I may have talked about this before, I’m not sure…

But I’m gonna talk about it in today’s blog post anyways.

Response-ability is a concept I first saw from Stephen Covey who wrote the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People…

And it’s the premise that, while we can’t control outside events…

Or even external stimuli in general.

We can control how we respond to those events and stimuli.  

This is a uniquely human gift that we’ve been endowed with …

Because with response-ability comes a choice…

We get to CHOOSE how things affect us and our psyches.

Response-ability gives us an absurd degree of power…

Which is why, in the coming weeks…

As you read doom-and-gloom headlines…

Or hear scary stories about the economy being rocked…

Remember that you have the power to decide how those things will affect you. 

When you see bad or scary news…

You can become paralyzed with apathy and fear…

Or, you can hear the same news…

Acknowledge it for a moment…

Then release it out into the ether.

My opinion…

You have a tremendous opportunity in front of you right now…

The opportunity to get more done, to finish outstanding projects, to learn something new, etc.

This may be one of the only times in your life where the whole world is actively begging you to just take it easy.

Right now you don’t have to spend time agonizing about some dinner you don’t want to go to…

Or a business trip you’d rather not take…

Or anything else.

There aren’t any sports to distract you…

And really there are fewer temptations in front of you right now than at any other point in your adult life.

Isn’t that incredible?

So instead of looking at quarantine and isolation as some big scary thing…

Or spending hours on FB reading about viruses and the economy and getting freaked out…

You get the chance to spend several weeks tearing through the projects you’ve been putting off for far too long…

Or picking up the ph

one and calling old friends you haven’t spoken to in years and catching up.

Better yet…

You can look at this as a chance to spend deeper, better quality time with your spouse…

Your children…

And all of the others whom you love.

Simply put: 

You have the ability to choose your response…

The ability to view what’s going in the world right now as a tremendous gift.

So please, don’t squander this precious, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…

Make the most of it.

Because a chance like this may never come again.

– SPG

P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link.