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Ricardo (4s): Hello, everyone. Welcome to the five minutes podcast today. I like to talk about Stop Worrying About Things You Cannot Control. And let me tell you why I want to talk to you about that. We all know that around, I would say three months ago, the word just, I would say collapsed with the pandemic COVID-19 and during this time, of course, we are trying also to support each other. And in one breakfast that we had with a team working together, one of our colleagues, and for those who are on the PMI community or PMI volunteers, or you know about her it's, Brantlee Underhell from PMI. And she did that quick presentation, you know, very informal About control and abscess of control and talking about what we can do.
Ricardo (52s): With things that we do not control and it was extremely helpful for, and I'm not her. So I'll try to do the best to share my thoughts with you on that. So the first thing we need to understand is that there is a natural feeling. I don't know if it's control. I don't know if it's, I would say religious, but we always feel that we are the center of the universe, ourselves, that everything around us only exist because we exist as a center of everything. So these bring the to, most of us that filling that we have the control, and this was extremely reinforced by our natural evolution with the cognitive revolution.
Ricardo (1m 35s): So if you can take a look on sapiens from Harari, one of my favorite books, and when he started talking about the cognitive revolution, that because humans different from animals, animals, they hunt the eat and they eat all day can, and then they rest and then they start hunting again. We started envisioning a future that does not exist. And with that, that we were able to trap animals. We were able to create situations that we can preserve and this cognitive, put the human being in the front of all, all the animals. But these at the same time is what is, I would say mess up with us when we face challenges.
Ricardo (2m 21s): Because we started using this cognitive capability on the bad side. So let me explain to you it's that you turned on your TV and then you start watching the news and then suddenly you start feeling I'm losing the job and then I'm losing my family. Oh, I will get seek, I will die. Everything will collapse and suddenly that sort of thought becomes dominant in your life and you lose your control and you start to having depression having an inability to handle things. So let me try to give you, or some quick advice on that first thing. Things you have Control So on the things that I would say.
Ricardo (3m 5s): I don't want to say each 1% or 5%. I'm not an expert on that, but I can assume that it's a small amount of things that cover your life. On that, You can plan. You can drive, you can menage, on that piece. You have the control of the destiny and the reasoning. You want to put. but on everything else that you don't have. Because you have control If you go out of your house or if you take a plane or if you take a flight, but you don't have control on how the other 200 million inhabitants in your country will behave because you don't. you don't have So. You don't know if the virus will grow or will reduce.
Ricardo (3m 48s): If your company will do well, bad, and how bad and how good it will be. So every time you don't have control, you basically need to do four things. First one, it's very tough. You need to accept to accept that you don't have control. You don't have control over the mind of your boss. You don't have control over the mind of your client. You don't, maybe you think you have, but you don't, you don't have control over the mind of your child or your wife or your partner. The second aspect, when you don't have control is react. So you need to be ready to react.
Ricardo (4m 29s): When things come up, you need to be stuck at home, You need to react. What do I need to stay safe at home? So this is our ability to react. And Third to adapt. So you need to adapt and this is why, for example, how many times people talking about the word is becoming more agile. I need to say it's not about an agile method, but it's an adaptive method that agile covers quite well. So instead of having control of everything, you control what you can and what you cannot you just adapt and learn, react, and accept. These are the four. So you learn because over time you become so used to that unknown that you increase your ability to control.
Ricardo (5m 17s): So for us, the pandemic of, COVID-19 was a surprise because in the past a hundred hears, we haven't seen that, but maybe look for God's sake It doesn't happen. But if this happens again in two years, from now, it will be different, our reaction, because we learned, we learned a lot of things that will help us to cope with the challenges. And this is exactly what we're talking here. And of course, you may say Ricardo, but I don't get why you were talking about that because you or an engineer, you or not a psychologist. But let me tell you, there is a true and direct link between your mental health, your psychological health, and the results you get.
Ricardo (6m 3s): It's pretty much impossible for you to get great results in your project whatever in the project is. If it's a new car, a new space shuttle if your mental health is not well. So this is why I want to give you three advices. And this is a personal advice. It's not an expert advice, but personal first one is mindfulness. I started doing that about six years ago, and it's very helpful at the beginning. I thought this was, I would say a waste of time to stay silent in this way. But today I can tell you it's one of the best things for me. Most of the time when I start getting trapped too, this desire to control what I can not control.
Ricardo (6m 44s): The second thing is about yoga nature. And this, for example, for me, I'm trying to do a lot of that. I'm trying to do things in nature. I know we know if you leave in a place that nature is, is not very evident. So maybe just do some gardening in this contact with, I would say an animal or plants will help you. And this is the way I'm finding very helpful. So I always try to have my window open, you know, to have some fresh air in the third and a very important one is to do whatever you can to avoid the emotional hijack and what his, an emotional hijack its when your brain is Stop processing, Things in a rational way in start processing.
Ricardo (7m 29s): Things in a survival way. And this is a very, I would say I'm explaining in a very naive way, but for him, sometimes you start watching TV and you'll get trapped it to that. You get just depressed and You don't know why. And then suddenly he's because this imaginary future is coming to your mind and trapping you on that. And then you get angry or you get depressed. Remember your mental health is one of the first assets for you as a leader to deliver the results, your company, your shareholders, and society expects from you. So you need to be very mindful of that.
Ricardo (8m 9s): And during this kind of crisis we are facing now it's a paramount for you to think about that. So think about the things you cannot control, handle them in the best you can and stop worrying about that. Okay. Stop. Because it's worthless for you to be concerned about a new pandemic that will come after us in four years from now as a single individual, this is a far bigger problem than all of us. So be mindful of that. Enjoy a week and see you next week with another five minutes podcast.
