Seeking Solutions Over Scapegoats

A few weeks ago, Anchorage was hit by a major earthquake. Power was knocked out across the city. Major roads and highways were destroyed when the ground heaved, shifted and sank, leaving depressions large enough to bury a three story house. Four weeks later, we are still feeling significant aftershocks.

But amidst all the destruction, I was amazed how our city came together. It can take a week for city plows to get to your street after a large snowfall. Fixing a pothole might take months. But when large chunks of highway disappeared into the earth, crews were out immediately and had roads, bridges and on-ramps repaired and completely functional in mere days. Some major thoroughfares were fixed in just 48 hours.

It wasn’t just road crews either. A windstorm can knock down a few trees, taking powerlines down with them, and a few isolated neighborhoods might be without power for up to a few days. When the ‘quake hit, it shut off power all over the city. The whole town went dark, except for the strange glow coming from transformers exploding. Yet, much of the power was restored city-wide in less than three hours. Some areas were restored almost immediately and I didn’t hear of anyone experiencing the blackout into the following day.

Why the efficient and effective response? While there were certainly many reasons, one seems to stand out: there was no one to blame. Democrats didn’t blame Republicans. Students didn’t blame teachers. Conservatives didn’t blame liberals. Dog lovers didn’t blame cat owners. Everyone just came together and got stuff done. It was no one’s fault and no energy was wasted on blaming anyone and pointing fingers, they just got to work.

Too often, when bad things happen, our first reaction is to look for a scapegoat rather than a solution. We seek someone to blame instead of searching for someone to help rebuild. Don’t waste effort determining fault when you could be discovering the fix. It’s much easier to move forward when you’re looking at the possibilities ahead instead of dwelling on the failures behind you.

Comments

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on

Glutton for Punishment

I’ve learned over the years that being comfortable can be a dangerous thing. I try to find paths to discomfort to push me out of my realm of “safety.” However, I have noticed my ability to develop comfort zones amidst discomfort. I’ve found ways to be comfortable in uncomfortable circumstances. I wonder, do I need to be stretched beyond those areas as well? One of the areas in which I have adapted to the discomfort is the gym. I don’t go to the gym to exercise, to get stronger or even to be healthier. It’s grown beyond that. Now, I go to the gym to clear my head by testing my will and resolve. I do it to see how hard I can push my limits and I strive to outwork everyone else there. I may not be the strongest, the fastest or the fittest. I may not lift the most weight or even do the most reps – I can’t control any of those variables – but I can control my effort. So one of my goals for each workout is to unleash more effort than anyone else at the gym. But along with this

Commitment

You know what the problem is with a lot of goals and grand plans? They are mostly fueled by emotion rather than commitment. It is why most New Year’s Resolutions are long forgotten by now and many aspirations quietly fizzle out over time. True commitment is sticking with the effort even – if and especially when – the emotion has diminished or disappeared. Emotion can be a great initiator of action, like kindling on a fire, but it lacks staying power. Commitment is the logs that keep the fire burning long after the kindling is consumed. The butterflies after falling in love, the best intentions of waking up at 4:30am every day to work out after you join a new gym, the excitement of your first day on campus, even the sleep-deprivation induced euphoria of a new baby: all kindling. But it is commitment that keeps you working hard on the marriage twenty-three years after “I do.” It is what causes you to keep going when you do not want to make one more sales call, do one more presentat

Mindset Matters

Search This Blog