Don't ever waste a crisis. This nugget of wisdom, in various forms, has been floating around for a while (and seems to be immensely popular lately) but it came to me courtesy of President Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel who was discussing the American addiction to foreign oil. A crisis is a beautiful opportunity. Faced with drastic circumstances we become willing to take risks that would be too overwhelming or threatening otherwise. Backed into a corner by matters outside our control we summon unimagined resources. Feeling we have nothing left to lose, we launch ourselves on some of the riskiest, and most rewarding, adventures of our lives.
Dozens, maybe hundreds, of times each day we experience little sparks of desire, tiny tugs in the direction of things we would like to do or try. An almost equal number of times during each ordinary day we push back on the desires, reminding ourselves that we have made other choices . . . and need to stick to them. Then a crisis comes along and upends the status quo. This same crisis that scares and threatens so much also gives us the perfect opportunity. It explodes our neat little day to day existence and with it all the unintentional shackles we have forged for ourselves. "If I don't have a job now anyway, maybe this is the time to take that six-month quest through India that I always dreamt about." "Since the entire industry in which I have built my career for the last twenty-five years has been leveled, maybe now is the time to mold a business out of my real passion. I can't do any worse than broke."
One of the most powerfully beneficial social movements of the last century was the tremendous advance in the field of alcoholism made by the group that came to be known as Alcoholics Anonymous. Whether we buy into all their tenets or not, no one can argue the fact that Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Step Recovery generally have brought amazing relief to innumerable suffering people all around the globe. What most people don't know, however, is that the AA program likely would never have been created but for the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent crushing economic depression. AA's co-founder, Bill Wilson, was a high flying finacier during the jazz age of the 1920s. Crushed by the '29 crash, he struggled to try and rebuild his life on the only basis that he knew -- finance, business and deal making. In the next 5 years he failed so many times, in business and with alcohol, that the only avenue of expression left open to him was to dedicate his life to helping other alcoholics recover. And he did it like he did everything else, to excess, and with excellence. His message of hope and recovery has spread in the decades since and spared millions of the afflicted, not to mention their families, from suffering and tragedies too great to measure. Crushed by a crisis he could no longer evade or avoid, Bill Wilson turned his talents away from business and helped launch a solution for what had been one of the most perplexing and heart breaking problems in history up until that time.
Maybe this economic crisis has come home to you personally. Maybe your position has been eliminated and your industry devastated. That's GREAT! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. In the face of complete devastation, with nothing left to lose, no one can blame us if we dare to try the big dream and fail. From the looks of things we were pretty much lined up for failure in any event. Why not take a small step in the direction of work that we really love, that we really enjoy and that is really meaningful to us? Wouldn't it be great to wake up in the morning and feel like we just can't wait to get started? What single simple step can we take today that will lead us closer to making the most important contribution we can imagine? Given the situation, it's not like we're doing anything else now anyway. What do we have to lose?
I once asked Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus ("Banker to the Poor") what all the lawyers would do in a world where loans do not require contracts, as is the case with his Bengladesh microfinance company Grameen Bank. His reply, "Something much more interesting."
Dozens, maybe hundreds, of times each day we experience little sparks of desire, tiny tugs in the direction of things we would like to do or try. An almost equal number of times during each ordinary day we push back on the desires, reminding ourselves that we have made other choices . . . and need to stick to them. Then a crisis comes along and upends the status quo. This same crisis that scares and threatens so much also gives us the perfect opportunity. It explodes our neat little day to day existence and with it all the unintentional shackles we have forged for ourselves. "If I don't have a job now anyway, maybe this is the time to take that six-month quest through India that I always dreamt about." "Since the entire industry in which I have built my career for the last twenty-five years has been leveled, maybe now is the time to mold a business out of my real passion. I can't do any worse than broke."
One of the most powerfully beneficial social movements of the last century was the tremendous advance in the field of alcoholism made by the group that came to be known as Alcoholics Anonymous. Whether we buy into all their tenets or not, no one can argue the fact that Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Step Recovery generally have brought amazing relief to innumerable suffering people all around the globe. What most people don't know, however, is that the AA program likely would never have been created but for the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent crushing economic depression. AA's co-founder, Bill Wilson, was a high flying finacier during the jazz age of the 1920s. Crushed by the '29 crash, he struggled to try and rebuild his life on the only basis that he knew -- finance, business and deal making. In the next 5 years he failed so many times, in business and with alcohol, that the only avenue of expression left open to him was to dedicate his life to helping other alcoholics recover. And he did it like he did everything else, to excess, and with excellence. His message of hope and recovery has spread in the decades since and spared millions of the afflicted, not to mention their families, from suffering and tragedies too great to measure. Crushed by a crisis he could no longer evade or avoid, Bill Wilson turned his talents away from business and helped launch a solution for what had been one of the most perplexing and heart breaking problems in history up until that time.
Maybe this economic crisis has come home to you personally. Maybe your position has been eliminated and your industry devastated. That's GREAT! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. In the face of complete devastation, with nothing left to lose, no one can blame us if we dare to try the big dream and fail. From the looks of things we were pretty much lined up for failure in any event. Why not take a small step in the direction of work that we really love, that we really enjoy and that is really meaningful to us? Wouldn't it be great to wake up in the morning and feel like we just can't wait to get started? What single simple step can we take today that will lead us closer to making the most important contribution we can imagine? Given the situation, it's not like we're doing anything else now anyway. What do we have to lose?
I once asked Nobel Laureate Muhammed Yunus ("Banker to the Poor") what all the lawyers would do in a world where loans do not require contracts, as is the case with his Bengladesh microfinance company Grameen Bank. His reply, "Something much more interesting."
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