By Barbara Mutedzi
Have you ever caught yourself looking and planning your life from the Worst Case Scenario, as opposed to the Best Case Scenario?
Looking at and planning your life, leadership and business from the worst case scenario space is a survival mindset.
Let me give you an example, using the scenario of my birth country as an example of living from the worst case scenario and how that is a survival mindset and with that, detrimental to your health.
🌻 So in my birth country, there is a running joke, which people are actually proud of, that says: ‘we {nickname for each other as a country] always make a plan’.
Now, the joke about ‘we always make a plan’, is in response to very little, sometimes non-existent public services; including electricity and clean household water if any water at all; increased costs on basic foods, poor public transport, food shortages including what used to be the country’s staple food; poor roads, potholes, crime and so on and so on.
There is a celebration of resilience, yet as you might know, resilience is just an opportunity to bounce back to zero, to equilibrium, so you can then use that to build upward to 1, then 2 and so on.
Resilience is about coming back to center.
🌻 Making of a plan, and resilience in this regard, has become a ‘badge of honor’. Whilst this is a good thing because people become resilient and are good at getting by, note that this is living life in constant survival mode.
Whatever we expose ourselves to over time, becomes what and who we are. Because people are in constant survival mode, all they are focused on, is getting by. This means that all they speak, think and act on are based on survival.
By speaking, thinking and silently getting frustrated with no output, people are unconsciously perpetuating the survival mindset and resulting actions. The country then, becomes that.
Resilience, yes, is great. But if your life is always about being resilient, day in and day out, then the question I have always asked, has been: “when are you actually going to live your life in a way that is authentic, meaningful and purposeful to you and your important, unique purpose?”
🌻 In always needing to make a plan, just to stay afloat, your life is literally passing you by. You are living life from the outside in and not from the inside out.
You are letting the outside dictate who you are, and so of course it is easy to feel lost, disconnected and feeling like you are on treadmill of life, literally going nowhere fast.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with making a plan. Plans are definitely needed to help us get on and stay on track to where we are wanting to get to. Especially as you plan for the new year.
🌻 If you are making plans to thwart problems that you have had in the past, without foresight on your dreams, then all you are doing is playing whack-a-mole.
Whack-a-mole is the game where you are simultaneously fighting fires all the time, and or are on edge, readying yourself and poised for problems to come up.
All your resources, time and energy is going in to fighting fires, and or in fight, flight and freeze mode. There is no foresight at all. This becomes all you talk and think about.
🌻In last week’s article we talked about how the thoughts we think and the words we speak, influence the hormones and chemicals that our brain produces, which then affect our behavior.
The more you think and speak about all of these problems, the more you become chronically worried, stressed and anxious.
Our bodies are built to protect us, so it will find a way to cope; and to be honest, we all need some level of worry, stress and anxiety in our bodies as a form of growth.
🌻The danger comes when this becomes your constant source of existence. In this state of continual ‘coping’, you are not allowing your body to rest and recover, so it can get stronger. You are constantly releasing stress hormones into your system; which over the long run, damages the very body that is there to protect you.
There is a literal war going on in your mind, brain and body. The body gets to a point where it can’t keep absorbing this level of trauma anymore. What you think, you create and recreate.
This is where you start seeing high incidences of incurable, long term and chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks and so on – all of these ‘chronic’ because there has been a build-up of ‘resilience’ with no rest within your very system.
💎 A quick exercise for you as you make your 2025 plans:
⚡️Look at the plans you have made for 2025. Have you made from the Worst case scenario or Best case scenario?
Note that the Worst Case Scenario is only focused on fighting fires and being ‘ready’ for future trouble, and based on past trouble alone.
⚡️The Best Case Scenario, is yes, about fighting fires with longer term, well thought out solutions. Yes the Best Case Scenario is about having enough resources around, and or being resourceful with what you do have, to ready yourself for unknown challenges –
⚡️AND Best Case Scenarios are also about planning for dreams BEYOND finghting fires and creating enough resources in case of challenges. Can you see the difference?
⚡️You get to create a stable, longer terms foundation to address challenges from the past so that they don’t influence and or hamper your plans for growth, wealth, better relationships, education, better leadership and so on.
⚡️ You get to expand into the person you are meant to be. Don’t let your environment indirectly cause you to drift away from your dreams. You are much bigger and better than that.
🌟 Define what you would like all areas of your life to be about; Design strategies and roadmaps that will help you achieve these; then Display the habits and behaviors that will help you stay on track.
