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Jewish World Review Dec. 13, 2010 / 6 Teves, 5771 Nautical Worry Killers By Alan Douglas
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Never ending analysis with a tinge of fear is worry. Too much planning can be bad, and when it is coupled with avoiding taking action, it is paralysis. Reviewing the situation before acting or in anticipation of a challenge is a good thing, when it helps. Before he was president, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a general. He led and managed the largest amphibious assault in history, D-Day. Eisenhower explained, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." Developing a plan before the game is important. You have to decide when and how to plan in a positive way.
For some people planning is easily avoided. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres counsels, "Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off." If you don't enjoy procrastinating, I offer you my trio of Nautical Worry Killers to use in business and life.
When you see those oil tankers or big freighters at sea have you might have noticed the small horizontal lines at the stern (rear) of the ships. They are known as the Plimsoll Lines
, and they are our first Nautical Worry Killer. Named after a British merchant and reformer, Samuel Plimsoll, those stripes tell you how high or low the ship is riding in the water. Most of an iceberg may sit below the water, but a ship's "draft," the amount of the ship that extends below the water, varies based upon how heavily the craft is loaded. The more cargo, the more it sinks below the waves. And too much cargo can literally sink a vessel. The capacity of each one is crucial not only to avoid sinking, but also to know how deep into the water the ship is. A fully loaded ship can not go into shallow water while an empty ship can. A lot of us can learn something from Plimsoll Lines. How much capacity we each have, isn't just about attitude. A good positive attitude can work wonders. But miracles are not to be relied upon in the planning stage. When we consider embarking on quests, we need to evaluate the likelihood of arriving at the destination. Our skills, financial resources, time available, and other factors combined, total our capacity to carry loads. Each of us should have realistic Plimsoll Lines to evaluate what we are able to do. Planning is about getting ready to do it, not just agonizing about it. Take out a piece of paper and determining what your capacity, should be your first step. Stephen Covey says, "Begin with the end in mind." So before you start, see if you should expect to finish.
Our second Nautical Worry Killer addresses when you get that sinking feeling. No matter how great the plans, life gets in the way. When that happens, get ready to roll with the punches. Or, as Sun Tze said, "Those who are victorious plan effectively and change decisively." Be ready to change or retreat. So just how bad is it when everything is going wrong? Pin point the location of your mistakes and disasters to decide whether they are located above or below the waterline. If a ship has a hole above the waterline it isn't pretty, but the water isn't pouring in. If the hole is below the waterline then how big is it? A small leak can be repaired at the next port of call. A big hole with a big leak means you won't make it to the next port. Classify your problem as being above (but perhaps really irritating) or below the waterline and then decide how big it is. So what if you have a big hole below the waterline?
Before you start shouting "abandon ship" here is your third nautical tool. It comes courtesy of Dale Carnegie. Problems pile up on us and make those of us who weren't born optimists want to hide under our covers. On bad days, there seems to be a long trail of connected past disasters and failures that lead right up to our doorstep. Optimists, those self-assured people with great self-esteem, do not see the world that way. They see failures as caused by someone else, or as isolated occurrences that aren't connected at all. These good looking, well dressed, successful people put their enormous, ugly, past failures in Watertight Compartments. Imagine the good ship Lollipop runs into an iceberg. The iceberg tears a great big hole in the Lollipop's hull below the waterline. Water is rushing in. If the Captain is a pessimist, then he immediately remembers all the other stupid mistakes and calamities in their life and accepts this as part of that chain. But if the Captain of the Lollipop is an optimist, he curses at the iceberg and without a moments self incrimination, proceeds to order the watertight compartments closed. Parts of a ship can be sealed off to save the ship. You should consider no matter how bad, or how big your problem is, can it be sealed off? This doesn't mean you don't learn from your mistakes or avoid responsibility for them. You have to fix the damage some how and some day, but you don't have to do it immediately when that action could destroy you. It means that you don't let them defeat you when you can seal them off. Live to fight another day by taking those disasters and placing them in water tight compartments.
Having given you my Nautical Worry Killers, I can now peacefully sail off into the sunset. "Bon Voyage."
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JWR contributor Alan Douglas, an author, media executive, speaker, and attorney, lives con brio- except when he is grumpy.
Can You Keep A Secret?
© 2010 Alan Douglas
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