I’ve been observing with interest the awareness that is being generated around the world on the impact of mental health on well-being. I was also fascinated to read how Warren Buffett, the world’s greatest investor and purveyor of great life wisdom mentioned how he has drunk Coca Cola every day for most of his adult life and has not been particularly focussed on exercise. Yet, he feels healthy and has managed to live to over 90 years of age. Please note that under no circumstances would I advocate taking health advice, mental or otherwise from anybody who is not trained in the profession. Whether they are a billionaire or not. However, I did find it interesting that to the best of public knowledge Mr Buffett is so healthy and carefree at his age.
Reading through that intellectual cesspool they call X, I was very amused by the range of comments on why with a diet of daily sugar filled drinks and minimal physical exercise, that someone could be so healthy. One school of thought was that as a billionaire he can afford the best medical care. Which is true but might not explain his avoidance of genetically prevalent dread diseases. One user suggested that it was purely down to genetics and the most humorous response had to be from the user who commented that all the aspartame and preservatives in the Coca Cola were preserving him from the inside out. Another suggestion which I tended to find to be quite rational, was that he was reaping the reward of a stress free life, doing what he wanted, how he wanted with whom he wanted.
If stress has such an impact on well-being then it must follow that stress must be avoided at all costs right? I see this stress avoidance often, particularly with younger generations in the workforce. Enforcing of boundaries and recognising the impact of mental health is prioritised. Jobs which previous generations may have pushed through for the sake of economic benefit are shunned as not acceptable. Younger millennial and Gen Z employees are prepared to leave a job and take on the prospect of unemployment rather than be unhappy at work.
Angela Duckworth wrote a phenomenal book called “Grit” which talks about how to develop the inert personal capability to bounce back and be resilient in the face of adversity. In a military academy for example, those graduates who typically pulled out of the gruelling induction process were not the physically or intellectually weak. They were just the people who didn’t have it in them to see a way through to the other side despite the pain. Unfortunately, setting boundaries has now been woven into our every day culture as being the same as quitting. When things get tough, market conditions change, a bad boss is encountered or a terrible life event happens…the current paradigm suggests that the best thing to do is quit…”for your mental health”.
As I mentioned earlier, I am not a trained mental health professional and this by no means constitutes advice. However, on observation I really wish there was another way instead of quitting. I wish there was a way to convince people to try and develop the grit to see a way through. My simple premise for this being that so few people are engaged in really difficult activities that it is one way of really securing one’s future. Buffett spent hours analysing companies using Benjamin Graham’s learnings over a long career. Your medical doctor, actuary and rocket scientist likely had to write harder and tougher exams than people in other professions. David Beckham used to practice his free kicks for hours after the team practice sessions had ended and elite marathon runners in Kenya train at altitude where the air is thinner and it is harder to breathe.
Could it be that the key to do sustaining anything worthwhile is actually to do hard things. Engaging in short term relationships using dating apps is very easy. The technology is designed in such a way that one can make their “choice” and move on with little friction (no puns were harmed in the writing of that sentence). Marriage on the other hand is very hard. Rather staying married when people go through life’s challenges together as a couple is the hard part. Dealing with all the variables life can throw at a family, but somehow keeping it together. Studying as a an adult is hard. Especially if you have a family to manage and a day job. Relocating to another country without any guarantee of success there is hard. When one arrives at a foreign airport with only a job offer and dream and has to figure a country out, figure out how to stay there and make it work. This is very hard. When your child breaks down because they hate it or they don’t have any friends. That is very hard.
What I am saying, therefore, is that I wish there was a way to pursue the difficult things we encounter in life without compromising our health, mental and otherwise. Without the only other option being to quit. A way to be able to do truly difficult things, for the benefit of long term success. Angela Duckworth calls it Grit. I’m not so sure that is all there is to it. However, I am sure that my long term success will be greatly influenced by my ability to see through the hard times. Except, it is not about waiting for the hard times to come and working through them. But actively choosing things because they are hard to do. When you know that the queue in the line for people choosing to take on challenging tasks is very short. Similar logic applies in the working world, where I really enjoy taking on challenging strategies in the market. This is based predominantly on the logic that if it is difficult for me, then it is also difficult for my competitors. My favourite example of this is Coca Cola Bottlers South Africa and ABInbev. They have mastered the operational capability required to present a cold drink or beer within one kilometre of every person living in South Africa (if required). This means entering into some areas that are rife with crime and having the capability to not only sell the product, but to also collect the cash for the product and conduct reverse logistics of returnable bottles. At the same time making sure that the retail outlets selling it are doing it according to very specific merchandising guidelines and marketing standards. Many well resourced consumer goods companies have tried to replicate similar models with limited success. In my own career I have been involved in at least three such ventures with the result always being the same. Better than what we had before, but still light years away from what Coca Cola can do. The easy route, drop huge volumes with distributors and relinquish control of the route to market to them. The hard route, spend decades working in the market developing it yourself until you are the only one who can actually do it.
So what really hard thing are you going to take on today? It is actually worthwhile to do hard things in life if your goal is to be different to everyone else.
300Paychecks 