This Mutedzi 3D protocol is such an easy formula to follow, yet very strong in how it allows you to expand beyond the troubles of today, because of its well researched, backed by scientific, disciplined nature.
The Living a Life of and on Purpose course material, gets you on track to living your life from the inside out. it is focused on the concept of behavioral modification, which means you get to witness yourself in action.
One day at a time, you get to change with each interaction, until you are fully aligned to your values, principles and purpose. Live life on your own terms. Protect your mind, your thinking and your body. Look after your wellbeing. Expose yourself to what is aligned to the person that you truly are. Explore the course below.
EXPLORE THE COURSE INFORMATION
HERE 🌟
🌻 When it comes to Leadership;
I have come across ambitious leaders who want and can make big changes in their leadership, organizations, people’s performance, impact and profits. All beautiful, much needed stuff.
Unfortunately, what is in the way of them achieving these very easy, ‘straight to the point’ milestones, is that they see their staff / employees as problems. They then create work environments that are aligned to this way of thinking.
⚡️ Now we are not pointing fingers here. They themselves are also ‘beaten down’ by the very space their businesses are in. They themselves have taken to looking at their own lives from the Worst Case Scenario. Note that I am not making excuses for how people ill-treat others just because of their circumstances. I am showing how this may have come to be. For example:
Because of these leaders’ survival mindset, because of their own experiences, they consequently create hostile work environments.
They ill-treat their people; they think (and sometimes this is true of some employees) that people are there to just get paid, steal and go on home; that they care only for themselves, that they don’t care about the very business that is helping them out to survive, and so on and so on. It is self-perpetuating thinking that leads to hostile communication and therefore unproductive, psychologically unsafe work spaces.
⚡️ Now, I am also not saying that every employee is a saint and is always perfect. But if you as a leader are going into work with this perspective, of course the way you communicate with another person is negatively influenced. It goes back to what you think and say, influences the hormones and chemicals in your brain, which influences your behavior.
You yourself need to make sure your mindset is on point and aligned to your true values, principles and purpose. Not ones you made up from your head intellectual space, but those offered through your heart, the very true essence of who you are as an individual human first before your title.
This is what the conscious leadership, leading with mastery program is all about. Getting you to reconnect with your heart, whilst working with you mind. Explore more about the program below 👇🏼
EXPLORE
THE CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP
LEAD FROM WITHIN MASTERY PROGRAM HERE 🌟
🌻 How do you, as a leader, business owner & entrepreneur, create and manage a psychologically safe work environment from the Best case scenario?
⚡️ You make sure that you have simple and straightforward, focused and clear strategies that are actionable, hence transferable to all parts of the business.
Actionable in that all 5 levels of the strategy are clear. That is, the purpose, vision, mission, values and implementation plan. Transferable in that every single person in the organization is clear to the point of having it on paper and signed off in their contracts, on what is expected of them.
⚡️ This clarity makes it easier to conduct performance evaluations on the go. Employees are able to measure their own selves as well, as opposed to waiting for an evaluation at the end of the month, quarter or year. They can literally measure themselves against what they signed for. Everything is clear.
Remember we talked about transparency over honesty from before? This is what it is. Being absolutely transparent so that everyone knows where they are and with that, transparent conversations can be had throughout the year, as opposed to waiting till the end.
All this is part of the Conscious Leadership Lead from Within program for leaders, entrepreneurs and business owners. Living, leading and running your business from the inside out. Open link below for more information.
EXPLORE
THE CONSCIOUS LEADERSHIP
LEAD FROM WITHIN MASTERY PROGRAM HERE 🌟
🌻 For the leadership team in your organization:
If you would like to transform the way that leaders in your organization function, I guide, support, and advise organizations in three key areas:
✔️ Conscious Leadership Development & Coaching
✔️ People Management Skills & Employee Wellbeing
✔️ Focused and Clear, Transparent & Actionable Strategies
Using a personalized approach, together, we’ll design and implement tailor made and impactful workshops, masterclasses, retreats, or in-house coaching sessions to drive measurable growth and success. More information is in the box below:
OUR ORGANIZATIONAL WORK TOGETHER 🌟
🔆 Do you need more information on clear, actionable strategies?
If so, let me know. Just hit reply to this email with your question and I will personally respond. In the meantime, enjoy the remaining, less than 10 days before the New Year, making sure to plan with the best case scenario in mind, because it is more holistic in its effectiveness.
With loving kindness, grace and gratitude.
-Barbara Mutedzi is a life coach
