NickVenturella.com 11-5-23 - Do or die no more

After being humbled by the less-than-desirable work environment of my last employer, I’ve come to renew my belief in letting go of expectations.That is the stress-inducing, pressure-laiden expectations that you often encounter in a work environment that has lost sight of itself and the people that make it run.

Too many and/or too grand of expectations can quickly devolve into a “do or die” mindset – this is what I’m encouraging you to release yourself from.  

Why?

A “do or die” mindset is typically a perception that is bought into. Rarely is it an actual do or die situation. It’s bought into by fear – fear of losing market share, fear of losing a client, fear of losing your job if you don’t comply.

However, what a “do or die” mindset really does is encourage you to lose your rational thinking, personal values, and yourself. This is dangerous on so many levels.

The reason these kinds of unhealthy expectations are dangerous is because they force you into survival mode. When you’re in survival mode you’re less likely to come up with creative, innovative solutions to problems. 

This is because truly great creativity and innovative ideas require space and time to germinate – rarely, if ever, are the best and most innovative solutions made available to us on-demand when forced. In fact, when forced the results tend to be adequate and mediocre at best.

The real danger in “do or die” thinking is the threat to your values. When you’re put into a situation that forces you into survival mode your values will quickly be tested. Your strength of character is all that can save you – if not, you’ll cave to survive the “do or die” cause.

This is how toxic work environments scale out of control. When you have lots of individuals forced into high stress, fast-moving, high expectation situations, those individuals are simply surviving to keep up so they don’t lose their jobs. 

Unfortunately, that often means something has to give…usually their scruples…Or, they rely on their moral compass and make moves to leave the environment to truly survive and thrive.

That was my situation. I could no longer allow my values to be infringed upon, so I left, which was one of the best decisions of my career.

In hindsight it’s far easier to see what a bad fit that job was. That hindsight is why I’ve been working hard to operate from a place of stronger faith and letting go of expectations.

It’s difficult to let go of expectations – the world thrusts them upon us in various ways everyday. However, you will be better off for choosing to operate from your own, known personal values and skill strengths. This takes having a strong relationship with yourself.

Self-awareness is necessary to reduce the pressures of (internal or external) expectations. This allows you to operate from a position of personal strength and good ethics.

That’s why -- no matter your field of work, study, or interest -- investing in yourself will always yield the highest return, and allow you to be in a position to more positively impact others.

To begin that self-awareness journey you have to be willing to work on yourself; to document your strengths, weaknesses, good and bad experiences and your personal values, so you can learn from them and create a forward-facing operations framework for your life that aligns best with who you truly are.

That’s the baseline for investing in yourself. This self-awareness work is forever ongoing because you’re always experiencing life, changing and growing. 

However, once you feel somewhat comfortable within your own life framework you’re in a great spot to pay forward what you’ve learned to others who may not be as far along in their self-awareness journey.

--------------------------------------------------Updates----------I’m showcasing some of my upcycled artistic guitars for the month of November at Imaginarytea.shop in Waunakee, WI. Be sure to stop by and check out the exhibit. All guitars on display are available for sale. ----------Songwriters Round Town​(a songwriters in the round series)Sat. Nov. 11, 2023 at Imaginary Tea Waunakee, WI7-9pm----------I've recently updated The GrowLoop Journal. It's The GrowLoop Journal 2.0, I suppose.The GrowLoop Journal is a personal documentation system to help combat disengagement, distraction, and depression to feel better and be more productive in your life and career. It's based on proven science about the mental and physical health benefits of journaling.----------Dan Lezama and I (we make up the music duo group, Gemini's Rival) have been busy re-recording new versions of our back catalog of songs from the mid/late '90's & early 2000's.Here are three songs (of several songs to be released) that are now out on all major streaming platforms.Listen to the latest released song "Seven Seventy-Five ($7.75)," now!----------

----------

Stay positive. Stay healthy. Be kind.Sincerely,Nick VenturellaStrategic/Creative ProfessionalNickVenturella.com