Being “Grounded” and practicing “Anchor Management” are not just one-time activities that will instantly bring you to a place of maximum Groundedness, where you can declare victory, and be done. Being “Grounded” is a life-long pursuit, requiring constant attention. You will dedicate yourself daily to accentuating your positive anchors and minimize your negative anchors. On any given day, you may experience great success—an amazing high, when you thoughtfully respond to a particularly vexing or urgent crisis with the perfect mixture of calm focus and regard for others. However, on the very same day, you could also fall off the “Grounded” chart, altogether, with a triple slam: getting hit with a lack of courage, sluggish initiative, and dwindling perseverance.
We are imperfect beings. We only have our intelligence, our experience, and our ability to assimilate information to “equip” ourselves to accurately and thoughtfully respond to a situation. I genuinely try to put these principles in play in my life on a day-by-day basis.
And yet, every day, I identify various thoughts and actions that are definitely not reflective of my overall “Grounded” state. I don’t waste any time beating myself up about it. I go back to the five steps I shared earlier, beginning with recognizing my lack of “Groundedness,” and I take proactive steps to bring myself back into alignment.