Prepare for What Can Go Awry, Nurture Your Networks, Come Back to The Present
Hi Folks! Connor and Nick here from Healthy Living With Nick and Connor. Thanks again for being on our email list, it means a lot, and we are excited to share our weekly email with you. We hope you enjoy it! Here is what we hope you take away from this one:
1. One of the best ways to prepare yourself to be ready for challenges is to think about what can go wrong well in advance, and strategize for how you would respond.
2. Building a community of friends and acquaintances will expand your perspective and inform you as to the skills of those around you.
3. Life is the present, don’t get too caught up living in the future.
Starter Mindset Tip: Ponder What Can Go Wrong
Contrary to how it may seem, when preparing ourselves for future endeavors it is not always the most helpful to visualize how we may succeed, although this can help in certain ways. What can be more useful is thinking about all the ways things could go wrong, and preparing for how we will deal with each of these. Now if you are faced with these challenges they will not come as a surprise as you have already considered them and prepared for them. This type of thought process can be helpful with regards to your own health and wellness when it comes to diet and exercise, sleep and stress, but can also be helpful with regards to work, relationships with friends and family, and other goals. Think about the ways in which you may struggle with these things and come up with ways you’ll manage them.
Health Recipe: Cultivate Your Community Circle
Timing: A few minutes, as long as it takes to have a chat
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Serving Size: Small
Spiciness: Mild
INGREDIENTS
You and your community
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Like the neurons in your brain, the more connections you forge in your community the better. What is great about being immersed in your community is the variety of perspectives and skills that you will start to recognize in people. Everyone has an interesting story to tell, and unique experiences. Getting to know them and building your social circle allows you broader perspectives and thoughts than you would be able to come up with on your own. As the economist Thomas Schelling would put it, “a person cannot draw up a list of things that would never occur to him.” It is likely that if you are working on something, others in your community have done it before, and can inform you. Use the opinions of your community network. Ask people their thoughts and you will unlock the power of a broader neural network.
INSTRUCTIONS
Make a point of broadening your community circle by getting out there and being open to meeting new people.
Be engaged when meeting people in your community. Introduce yourself and ask about them. Try to remember their names and what you talked about.
Start figuring out where people’s strengths lie and seek their input.
Maintain your social connections by
PRO TIP: Get out and about in your community and meet people. Go to markets, go to events like music performances, go for walks.
* If you have trouble remembering people’s names, get a little flip notebook and write them down after you meet new people.
** The more you chat with people the more you will realize that getting many peoples perspectives on a particular subject is always helpful, and if not, at least interesting.
*** You never know who you will meet that you may be able to lend a hand, or may be able to help you with something, or you may simply enjoy being around.
Dessert Quote:
“No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now”
― Alan Watts
Get motivated to do what you want to do:
Godin, S. (2020). The practice. Penguin UK.
