1+1: Do what you can + 7 anti-procrastinating tips

Fun news: July marked 2 years of 1+1! To celebrate my toddler of a newsletter—and to thank you for being a loyal subscriber—I’m giving away the Humbler Leadership audiobook to the first five people who reply to this email and tell me about a book they’ve read that has positively impacted their leadership. What was the book, and how has it helped you?

Thanks for being a faithful reader. I appreciate you!

Now, on to the one leadership idea and one resource I’ve found beneficial in the past two weeks:

1 idea: Do what you can

It was 1:30 am, and I was spent. After a full but productive morning with a client in Los Angeles, I’d flown across the country toward home. Or at least, that was the plan. A series of delays now meant that I couldn’t catch my connecting flight and sleep in my own bed that night. Best Western, here we come.

As I waited in the cavernous pickup area for the hotel shuttle, I swallowed the muggy June air and stewed on my misfortune. I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to hug my kids that night, and I was mad at the relative indifference of the airline toward my plight. The combination of fatigue and frustration left me in a cranky mood. I needed a reset.

As I grabbed my luggage and slid into the dark hotel van, the sighs of my fellow passenger told me she was as tired as I was. Just as I was about to turn on an audio book and close my eyes, something prompted me to put my phone away and talk to her. I stowed my earbuds and turned to ask her how she was doing. It turned out we were in the same boat. She too missed a connecting flight due to delays and would have to wait a day to see her family. She too had a $12 meal voucher.

Talking with her on our lightless commute quickly changed my mood. As I listened to her share about her husband’s dangerous work as a dump truck driver and her suspicions that her mother had a new boyfriend, I felt less alone--and more human. Rather than feeling like a tiny ant crushed under the weight of a huge shoe, I felt more like one of many kayakers navigating the uncertain rapids of a new river. My world got bigger. Life became less about me. After connecting with her, I was still tired, but I was much less weary.

Our plans are often thwarted in life. The new boss doesn’t give you the opportunities you expected. Your spouse doesn’t love the plans you were so excited about. Your kids scream and throw their food on the floor. The list goes on.

In those moments, it’s easy to do what I did and fall into a woe-is-me mindset. And while it can be helpful to grieve our disappointment, staying in that space for too long shrinks the world down and traps us in a cage of our own making. Bitterness and Entitlement become our cellmates.

But when we can step back and shift our focus from what we can’t do to what we can do, it’s amazing how much life and joy we can find in the little things. We can still serve our colleagues in small ways. We can still listen well to our partners and collaborate on our shared goals. We can still love our children even when they’re behaving like terrorists.

Focusing on the small things we can do shifts us from feeling defensive to going on the offensive. We begin to notice opportunities instead of signs the universe is conspiring against us. We become curious and hopeful again.

When you feel like your grand plans are being thwarted, follow the advice of Theodore Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.” After all, that’s all you can ever do, anyway.

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• How could you leave some person or project better than you found it today?

• What’s one small but meaningful thing you could do today that wouldn’t require anyone’s permission or cooperation?

• How can you stay true to your values today no matter what else happens?

1 resource: 7 anti-procrastinating tips

If you’re struggling to make progress on your ambitious goals or long task list, these seven anti-procrastinating tips from Daniel Pink are gold. They’re wise, brief, and instantly actionable.

Since you’re already procrastinating, take one more YouTube break to watch this 11-minute video now--then act on it!

PS: How a procrastinating Swede gives a speech...