More Creating Less Defending

I stumbled into a Jen Sincero quote yesterday, and it seems to be sticking with me. She says, “Time wasted rationalizing the mediocre could be time spent creating the magnificent.”

None of us want to think areas in our life as being mediocre. Certainly not areas that hold significance. This had me wondering where I might rationalizing instead of creating. As I began to reflect, some global areas started emerge where I think many of us could benefit from taking a closer look and in some cases, gently redirect ourselves.

Our Physical Health

I’ve been ignoring lingering lower back ache on one side of my lower back for at least 3-4 months now. I lift heavy and workout daily, and I’ve tried to rationalize those are the reasons this is occurring, and I just need to push through. But it has continued to bother me, so I told myself that when I had a bit more flexibility in my work schedule (this summer), I would see a doctor. I finally went to see a chiropractor this week who was helpful but also encouraged me to see a physical therapist. I waited until my last week of schedule flexibility to get in to see someone. It will be harder to see the next specialist now because my schedule ramps back up next week. I will still make the appointment, and I will still go. However, this is what I now know to be true. Often, I say that I will do certain things when I have more time or flexibility, and I tell myself that this is why I have not done it up to this point. But the truth is, I don’t think that’s it. I think I’ve been avoiding this because it scares. I probably could have felt a lot better by now if I had made that appointment sooner and followed the advice given to me. Sigh.

Many of us do this and wear it like a badge of honor as if not going to the doctor and pushing through pain or other ailments makes us more committed or dedicated. It doesn’t. Nothing is more important than our health. If we don’t stop, our body will make us. It’s only a matter of time.

Time

It’s amazing how much time we lose complaining about how we don’t have enough time. Think about that. Every minute that passes when we are complaining about not having enough time is a minute that could be spent getting a little bit done. I’m not saying this is true for everyone, but often when I say that I don’t have enough time, what I really mean is, “This is not a priority for me right now.” Which is a great tool – reframing it in such a way. I mention this reframing in my upcoming book. This allows us to focus on other priorities and have a clearer sense of what matters most right now. In other instances, this language allows us to see that we are not prioritizing something that is indeed a priority and requires attention. Even my back example above, that’s my health. That needs to be prioritized. I personally lose a lot of minutes on Instagram in the evening, so I do have time for what matters. Choosing to believe that I don’t have enough time seems to a strategy I deploy to avoid confronting hard truths.

Justifying Actions that Don ‘t Sit Right in Our Gut

There have been times when I know deep down that I am not modeling what I believe is effective leadership. And in response to that, there have been times when I’ve lied to myself to justify it. But it’s when I can’t shake that memory of it, that’s when I know I need to hold myself accountable to my values. I simply cannot live outside of my values. In these times, I apologize when I’m wrong and for the impact that I’ve had on others, and I learn from it. However, I often lose time in the process of all of this because before I get to that stage of owning when I’m wrong or where I need to improve, I try to justify why this is better than doing it differently. When Jen Sincero said, “Time wasted rationalizing the mediocre could be time spent creating the magnificent” I think that is what she meant.

Whether its instructional practices, communication, or leadership moves, we are going to mess up. And we will keep messing up. And some lessons, we will never stop learning over and over again. But isn’t that beautiful? Because it means we care and that we showed up and that we are trying. So, instead of wasting time complaining, justifying, in denial, perhaps our time is better spent creating something new or tweaking and remixing.

Creating feels more life-giving than defending.

Gently ask yourself what you are avoiding or defending. How might you turn that into something magnificent?