Before modern instrumentation, aviators would commonly fall victim to what was known as the death spiral. This was caused by something actually quite simple. If the visibility of the pilot dropped to 0, meaning that the horizon, the ground, or the sky were unseen, then a slight downward turn of the plane could have disastrous consequences. A slight downward turn would cause the plane to pickup speed and the pilot would perform a normal course correction, which would actually exasperate the problem and the plane would turn more severe and at greater speeds. This would lead to a downward spiral and the pilot would lose control.
There is a reason that this term has stayed in our vernacular. We know refer to people’s destructive behaviour with the same concept. That person or that company is in a death spiral is something that we will say when we see an extremely negative behavior occurring. I bring this up because I have noticed this about myself and others. When I lose visibility, or perspective, a slight negative downturn will cause me to slide backwards and some times spin out of control. I am not talking about picking up a cocaine addiction, robbing a few banks and driving off the lip of the grand canyon, but I am talking about sliding backwards in commitments to myself.
A major hurdle for me has been to figure out how to prevent this downward spiral from even starting in the first place. The thing that has helped is a few methods for maintaining perspective. The reason this is important is because if one small thing goes wrong, I do not want to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and find myself taking a giant leap backwards in one week of discouragement. This pattern of building a great plan, gaining some significant momentum just to throw it all away with one setback is something that I just simply had to stop.
The first major method that has helped me the most is a morning and evening review of what I wanted to focus on today. When I start the day, I focus on what is the most important. This way each day is a new day to start again. I can pull out of the spiral quickly, and I can do that each morning as I start again. When the day closes, I now have a mechanism to forgive myself and shutdown after trying my best. This daily habit, morning and evening review has been a way to keep myself heading on the same bearing with more consistency.
The second method is meditation, or I should say mindful meditation focused on my major core 4 life objectives. It seems like such a small thing to spend 15 – 30 minutes everyday just sitting quietly and reminding yourself what you are focused on. I have a vision that I repeat in my mind each morning of the four major things that I am trying to accomplish. There is something really powerful about this, and the biggest thing is that I find that I just am not getting derailed. No matter how difficult the day is, the next morning I wake up and meditate on my objectives and I feel renewed to start again.
The third method is writing. There is something incredibly therapeutic about writing out your struggles. This blog is not the only place that I write things down, but nonetheless, I highly recommend some form of open writing. It creates a mental process that allows you to flush the clutter and gain valuable perspective.
The fourth is physical activity, preferably outdoors. Having time without foreign input to let your mind wander, focus or just be blank for a while is something that allows me to smooth out the bumps. When something discouraging happens, you just need time to process. That is done the best while you are engaged in a physical activity. Best medicine and a great way to avoid the death spiral.
There are probably some others, however, just like the airline pilot we need good instrumentation to avoid entering into a death spiral when visibility drops. We can learn to rely on these mechanisms to keep us stable in times of crisis. Keeping on course, staying true to your commitments despite the headwinds requires maintaining visibility even when all seems to turn gray. Something tells me that progress is not so much the giant leaps forward you make, but rather, the small incremental process made while avoiding giant setbacks.
Guy Reams
