sound interesting, I can let them go. I won't miss them.
8) Resist the temptation to treat this bizarro world we're in like a vacation. The grind is a real thing and we participate in the grind because it gives us direction and allows us to hone our skills. The grind has function. So stay with it. That said, consider what is good for you in the moment. If you need a mental or physical break, then take one. Listen to your body and let it guide you on sleep, work, and rest, but don’t let malaise dominate your mind.
9) Tune in to what is important to you. You can't be everywhere for everybody. Listen to what your mind is saying and how it makes you feel and concentrate on directing your energy toward positive momentum.
10) Pray for discernment. Recall your values and stay true to them. If you are deciding among various actions or options, consider which is going to move you closer to your values. When your values are clear, your decisions are easy.
In this unusual time, we have to display a level of maturity and decide whether the things we choose to do serve a purpose or are just shiny pennies. We have to concentrate on the actions that are going to move us from survival to significance. That perseverance creates ample rewards.