Stress creates an illusion of success

Stress creates an illusion of success

?2 weeks ago I had to catch a train near where I live to then go to catch another train in Lisbon to go to Coimbra, a city in the centre of Portugal, to attend a Startup capital event.

I managed to get in the 1st train successfully, just as it was closing the doors and departing. This was the last train I could catch to be able to catch the train in Lisbon to Coimbra, that departed 45 minutes later.

I was feeling proud of my success and relieved that I got in the train, when my partner calls me, and I immediately told her very excited: “I was able to catch the train!” And she says, that’s great, what is not so great is that you have the car key with you... She needed the car key to go home and prepare herself to go to work in the office today (why do people go to work in offices???).

As a result, I had to leave in the next train station, pick another train, go back, drive back home for her to prepare to go to work, and drive fast to be able to catch the train in Lisbon, and time was running out.

I was driving fast to go to Lisbon, but not stressed or anxious, and I ended up losing that train to Coimbra.

As I misread the train timetable , I decided to not go to that event in Coimbra, and to go directly to Oporto, where I stayed until Sunday, to attend an event on Saturday in Maia, a nearby city.

In the train, with the ticket updated and paid extra to go a longer destination than the original one, I realized the train I was traveling in arrived to Coimbra only 15 mins after the train I lost...

Even so, I decided to continue journey to Oporto, enjoy the journey in the pendular train and work relaxedly, in a calm trip.

Why continue to stress over something I could not change? I decided to accept and enjoy the mistakes, and this is also encouraging myself to grow over the situations, and enjoy the ride, embracing what comes ??

What I mentioned above, the pressure to move out of the car quickly to catch the train, not thinking that I had the car key in my pocket, and then the mistake I made in reading the train timetable are effects we all have when we “decide” to act, pressured by external or internal factors without pausing a bit to think logically and rationally.

What we may initially consider a great achievement and success, may not be so, if we are focusing entirely on the wanted result, we may miss very important details that will make that supposed success to be a complete failure…

Just as a curiosity, the event I attended at @Tecmaia on Saturday May 14 focused on exactly the opposite – It was called "Marketing Mix do Erro" – The Marketing Mix of Errors – and the presenters focused on sharing stories and experiences where errors, flops, disappointments and frustrations ended up being great levers to awesome results…

2 different situations that illustrate very well that on the other side of the coin there’s always a great perspective worth exploring…

What do you think?

In organizations how much emphasis is being put in more and more pressure and stress and what results are being obtained?

#stress #success #illusion #decisions #TheMidasTouch

Christiaan O

Founder & Ecosystem Developer

2 年

Maybe a fun question: Why did you sign up to the first event anyway? The real journey is about setting clear outcomes and feeling the freedom to flow towards them. First of all as it helps with decision making - which event to take or not - but also as is it is the lesson learned from a mistake that eventually creates space for the real outcome we desire. For me is this what they speak about with "the law of attraction".. how a mistake makes you more conscious and helps you to become the right person (read: frequency) that is able to manifest the outcome you desire. Without stating outcomes are we not able to be lead to the paths of the "right mistakes towards clear desired outcomes. The universe can only help you when you make a clear decision of where you want to end up in the future. On the other hand also as we often don't visualize big enough and that we need failures and mistakes to realize that we have a lot more potential then we often ask from life.

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Phil Summerfield

I help successful executives like you BECOME THE LEADER and THE PERSON you want to be - are PROUD to be. Master Practitioner Coach-Mentor - Executive Coaching, Team Coaching

2 年

Ah yes José de Sousa, this reminds me of a saying I've used and believed, for decades: One door closes and another 3 open - we just need to open our eyes and sometimes our hearts to be able to see them

Nicole M. Heimann

Author "How to Develop the Authentic Leader in You" I Co-Founder & Board Member BHF.Foundation | 100 Coaches I Top 10 World Class Mentor 2022 Former CEO and BOARD Executive Coach & Advisor

2 年

The power of keys, José de Sousa! Great they had no power over you! Bravo!!

Gustavo Mattos Santos

C-Level & operational executive | Procurement & Quality, Organization culture | LinkedIn Top Voice

2 年

The important is to smell the flowers on the way. Great thoughts

Ken Pasternak

Speaker, Author, Educator, Brand Ambassador

2 年

Quite a story José de Sousa. Always something new to learn from our adventures and misadventures.

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