Coming Out More Adaptable and Creative

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Rick Steves is having a moment. But not the moment he planned. Right now, he was supposed to be getting off a plane in Istanbul, ready to spend the next four months in Europe. However, the unthinkable has happened: He’s enjoying himself at home.

Bear in mind that this is a guy who’s spent the last 30 years mostly on the road. He splits his time in Europe making travel shows for PBS and meeting with local guides to create his popular guidebooks, making personal appearances, and working with his Seattle staff planning tours. But the pandemic changed his 2020 master plan.

Rick Steves Applies Travel Skills to Quarantine Life

His company is also experiencing a radical shift. He states, “We went from a company that was pretty committed to not telecommuting to a company that’s entirely telecommuting now.” He’s even testing out a few recipes, which is saying something for someone who didn’t know how to chop an onion a month ago. He reflected on the forced simplicity of quarantine life by saying, “Yesterday we had two people come over and we sat on the porch and felt the warmth of the sun…there’s a sort of intimacy that you wouldn’t have otherwise. I can picture myself retired and being very, very happy, which is different than I would have fundamentally thought.”

In a sense, Rick is applying the flexibility and creativity skills he’s honed during his travel career to isolating—thinking on his feet and adapting to his circumstances, looking for happy accidents, and ultimately keeping a sense of humor when anything that can go wrong does go wrong. You can apply these skills to your experience in these three ways:

• Make it fast by taking 30 seconds to declare, “I am discovering strengths and talents I didn’t know I had!”
• Make it deep by taking 30 minutes to think back over the last month. Have you had an a-ha moment like Rick Steves, where you have a different idea about something you thought was set in stone?
• Make it real by exchanging the way you’ve always done something for something new.

Coming Out Better Series Recap

If you’re like me, you may be surprised at the number of things that made sense pre-quarantine that are now off the table. But that’s not a failure of goal-setting, vision or diligence—it’s simply facing the twists and turns of Life in real-time. Having the tools to manage Life’s surprises like a boss is why you want to do personal development work. That’s why we’ve talked about qualities you’d like to strengthen or change in the April series, Coming Out Better—not to put more pressure on you when you’re already stressed, but so you anchor the valuable lessons you’ve learned.

The next time your world is upended, you’ll be able to navigate the upset more easily by reaching into your soft skills toolkit. Instead of getting irritable or lashing out, you can ask yourself questions like, “What does this situation need? More compassion or insight? Should I brainstorm a creative solution? Or, do I simply need to stay in peace and take better care of myself while the details unfold?” Here’s a recap of the four ideas:

1. In “Coming Out with More Compassion” we learned to look past poor behavior and consider the fear hiding behind outbursts. Instead of fighting fire with fire, manage upset with empathy.
2. In “Coming Out with an Accountability Self-Checker,” we learned how to turn down the voices of ego and pride. Check yourself by listening to your instincts—it’s the fastest way to determine what’s right for you so you can instantly course correct.
3. In “Coming Out with a Custom Self-Care Routine,” we learned the importance of knowing how to support your mental, emotional, and physical body. Be as generous to yourself as you are to others, especially during emergencies.
4. In “Coming Out More Adaptable and Creative,” we learned how unexpected events can force you to challenge your thinking about routines and habits, even if they’ve worked well in the past.

The pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that it gets to be the boss of you. Act like the creative, wise CEO of your life—a Soul Boss—and come out caring more for others, more connected to your instincts, more kind to yourself, and more flexible and creative. Don’t just outlast the crisis. Come out better.