Leveraging the "Anti"
A different take on "upping the ante"?
What if defining what we don’t want is as powerful as defining what we do want?
Sometimes the algorithm helps you stumble into something insightful.
This Youtube Short was the algorithm's gift to me one day at 1 am.
What a powerful idea. Defining what counts as failure as well as what counts as success.
Personally, I think the idea of knowing clearly who you want to become and where you want to be in life is still important--having a direction is clearer than an...anti-direction? But knowing where you don't want to go is also useful for clarifying our decision-making process.
It's the reason why when my wife and I don't know what to eat, I often throw out ideas that I think she definitely will say no to; it almost always results in her clarifying more broadly what else she's not in the mood for, and after a bit of back and forth, even if we don't find the *perfect* choice for the night, we usually find something satisfying.
If we look at those individuals whom we admire, who were hungry and went after what they want, they usually have an idea of where they don't want to go back to or experience again.
Poverty, hunger, helplessness, shame, abandonment, disappointment, failure.
These become the warning signs along their journey to success. They are the dangers that activate their "spidey senses" and let them know to get out of a situation.
I think that it's important not to become consumed or haunted by these "anti's". The idea is not to let them control us, but rather to be that reminder and driving force when our bursts of motivation run out and we don't yet have the discipline to maintain our momentum along the path that we've chosen for ourselves.
Your “anti” isn’t your fear—it’s your internal alarm system. A mental reminder of where you never want to end up again.
The dream may seem far away, but anti-dream is threateningly close, and we know that's not where we want to end up again, so we must keep moving forward.
Keep moving forward. That's all we ask for on this journey of Leadership in the Making.
What do you think about defining your "anti"? When was the last time you used this concept to keep yourself motivated?