I had high expectations for 2020. I was going to:
- officiate my first wedding… cancelled!
- vacation with my mom… cancelled!
- attend the AONL Conference in Nashville… cancelled!
- bike the NYC Five Boro Bike Tour… cancelled!
- speak at 15 different conferences… cancelled!
- throw myself a surprise birthday party… cancelled!
Like everyone else, I now have a long, growing list of things I’m not doing this year.
But my fixation on this list became a personal and professional hazard.
Bicyclists and motorcyclists call this Target Fixation – a common cause of crashes.
Target Fixation is a phenomenon where our brain focuses intently on an obstacle in front of us and ignores alternative, even obvious paths. It’s predominant in stressful situations.
Cyclists fear broken glass, rumble strips, and potholes. But staring at these obstacles we want to avoid inadvertently increases the likelihood that we’ll ride right into them.
Why? Because our wheel goes wherever we fixate our attention. We aim where we focus.
The solution? Cyclists (like me!) are taught to notice the pothole, but then re-focus on the road around the pothole.
Nevertheless, when challenged by a pandemic riddled with obstacles, I suddenly found myself trapped by Target Fixation – distracted by the obstacles: social distancing, masks, disinfectants, cancelled plans! Suddenly, I was stuck in the valley of despair! Resilience resistant.
To get unstuck, I had to intentionally shift my focus to the path around the pandemic potholes. How? By creating fresh solutions and interesting projects:
- I’m delivering a new webinar called “Crisis Mentoring” (details below)
- I’m launching Virtual Think Tanks for our clients to mentor each other
- I’m speaking at virtual conferences
- I’m writing a proposal for my next book
- I’m inhaling episodes of Schitt’s Creek instead of the news
- I’m learning to juggle
Stare at the road you want to ride on, not the road you want to avoid. Literally and figuratively. |
