So here we are at last, the end of 2022. I don’t mind saying I won’t miss it now that it’s gone! For one reason or another, 2022 was just a tough year for us.
That said, I’m mindful of the silliness that accompanies crossing some arbitrary imaginary temporal boundary and expecting things to be, somehow, magically better. In reality, the only thing separating today from yesterday was midnight . . . the same as could be said for every other day over the past year, no matter how good or bad it went. There’s just no rational reason to expect that the turning of the calendar will substantively change our lives.
And yet, we humans are creatures that thrive on hope, are we not? We routinely grasp at the slightest indicator, the most insignificant and random of signs, as somehow pointing to a better, more productive future. That tendency can be a source of incredible strength, urging us all to keep on keeping on, even when the odds are stacked against us and the outlook seems bleak. At the same time, that same tendency can lead folks to continue pressing a poor decision, long after they should have called it quits and begun earnestly considering another approach.
I’ve written before about hope being a double-edged sword, and I’m more convinced than ever that is the case. Like anything else, it seems, hope has to be tempered with wisdom in order for it to consistently have the most desirable effect. Without that wisdom, a sense for when to hold’em and when to fold’em as Kenny Rogers once wrote, every strand of hope can be either the rope to which we cling to, pulling ourselves to safety, or the one tied around our necks, suffocating us all the faster the more we struggle to break free.
Yet in all that, there is a wild card in the hope equation, isn’t there? The one element that can have second and third order effects not only upon us but upon those around us. Sometimes in ways that serve to improve the very environments within which we live and work. That wild card is attitude.
We’ve all seen it, right? The one person who remains calm in a crisis, when everyone around them is flailing about crying “the sky is falling”. That person, that rock in the middle of the storm, stands firm largely because they refuse to see the crisis from only one perspective. That individual understands that every crisis is also an opportunity, of one type or another. That leader knows that calm is contagious, as the Navy SEALS like to say, and calm, rational decisions are just more likely to be good ones.
What’s the difference between that critical piece in any organization and the dozens of people around him or her who’ve given up before they started? Attitude. Plain and simple. They know who they are and what they’re capable of and refuse to let themselves be rattled by worst case scenarios and end of the world expectations. And that matters, doesn’t it. Nine times out of ten, in my experience, that one calm individual will rein in the panic. They’ll mitigate those perennially unhelpful individuals and, calmly, gain control of the situation.
While I’m not a huge proponent of New Years’ resolutions—for the temporal reasons indicated above—I would say that if there’s one thing we should aspire to this year, it’s to be more like that calm, professional individual. The one that brings order to chaos, finds solutions when everyone else sees problems, and consistently discovers pathways to success, where others find themselves blocked by obstacles. The difference is attitude, the one thing all of us have absolute control over, each and every day of our lives.
In 2023 I’d urge you all to take control of yours. Doing so will certainly benefit both you and those who live and work around you in ways that right now seem unimaginable.
Happy New Year, Everyone! May 2023 live up to your greatest expectations.
M. G. Haynes
* Cartoon courtesy of Bob Eckstein and the New Yorker.