Vampires and Willpower (10-24-18)

Last week was about being haunted by ghosts. This week is about vampires and will power. Let’s imagine for a moment that we lived in a world where vampires were real. Now, when I say vampires, I mean true vampires, not that sparkling when they step out into the sun Twilight garbage. I’m talking about nocturnal creatures who lure unsuspecting victims into situations and then suck the life (blood) out of their victims.

What do you think would happen if we lived in a world with actual vampires? I think two things would happen. First, we would begin setting up things to prevent run ins with vampires. For example, we might cover houses with crosses and holy water, refuse to invite people into the house, only go out during the daytime, etc. Second, we’d train so would be prepared if we did run into a vampire. We would become proficient in weapons ranging from swords made from silver, mace made from garlic, UV lamps, and the classic stakes through the heart. Essentially, we would become like Buffy or Blade. In case you’re curious, Blade is essentially a half-human half-vampire superhero who hunts vampires, and it happened to be one of the movies my wife and I watched on our first date. (Explains a lot about our relationship). The only reason why we don’t prepare for vampire battles is because vampires aren’t real.

You might be wondering where this is heading. What if I told you vampires are real? In this instance, I’m not talking about blood sucking lords of the dead. I’m talking about things that deplete your will power and motivation. These vampires are all around us. They take the form of people, crowded schedules, lost time, lack of priorities, and a fast moving world. If we knew that blood sucking vampires were real, we would take actions to prevent and defend against their attacks. It’s safe to say that vampires that deplete your will power and motivation are real, so are you taking the time to figure out how to prevent and defend against their attacks?

Embry example. I don’t necessarily have the healthiest of eating habits. Vampires easily drain my willpower to make healthy choices. Over time, I’ve learned that I need to fight those vampires. I’ve found that one of the best things I can do is sign up to run races. I don’t particularly love running. I’m not good at running. I don’t have a runner’s physique. However, scheduling a race is a commitment and the training plan is a commitment, and for some reason I’m better honoring an external commitment than honoring an internal promise to eat better. On the days that I train I eat better, not because I’m trying to make healthy choices, but because if I eat like crap I can’t train and if I don’t train I will feel like a failure. I’d rather avoid feeling like a loser than gain the feeling of being healthy. Basically, signing up for races for me is like wearing a necklace made of garlic while telling vampires to come get some.

You can apply these same things at work as well. Once you identify what sucks your willpower you can find ways to deal with these things ahead of time and in the moment. You can control your schedule, when you do the work, who you spend time with, the systems and frameworks you will use to attack the work to make things simpler. You can figure out the system that works best for you that keeps willpower sucking vampires at bay. You just have to spend a little time to do this.

The challenge: How do you prevent and defend against willpower sucking vampires?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Scarecrows and Challenges (10-31-18)

This is going to be the last in our series inspired by spooking things. We began by reflecting on being haunted by self-doubt and ghosts. From there, we thought about vampires who drain our willpower. This week is about scarecrows and scary situations.

In case you aren’t from the corn belt of the United States, a scarecrow is a fake person/creature that farmers make and put in their fields. Its entire purpose is to be spooky and ominous in order to scare the crows away. Supposedly, what happens is that a crow goes flying around ready to land on the field to eat the corn, and then they see the scarecrow and say, “That looks pretty scary. I’m going to leave that field alone.” The interesting thing about all of this is that scarecrows are stationary objects, who are just there to LOOK scary. They can’t actually do anything. They just stand there. If the crows pay attention they could quickly see that the scarecrow isn’t actually worth being afraid of, because it doesn’t really pose a danger to them.

You’re probably wondering what scarecrows have to do with anything. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find myself afraid of scarecrows in my life. Sometimes, I find myself looking down a path filled with looming obstacles. From a far these challenges look scary and cause me to feel anxious/nervous. Do you ever feel yourself feeling this way? Do you ever feel yourself looking at challenges you’ll face and saying, “I wonder how I’ll ever find a way through that.”? When I’m in this state of mind, I find myself paralyzed. I find myself tempted to avoid the situation, in the same way that crows are tempted to avoid a field guarded by a scarecrow.

While I might be afraid, the truth is that so many of the problems we face in our lives are actually scarecrows. What I mean is that so many of the problems we have are things that loom off in the distance and appear to be intimidating/daunting/scary/impossible. However, if we would take a moment to observe, we could quickly realize that thing we are afraid of isn’t all that intimidating and it’s rarely as bad as we think it will be. Often, as we get closer to these daunting problems, we realize that we’ve always had the strength to conquer them, even though we lost sight of this while we were scared.

In short, many times the problems in our life are only as strong as we allow them to be. Just as crows can see that a scarecrow is nothing more than something a farmer made, we have the power to look at our problems and realize that often they aren’t anything too large for us to handle.

