Kay:

Welcome back, Questers! It’s Thursday, October 29th and this is Episode 214. We have such a cool quote for you today from Lynn Good. She is the chairman, president and CEO of Duke Energy, which is one of the Fortune 500, and she is one of the most highly compensated female executives in the US. In other words, this chick is a BA in the original definition!

Shi:

All right, let’s hear what she had to say. She said, “I actually had someone say to me, ‘Lynn, you’re going to have very good days, and you’re going to have very bad days, but it’s rare that things are as good as they look and it’s rare that things are as bad as they seem.’”

Kay:

Whew, does that ring SO true, especially for a couple of executive women in business!

Shi:

And not just any business. We are in the restaurant business, which means criticism, criticalness, high expectations, and lots of opportunities for failure points and unmet expectations – which means we’ve faced a LOT of criticism. We’ve also faced a lot of praise, and so we can certainly take this one to heart.

Kay:

“You have the very good days and you have the very bad days, but it’s rare that things are as good as they look and it’s rare that they’re as bad as they seem.” So, oftentimes, we use our emotions as the gauge for how things are going and we value our emotions. But then, you experience the really high highs and the low lows of your emotions going up and down along that spectrum. And so, over the years of experience that we’ve had, we’ve kind of realized that your emotions might not be the best gauge in regards to how good or bad things are…

Shi:

Right. And then this helps us keep that perspective that emotions shouldn’t be the only meter that we’re measuring this by, and that it can help tether us to a little bit more humility when things are really great and people are praising, because “you’re never as good as they say you are,” as John Maxwell likes to say. So this quote helps to tether you to that center when things are tough and you’re facing criticism and people are being critical of you to have that understanding that it’s also never as bad as it seems. And it’s rare that it’s as bad as it looks, or seems, or as others say it is. So this I think helps to tether you in both directions and give you a little bit more of an anchor than the whims of that emotional roller coaster that many of us can default to living to if we’re not careful!

Kay:

In fact Shi, I’m really glad that you brought up that John Maxwell quote. We heard this retold to us through Teresa Scanlan who was Miss America 2011, and also a colleague and a friend of ours who we loved the opportunity to work with. But she said that once she asked John, “John, how do you deal with it? I’ve been in the fame and the public eye and this is a lot. It’s a long time and you’ve been doing this for 50 years. How do you deal?” And he said, “Just always remember that you’re not as good as they say you are, and you’re not as bad as they say you are.” And she said that that’s really helped to anchor her as she’s faced criticism, and as she’s faced situations, because just like in every negative situation there is a silver lining, and in every positive situation there’s an opportunity for things to go wrong. So finding this even ground, especially in the roller coaster of executives and business, can be really helpful.

Shi:

Well, I think that the real meat of this quote is that second part. It’s rare that things are as good as they look and it’s rare that things are as bad as they seem, but the first part of this quote too, I think carries some weight to it. “You’re going to have very good days and you’re going to have very bad days.” This is a matter of fact. You cannot avoid bad days. You cannot do enough pre-planning-

Kay:

Oh, hey, you must be alive!

Shi:

… or preparation. Right?! Exactly. Oh, are you a human being? Then you’re going to have good days, and you’re going to have bad days. If you’re in business and if you’re in leadership, you have others depending on you. There’s a lot of decisions being made. There’s a lot of gray area. Things are so rarely black and white. So the truth of it is: you’re going to have good days and you should enjoy them while they’re here, and you’re going to have bad days and you should learn as much and grow as much as you can when they’re here too!

Kay:

So just a reminder on that quote, Lynn Good says, “I actually had someone say to me, ‘Lynn, you’re going to have very good days and you’re going to have very bad days, but it’s rare that things are as good as they look and it’s rare that things are as bad as they seem.'”

Shi:

That brings us to your quest and today it’s #ThoughtfulThursday…so it’s #ThoughtfulThursdayQuest! We want you to think about something in your life right now that feels bad. Now, can you think of one thing that might make it seem a little less bad or scary? Additionally, let’s think of something good that maybe seems without flaw in your life and form more of a realism perspective around it by thinking of one future challenge you may have to overcome. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!