Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Too often we look at the problems we face as organizational problems.  We've talked about revolution vs evolution and how there is a time for both and you have to discern each.  With the analogy of the deck chairs on the Titanic, sometimes we're in the same conundrum of being busy for sake of being busy.  Or, in other words, "doing something pointless that is likely to be overtaken by larger events" according to disaster professional Juliette Kayyem.  In our own lives, do we double down on the mundane in the face of the storm?  Or, hopefully, do we take a minute to look at the overall situation and context before applying our resources (time, energy, effort, etc) as it applies to our schedule, to-do list, or more strategic plans?  

Novel experiences can help us figure out if
we're steering or deck-chairing.

Sometimes, it's important to take stock of what's going on and what you're going to do about it.  In the first responder world, we call this situational awareness and I've taken to adding the "Gain-tain SA" tagline to many pieces of training where we focus on gaining and maintaining awareness around us in a dynamic environment.  There was a great 90's movie called The Ghost and the Darkness about building a railroad across Africa starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.  In the movie, the main problem was a couple of lions who kept eating the workers.  After an attempt to stop this goes sideways, Michael Douglas' character tells Val Kilmer, "You've been hit.  Now you just need to decide what to do about it?"  That's paraphrased but gives you a sense of how simple it truly can be.  In your own life, have you been hit?  Are you swamped by the circumstances around you and need to come up for air?  

...and sometimes you just have to  take off like
pirates, leaving mom behind.  

Hopefully, your life isn't compared to the Titanic but all of us likely have ups and downs that we must deal with in life.  Years ago, a friend and colleague, when asked to pick a song to describe our organization at the time chose The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.  It made me smile at the time, but in hindsight, should we really have been working at a place where we viewed the "ship" as sinking?  Ultimately, with your life, it's important to really take stock periodically and figure out where your ship is going, both in terms of direction/destination as well as seaworthiness.  I know for me, I've had seasons where my seaworthiness has been worn down and I'm not at my best for anyone around me.  I also know I've had seasons where I've been sailing in the wrong direction entirely.  

Keeping hands and feet
inside the boat isn't always 
necessary if you're actively
moving the ship forward.

It's been said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.  We can proactively get in front of these introspective looks at what we're doing and why we're doing it by taking advantage of temporal landmarks.  If you picture our calendar as a horizon in front of you, the mountain peaks may be those temporal landmarks - birthday, New Year, school restarting, etc.  Places that offer us a natural break in our routine to evaluate our choices for how we spend our time...these opportunities are gifts if we embrace them.  When we view these moments in time as opportunities to check our course, speed, direction, and "condition of the boat" we'll likely realize that some of our activities were simply rearranging the deck chairs.  

Work to get into the habit of utilizing these times to really evaluate our context and situation when we come up for air to evaluate our next steps.  If you notice that you've got things taking up your valuable resources - time, energy, focus, finances, and so forth that aren't moving you closer to where you want to be - prune them off.  You can double down on the meaningful items and re-invest those scarce resources into the right activities for you.  For example, if you've found yourself up to your eyeballs because you've just said "yes" to everything for a while, now is the time to gracefully extricate yourself from some of those things.  

If you're being drug along in a direction that isn't for you, switch ships.  For example, we've been on the fence about travel sports.  Our kids aren't going to play any major league ball - their genetics and our family focus are not aligning in that direction.  That said, we still want our kids able to "play a game of pickup ball" and maintain physically healthy lives.  To this end, chasing around travel sports, for us, became "deck chairs" and our speed has been more appropriately applied to the local YMCA sports camps and city rec leagues.  

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• List out a few of the activities that you feel are "deck chairs" in your life - whether this is home, family, work, or whatever else.  
• 1 - ___________________ 
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• For each "deck chair" you've been rearranging write down a path forward strategy - leave it behind, limit it, or double down in a more intentional/meaningful manner.
• Schedule a more strategic level family meeting in conjunction with a temporal landmark (your anniversary, perhaps) to get away for the weekend and plan for the season ahead.  
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action)

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- Deck Chairs Commentary - https://grammarist.com/usage/rearranging-deck-chairs-on-titanic/

- Deck Chairs Dictionary - https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/rearrange-the-deck-chairs-on-the-titanic