The challenge: Do you see the challenges you face for the scarecrows they are?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Monster Hunters, Preparation, and Tools (11-1-17)

This will be the last in a series of lessons we can learn from monsters. We’ve reflected on werewolves and getting in the zone, the duplicity of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, frankesteining solutions, and inviting vampires into our lives. This week we will focus on the lessons we can learn being monster hunters.

There are several characters that could be considered “monster hunters”. These characters could include the Ghostbusters, Van Helsing, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Blade, Hellboy, and the Winchester brothers from Supernatural. The thing that all of these characters have in common is the way they prepare for their role and how they ensure they have the right tools for what they are fighting. The best monster hunters don’t just show up guns blazing. Instead, they take time to understand the situation and then choose the appropriate tools for the job.

For example, the Ghostbusters leverage knowledge from Tobin’s Spirit Guide that helps them better understand what they are facing. Then, they use PKE meters to assess their situation and eventually use specifically designed proton packs and traps to capture ghosts. Blade works with Whistler to design weapons that can exploit the weaknesses of his enemies, creating silver swords and UV lamps for vampires. Once the monster hunter has prepared, they are able to win the battle.

You might already be seeing the connections to work. In the above situations, if the monster hunters don’t understand the situation, then they are unable to prepare. In their case, being prepared is the difference between life and death. When I think about us at work, how often do we pause to really understand whatever it is we are facing before we dive right in? How often do we stop and say, “Oh, this is the problem I’m facing. To beat this problem I’ll probably need to understand ____. I should go find ____ tools or _____ frameworks or get advice from ______ to help us think through this.”? This could apply to marketing problems, leadership issues, building culture, etc. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just rush in, and when I do I find that I’m not ready to take on the challenges. When I rush in before I’ve truly thought about and prepared I often fail or fall short. Now when I fail at work I might not get attacked by a vampire, but the failure and the swirl does suck the life out of me. 😉

The challenge: Before you take out your “monster” are you taking the time to prepare and grab the right “tools”?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Inviting Vampires in (10-25-17)

Last week was about the classic Frankenstein monster and forcing things together. This week I want us to reflect on the lore surrounding vampires.

Vampires are one of the scariest and most frequently written about creatures on the planet. There are usually a few consistent elements of what it means to be a vampire such as feasting on humans, draining people of their blood/life, having mystical abilities, and being sensitive to the sun/UV rays. Additionally, vampire lore can change drastically depending on the book you are reading or the movie you are watching. One item from vampire lore is that vampires cannot enter a private residence without being invited in by the owner of the house. This creates an interesting situation, because you end up having this all-powerful creature who in many instances is powerless until they are able to trick the owner of the home to invite them in. Once the vampire is invited in, it’s not too long before they suck the life out of the host.

You have to be wondering what this has to do with anything. The above vampire example focuses on how people invite a monster into their home and then how that monster causes disaster. What if we do the same thing? What I’d ask all of us to consider is, “How often do I invite challenges/drama/problems into my home?” Much like a vampire, challenges/drama/problems can look attractive and seem harmless, until we invite them in and then they suck the lives out of us. Have you ever been a victim of something like this?

Embry examples. I invite feeling blah in, when I don’t take care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s always possible to find an excuse for why I’m not taking care of myself. Let’s face it, food that is bad for you tastes amazing and exercising is often the last thing on my mind. I invite work “emergencies” and “fire drills” in, when I don’t take time to plan accordingly and set expectations. It might be attractive to say, “I don’t need to spend the time planning that,” but it always gets me in the end. I invite failure in when I don’t stop to think through the situation before acting. It’s more attractive to run in and start doing stuff. Doing stuff feels good, but how often do I start doing stuff to only realize I’ve been doing the wrong things?

Now, I’m not saying we are responsible for every bad or challenging thing that happens to us. I know that life will bring challenges. I’m saying that sometimes we make life more challenging for ourselves than we need to by doing things that invite in more troubles and complications.

The challenge: Are you inviting in “vampires” that will suck the life out of you?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Frankensteining Stuff (10-18-17)

Last week was about Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and how we are all multi-dimensional. This week we will reflect on Frankenstein like monsters and forcing solutions together. Shout out to Amy Meadows for the inspiration for this week’s post. She actually made this comment during a meeting I was in about 1.5 years ago and it’s always stuck with me.

You are probably somewhat familiar with Frankenstein monster kind of stories. The basic idea is that there is a mad scientist who is obsessed with creating something amazing. Inevitably the scientist goes too far and ends up combining a lot of things that don’t belong together. For example, the mad scientist will sew together parts from different bodies. In some versions of these stories the scientist blends human and animal or human and machine. Eventually, the scientist brings the creature to life and the creature wreaks some kind of havoc.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything. How often have you worked on something that started out as one thing and ended up becoming a Frankenstein monster? What I mean by that is, how often did you start with a simple idea and then by the time everybody added to it the idea no longer served its intended purpose? Instead the idea became this conglomeration of stuff. I know I see this on a regular basis. Better yet, how often have you been the one who has tried to add and add and add stuff to something, even though it didn’t need to be added? I know I’m guilty of doing this sometimes.

