How You Do Anything is How You’ll Do Everything!

As some of you know, I’m stuck in Istanbul with my elderly parents from Iran and we all have Covid. Under the Turkish Health Ministry’s mandatory quarantine, what was going to be a little work and a week of a fun vacation, will have turned into a month+ long ordeal. Prayerful to be back home by the mid to end of next week.

I’m working on a 10 Lessons article, and an important topic is keeping your relationships updated. The premise is that if you don’t share not just your life’s highlight real online, but also challenges and struggles – often from the fear of OMG, what failure they’re going to think I am (BTW, get over that one fast!) – you’ll never be perceived as real, authentic, or human for that matter. Who amongst our community reading this hasn’t screwed up, gone through a painful period in their life, lost a job, lost a loved one, failed in some way, or some other unexpected and unfortunate event in their lives? It’s OK to share those – keep them in perspective, and no one wants to read one miserable story after another, but all good things in moderation will keep your relationships abreast of the real you! I believe most of us are also drawn to the Hero’s Journey, love stories of overcoming obstacles, and how we develop our resilience.

The beautiful outcome is the outpouring of the love and the support from family and friends alike, we all need, when life pulls us down or temporarily (and it’s all temporary!), beats us up.

One of the coolest this week was THIS video from new motorcycle riding friends, Darcy and Jeannie Bastos, whom I met through Scott Lovern and the local BMW Rider’s Club. Although we’ve only known each other for a couple of months, they seem like a great couple. Brazilian, salt of the earth, and genuinely caring.

He thought I may be down given my ordeal, so he shared this incredibly therapeutic and masterful workmanship of a Russian restoration of an old motorcycle. Even if you don’t know or care anything about bikes, do yourself a favor and watch this video. Pay attention to the details, the simplicity of the story well told, the knowledge, passion, and commitment the craftsman gives to this project.

Then ask yourself a simple question: when was the last time YOU cared about anything to that level? A job, a project, a relationship – to invest the time, effort, the skills, the knowledge, the commitment to see it through to perfection? When was the last time you poured yourself into something so deeply, committed so fully, believed in passionately, without the world watching to not skip steps, cut corners, do it ASAP, but to do it right and to an exceptional level of a craftsman? Not comparing the outcomes to anyone’s expectations, but only to those of your own? Not using what we don’t have, can’t get, don’t know – all as crutches to personal and professional growth!

Maybe it’s time to take more pride in life projects (work, home, family, loved ones, the house, etc.) we choose to tackle. Maybe one blessing from this awful global pandemic is that we need less in our lives (including many people) and more authenticity, commitment, greater passion, conviction, and different definitions of success, or a life well-lived.

As always, I welcome your perspectives, stories, questions, and comments.