Over my career I’ve learned how important it is to have a clear vision of what you are trying to accomplish, and then ruthlessly sticking to that vision. Without that clear vision and the discipline to stick to that vision, I end up going too far, just adding and adding and adding until the idea has become a monstrosity. This monstrosity is then unable to serve its purpose and becomes unable to help the people we are trying to help. In a collaborative environment where we work with hundreds of other mad scientists, it’s up to us to be clear on what we are trying to accomplish and why.

The challenge: Are you clear on what you are trying to accomplish or are you giving life to a Frankenstein monster?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and being Multi-dimensional (10-11-17)

Last week we kicked off a series inspired by monsters by starting with werewolves, full moons, and finding your zone. This week we will reflect on the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as it relates to people having many sides and components to their personalities.

You are probably slightly familiar with the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It’s a story that has played out and been remade in countless ways. The idea is that Dr. Jekyll is a scientist who created a serum that he takes to transform into Mr. Hyde. While Dr. Jekyll is a more reserved upstanding citizen, Mr. Hyde is more of a monster who gives into every whim and desire. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shows us that a person is both good and evil, controlled and chaotic, deliberate and impulsive, etc. The story shows us the duality that lies within everybody.

How does this connect with work? As the story shows, we are multi-dimensional. We contain ideas, emotions, and behaviors that are sometimes in conflict with each other. All of this comes together into a cool collage that is YOU. While this multi-dimensionality makes people beautiful, it also creates challenges. It’s also hard to see and understand all of these different perspectives of a person and how they fit together. Also, sometimes it’s easy to miss seeing a side of someone, because it’s not always so visible.

For example, I’d guess that most people who know me would describe me as energetic, outgoing, etc. To use insights colors they would say I’m yellow. Last week, I was leading some market research in and there were times when we needed to make fast decisions, so the driver side of me came out in full force. I was very direct, moving things along, quick, very much red. Afterwards, I know some of my colleague were a little surprised to see that much red in me (probably because they don’t see the red come out with my kids. I’m just saying my dad voice is on point). Anyway, my colleagues haven’t seen that from me. It was a little unexpected. The thing is I’m both red and yellow. I’m extroverted and introverted. I’m a poet and a market researcher. I’m a dad who loves his family and a guy who loves his job (I see you working parents). I’m someone who doesn’t take life too seriously, and still takes my work very seriously. I’m sarcastic and sincere (or at least I try to be). I’m not just one OR the other. I’m a combination of ALL of these things, and you are a combination of many emotions, ideas, and beliefs as well.

The challenge: Are you trying to see, understand, and leverage the multiple sides that people have? Are you trying to see, understand, and leverage the multiple sides you have?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Werewolves, Full Moons, and the Zone (10-5-17)

It’s now October, and there is something spooky in the air as we prepare for fall and Halloween. It only seemed right to start a series inspired by monsters and other spooky things. This week we will think about full moons, werewolves, and getting in the zone.

Whether it’s the Wolfman, Teen Wolf, An American Werewolf in London, Underworld, or some other story, you’ve probably heard of werewolves. The idea is that a person is cursed/blessed with the ability to morph from their human form to a wolf form. In many versions of the stories, werewolves change with a full moon. When they change they unleash the power that’s been trapped inside of them. In many stories the transformation is so disorienting that the wolves can’t control themselves, while in other stories the wolves can harness, focus, and direct their skills. In case you’re curious the next full moon is the Harvest Moon starting tomorrow.

You might be wondering what full moons and werewolves have to do with anything. I think it’s fascinating that werewolves have a trigger that enables them to unleash their inner power and strength. How cool would it be if we had a similar trigger that enabled us to unleash our true strength? Imagine the possibilities and how much work and life would be different if we unleashed our true strength on a more regular basis. While werewolves are fictional (supposedly) it is actually possible for humans to unleash their inner strength to perform at their peak state. Often, this is referred to as getting “in the zone” or in a “flow state.” Over the years I’ve read a lot of articles about this and I even took a Sports Psychology class in college that focused on this idea. I personally most often experience flow states when I’m performing poetry or presenting. When I’m in this zone, time slows, and everything I do is effortless. If you want to read a short article about getting in the zone click HERE.

Anyway, the more I read about being in “the zone” of in “the flow” the more I see that we can find ways to consistently get to this state. In a way, we can unleash our inner werewolf. Most of the things I’ve read suggest that in order to get in the zone you need to have the right routines and the right context around us. When you have the right routines and right context then your subconscious mind is able to take over and you are able to perform at another level. When it comes to routines, what do you do to get in the zone? Maybe you have a song, an outfit, a motion, or something else you do to get yourself focused. When it comes to the right context, are we putting ourselves in and creating the right environment? The environment could be where you are and it could also be the culture you work in.

The challenge: What are you doing to “get in the zone” and unleash your true strength?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry