When The World Seems OUT OF CONTROL

When The World Seems OUT OF CONTROL

Still raw from our collective experiences from that harrowing Covid-19 pandemic, many of us [Ukraine, Palestine, even the hotly contested West Philippine Sea] to name a few countries] seem to be helplessly watching WHAT may be brewing and leading towards a Third World War, God forbid with the current ISRAEL-IRAN War.  And WHILE NOT of this magnitude, inflation is raging, causing and triggering everything from food prices to gasoline pump prices rapidly going up.  When The World Seems OUT OF CONTROL📗📙📘

Even the stock markets are down.  Nasdaq, Dow Jones, even the Malaysia Bursa are all eating dusts as the stock markets have been plunging and people are worrying that the out-of-control inflation could severely impact their economies, a huge spoiler after everyone's efforts in rebuilding from the depths and abyss of that recent virus outbreak.  And that uncertainty CERTAINLY LOOKS CERTAIN as it seems to last for the foreseeable future, God forbid, Insyaallah.  SO WHAT'S NEXT for us???

BUT hold on dude, at the very least, we got two options on the table.  Obviously, the first option is for us to let all the unpleasantness overwhelm us, whew!@#$%?  With that, we'll spend the day doomscrolling through social media, feeling that lethargy and depressed over the state of the world and how unfair everything could be to us given that most of us have given it our best shot as we grind day-in day-out✅✅✅

BUT hold your breath though.  Let's flip the coin and we got on hand an alternative which we can find to be practical and ease things up as we cope up with the harsh realities surrounding us.  And to deal with and conquer such fears, anxiety and stress, let's dip deeply into our arsenal to pluck out that resilience within us, that process of adapting and overcoming obstacles in the face of adversity.  It involves getting KNOCKED DOWN [surely] BUT we should never miss out that we do possess that INNER POWER to get up again, pick up the pieces and grow from that experience, hard and harrowing it may be at times.  NO sirrrrrs, it's NOT just about the war between Russia and Ukraine, OR between Israel and Hamas.  We need that skill WHEN we get laid off, WHEN we are forced to return to work [against our will], OR WHEN we feel that intense pressure [whether at home OR at work] having to contend WHEN the stars are NOT aligned in our favor😀😀😀

Our takeaway:  The very existence of the term 'CONTROL FREAK' indicates our need for control can go too far BUT psychologists insist that humans naturally want to feel that they're steering their own ship, that deep-seated desire for certainty and control.  So, we shouldn't be surprised if so many measures of our collective mental health are heading in the wrong direction these days.   BUT given that the world we live in looks unlikely to grow less crazy anytime soon, does that mean we're doomed to be miserable until our lives feel more comfortable?  DON'T give up though as researches show that WHILE we may NOT always be in control, at the ver least we can control our reaction to it and that should make a world of difference dude!!!

Conquering Anxiety: Everything Starts With ONE SMALL STEP

Conquering Anxiety:  Everything Starts With ONE SMALL STEP

Oh Oh Oh, not too long ago, we'll just shrug off our shoulders WHEN we hear ANXIETY.  BUT today, WHO can ignore ANXIETY even as the latest statistics I saw was way back 2019 when 301 million [or 4% of the world population] have various forms of anxiety disorder.  ANXIETY per se is NOT the 'end of the world' but the fact that that number increased by 55% since the 1990s, and that it is linked to other health conditions  such as depression, and even substance use disorders, when conquering ANXIETY, Everything Starts With ONE SMALL STEP📗📙📘

If there's a BIG MISS by most of us, it is the fact that we start to confront ANXIETY only WHEN it's right there staring in our face.  BUT WHERE were we before ANXIETY did hit us? And to piggy-back on those researches, WHAT was going on before ANXIETY did hit us?  Did we feel like being trapped in that vicious cycle before it gets to hit us?  Those constant worries, fears and the endless "WHAT IFs" and 'I CAN'T' escape, reminds me of the movie ' The Matrix💥💥💥

Without reinventing things, experts counsel us to quickly identify TRIGGERS & PATTERNS.  As ANXIETY is deeply rooted in thoughts that are triggered by situations, events OR even experiences that set off painful feelings, for us to pinpoint [OR at least attempt to pinpoint] those TRIGGERS, we should have a head start to figure out even smaller solutions to 'DISARM' those TRIGGERS.  Basic interrogatives could be:  WHAT WAS I LOOKING AT?  WHO WAS I TALKING TO?  WHAT WAS THE TOPIC THEN???

Digging deep to uncover the underlying beliefs and assumptions that somehow secretly fuel our ANXIETIES, it may lead us then to objectively challenge NEGATIVITIES, critical OR even irrational thoughts that may contribute to our distress.  Replacing them with healthy and empowering thoughts that counteract those ANXIETY triggers may enable us to regain that elusive control over our thoughts, life and even emotions.  Experts also encourage us to make explicit declarations to counter ANXIETY, like: "RIGHT NOW, I CHOOSE TO CHALLENGE ANY SICK OR NEGATIVE BELIEFS TO EMPOWER ME AND FUEL MY RESILIENCE TO REGAIN MY PEACE OF MIND'💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  Much as there have been countless success stories WHO did overcome ANXIETY disorders, it is NOT that obvious that there is a bigger number of 'horror stories' in fighting off ANXIETY.  To pick the brains of the experts:

• Design a small blueprint and plan to fight ANXIETY
• Set realistic timelines. You can't overcome it so soon
• Prioritize, to determine the SMALL STEPS you'll take

EVERYTHING STARTS WITH ONE SMALL STEP!!!

Often, The HARDEST Times Lead Us To The GREATEST Moments

Often, The HARDEST Times Lead Us To The GREATEST Moments.  Frankly, this is one of the most oft-quoted one-liners BUT allow me to re-quote it because sometimes, this gets lost in translation.  Trials, travails and tribulations are never new to us all BUT the huge miss I have been witnessing over and over again is that, when we get hit with that hard fall, sometimes, we would think that the whole world is crumbling down to our feeble feet,  WHAT happens next is that panic and pressure would surface all over the place BUT we're all missing out the fact that we become stronger coming out of the adversities in life.  True, WHEN faced with a crisis, it can be difficult in that moment to think how far you can go📗📙📘

This is WHERE RESILIENCE starts to surface as that becomes our ability to bounce back from those adversities and grow from the challenges we grappled with.  NOT just psychologists but all studies and researches show that past adversities can help us persevere in the face of a current stress.  And those past struggles help us become more RESILIENT with that increased empathy.  And leading and living with empathy has never been more important in our world than right now.  Because empathy is that ability for us to identify with the challenges that other people face and to see those challenges from their perspective.  You can run into an 'empathy roadblock' WHEN you think you have to fix another person's situation or respond with an answer💧💧💧

RESILIENCE will also help us find the 'GOOD'.  Through the years, WHENEVER the clouds hovering me get gloomier and darker, I would do my darn best to find that silver lining in the midst of those challenges. And a lot of WHAT's going on feels outside of my control during those times BUT I endeavored to keep some perspective so that I DON'T get off-tracked.  Finding the UPSIDE to adversities change the way we cope💚💛💜

YES, one realization I have had through the years is that those adversities in life helped me reframe stress as a challenge.  How we think about stress matters enormously in terms of HOW we process it.  Some people even view stress as a threat [ouch!!!] WHILE others are able to view it as a challenge.  With that challenge response, we end up getting that additional energy, and suddenly our heart's beat gets to be pulsating in an increasing crescendo and before you know it, your adrenaline shoots up💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Without painting a rosy picture, if your world feels out of control right now and your stress levels are shooting up at an all-time high, go back and recall your past struggles, even those small ones, because at the end of the day, it should have 'hardened' you enough to have a much better ability to manage your current struggles, even if it DOESN'T feel that way in the very moment.  RESILIENCE DOESN'T always look pretty, because in some days it could look like that it's just about middling through as best you can.  Thing is, WHATEVER you're doing now is enough.  That said, leverage on the strengths you gained through the past adversities and ask yourself these basic questions:

• WHERE do I have control, influence OR leverage?
• WHAT is a [proven] specific action plan I can take?
• WHAT are my strengths which fixed those 'chinks in my armor'?

Yes dude, OFTEN, THE HARDEST TIMES LEAD US TO THE GREATEST MOMENTs.  Go for it!!!

KISS [Keep It Simple, S__]

Wikipedia says that the KISS Principle is a design principle first noted by the U.S. Navy way back the 1960s.  Over time, the KISS Principle was tweaked a zillion times BUT I'd like to relate it to our life for us to KISS [Keep It Simple, S__].  Firstly, we CAN'T have a simple life if we remain adamant and resistant and worst, unwilling to let go of WHAT we were used to.  IF you were used to be a 'road warrior' [WHICH I used to be, WHEN I was literally 'living my life on a suitcase'] BUT if your pace in life today has significantly slackened, it's NOT sufficient to accept it BUT you got to embrace it, be thankful that you are in that situation WHERE you are now because that helps you to KEEP IT SIMPLE📘📙📗

Oh yes, NOT too long ago, we were given tons of options to subscribe for our Cable TV programs.  I remember even HBO had to toss-out several options, e.g. HBO Max, HBO Signature, etc].  Then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit us hard, suddenly even the institutions of local TV channels suddenly went off the air.  And for about five years, the local entertainment industry grappled to survive with the new [harsh] realities in life.  And it impacted all of us, down to the local TV audiences💥💥💥

Truth is, we all have to subscribe to the age-old adage that the only permanent thing in life is CHANGE.  With that Covid-19 pandemic, it turned upside down the job market because, NOT by choice, employers were constrained to keep their engines running and cranking even in the midst of the pandemic.  Today, even after we're over that hump, the 'new normal' these days is working-from-home💦💦💦

So, WHAT happens if we DON'T KEEP THINGS SIMPLE?  It's anything goes and life will be full of distractions, trust me.  Constant internet, social media, movie streaming, those mobile apps, those games, take a hodge-podge of it and you can have a life that is anything BUT SIMPLE.  A recurring dilemma we face is that often, we tend to overcommit, WHETHER that means overcommitting to deliverables, to schedules, to outputs.  We end up stretching up thinly ourselves till we run kaput💥💥💥

Our takeaway:  Much as we keep preaching that we need to KEEP OUR LIFE SIMPLE, do provision for that buffering to cater for overflows either in your time, finances OR even in your attention span because we need to cater for those times when we overshoot our allocated time, budgeted finances OR even our attention.  YES dude, despite the complexities in life, we've got to KEEP IT SIMPLE😊😊😊

Reading The Room

In every gathering, whether formal OR informal, and even amongst those random kibitzers and hobnobbing, there's that explicit discussion happening [WHEN the words are spoken out lout] and the tacit ones as well.  As long as you part and parcel of that discussion, it just makes sense that we understand the underlying conversations and reactions that people in the room are having.  It's WHEN Reading The Room is a must-do📗📙📘

BUT WHAT IF you are NOT picking up on those subtle cues, HOW can we learn to do so?  WHAT signals should we be looking for?  And most importantly, is there anything we can do to influence the unspoken dynamics?  In concrete terms, this is NOT rocket science.  SO HOW?  The best way is to pay attention to the people in it.  Even noting WHO is next to WHOM, WHO seems relaxed, WHO's seated, WHO's standing and even WHO seems to be fidgety😒😒😒

HOW's the mood in the room?  Does it seem to be relaxed? OR is some tension brewing?  BUT it DOESN'T stop there.  We got to think about the possible reasons for the emotional states especially the 'outlier' ones.  LIKE WHAT's happening in their lives and jobs?  This can be tricky if you DON'T know well enough the people 'in the room' although you can still come up with your hypotheses.  Then if needed, you can check and tactfully validate those hypotheses with the relevant person💦💦💦

LIKE, 'in the meeting, I saw you furrow your brow WHEN our discussion turned to that big project.  HOW do you feel about it?  Hold on, you might wonder WHY we're even talking about this today?  It's because psychologists encourage us to improve our 'READING THE ROOM' skills because this is crucial for social-emotional learning.  And this is something we CAN'T get away with, UNLESS we'd like to live in the confines of the cavernous caves at Balochistan💥💥💥

    

Our takeaway:  Through the years, I realized that WHEN we are in 'no man's land' OR if we're that newbie in the organization, YES we endeavor to READ THE ROOM, trying to be incisive.  BUT swing over to the gatherings WHERE we're with our family and relatives OR close friends, we tend to let loose our guard, being that complacent and NOT mindful that even if you're in the midst of your family OR your close coterie of friends.  Regardless, it behooves that we constantly READ THE ROOM to be mindful, to be sensitive and to be conscious as we co-exist with others because at the end of the day, we want to co-exist in a room WHERE there's harmony and euphony [rather than cacophony OR dissent]😌😌😌

Oooops, DON'T Let Go Unless.....

Oooops, DON'T Let Go Unless.....

True, everyday day-in day-out, we meet people, some strangers, some friends, WHO bring out the best in us and splash a palette of colors in an otherwise black-and-white life.  True, WHO we are and WHAT we become is NEVER a one-man effort.  Everyone in our lives holds a stake in turning us into the person we are.  Their thoughts, their outlook, on life and their passion burns beyond our own lives.  Instead, they leave pieces of themselves in us just as we do in them.  YES, they do leave pieces of themselves in us just as we do in them.  And this poster I grabbed CAN'T be farther from the truth, that is, for us to keep people in our life based on those listed criteria. Oooops, DON'T Let Go Unless.....📗📙📘

I might sound emotional BUT the real truth is that we are all the people we've met and all the people we've lost. We are all the exes that loved us and even all crushes that DIDN'T.  We are all the people WHO are still in our lives and all the people WHO'VE left.  True, it seems quite a tragedy that love DOESN'T reign every time all the time.  BUT it is a much bigger tragedy WHEN we erase people from our lives and pretend like they DIDN'T exist anymore OR at all.  We've always heard that we're supposed to let someone go totally.  Oh Oh Oh, that we'll NEVER heal if they're still around.  Heck, even if we said that WHEN something has run its full course, it's time for us to let it go📌📌📌

BUT let's be reasonable and logical, all rolled into one, here:  Letting go DOESN'T always mean forgetting a person OR erasing them because we just CANNOT.  Maybe it's about preserving a place for them in our hearts.  Will erasing them destroy every piece of them that resides within us?  Will removing them make us forget about everything they've taught us?  Will we stop doing something we love because they were the ones WHO got us into it???

NOT really.  True, it's heartbreaking to either leave OR to be left.  That aching feeling WHEN you learn that your love was unrequited love OR that a shared moment with another person could NOT amount to anything more, leaves you feeling somewhat empty and numb.  One second you're head over heels with them as they sit across the dinner table.  Next thing you know, you're wondering if that was the last moment you shared with them.  If this was all there was to it, really?  YES it could be hard, and harder💧💧💧

Our takeaway:  True, there are countless ideal WHAT IFs in life but that's WHAT idealism is all about.  YES, this is a thought-provoking perspective that we rarely come across.  BTW, admiring people DOESN'T always have to be a romantic relationship.  There are multifarious ways to connect with each other and they are NOT less important.  And YES, much as we are encouraged to embrace change, sometimes, we will stumble across that irresistible force and IF and WHEN that does occur, then as this Snoopy poster goes, LET IT GO.  Ooooops, DON'T LET GO UNLESS.......... you have to💥💥💥

Keep Stacking Days!

Keep Stacking Days!

In the competitive and punishing world of the very competitive NBA in the United States, teams are allowed to have up to 15 regular players and up to 3 players on two-way deals [which means they are limited to play up to a max of 50 games and are excluded from any playoffs games.  With a team that deep enough, in every game, the NBA coaches will rotate up to a max of 9 to 10 players. That leaves around 5 to 8 either on the bench or are tagged as 'DNP' [did not play'].  YET, coaches keep encouraging the benchers to Keep Stacking Days!  And more importantly, they are encouraged to be ready AS IN ready anytime their number is called by the coach to come into the game.  And they're reminded to Keep Stacking Days📗📙📘

In our life, that competitiveness in the NBA comes into play every day as well.  LIKE when we're still in the academe and the class includes high-flyers, HOW can you stand out in the crowd?  That's to KEEP STACKING DAYS.  WHEN your name is called OR if there is a chance to 'show up', do 'show up' so that you'll be recognized.  LIKE when you're an upstart entrepreneur just having your startup business in one corner of a busy mall.  HOW can people recognize a relative unknown in the market?  WHEN a customer does come to you, DON'T leave a single stone unturned to impress upon the customer that they made the right choice WHEN they patronized either your product OR your service.  LIKE when you're a novice in the organization and you're still an 'UNKNOWN quantity' [especially to the bosses].  Etch your mark as much as you can and KEEP STACKING DAYS💥💥💥

LIKE when you finally got married and settled down, WHAT happens after the honeymoon?  Reality sinks, right?  So WHAT do we need to do?  KEEP STACKING DAYS.  Those days WHEN the stars were always aligned in your favor, mark those days in the calendar.  WHEN you become a wheeler-dealer with customers, you get embroiled into no holds barred 'give and take'.  KEEP STACKING DAYS✅✅✅

To KEEP STACKING DAYS also means that during those situations WHERE you gave in OR acquiesced to someone's wishes OR request, create that VIRTUAL GOODWILL ACCOUNT where you simply list down every single time you gave in as an ACT OF GOODWILL.  And that will be like your savings account where your deposits keep piling up [even in drips and drops]😌😌😌

Our takeaway:  Our journey, our interactions will NOT always run on paved, smooth roads and highways.  Sometimes [OR maybe many times] there will be potholes OR even gaping holes that will spoil your journey and that will cause you to eventually lose your momentum.  BUT if during the early stretches of your journey, you were able to reinforce your motivation, the temporary threat to your journey's momentum can be pre-empted by your motivation that has piled up when you KEPT STACKING DAYS.  So WHAT happens if you're on a losing streak?  Same story dude.  Dip into your GOODWILL ACCOUNT and clutch to those flickering hopes that will keep your head at the very least above water level [so that you DON'T get drowned].  KEEP STACKING DAYS dude❗❗❗

Putting All Things Together [That's NO Rocket Science]

Putting All Things Together [That's NO Rocket Science]

Awhile ago, out of curiosity, I did a Google Search of "SECRET OF HAPPINESS" and NOT to my surprise, there were over 7,500,000 search results.  My outright conclusion:  That's a hell lot of people writing about and searching for something that has already been found a zillion times through the centuries.  I also stumbled across the 'Grant and Glueck' Studies from Harvard WHICH tracked 724 research participants from various walks of life over the course of 75 years to figure out WHAT is the reason OR factor that helped them achieve HAPPINESS.  And the result was one word:  RELATIONSHIPS.  But the research qualified that it's NOT RELATIONSHIPS per se BUT it means, within RELATIONSHIPS, Putting All Things Together [That's NO Rocket Science]📗📙📘

In the fewest words, the Harvard researches concluded that "THE CLEAREST MESSAGE THAT WE GET FROM THE 75-YEAR STUDY IS THAT GOOD RELATIONSHIPS KEEP US HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER, PERIOD".  Translating into simpler terms, the QUALITY of life, both emotionally, physically and mentally, is directly proportional to the quality of our relationships.  BUT the researchers do cautioned us.  THAT if there's one thing most of us have learned, it is the fact that just knowing a lot of people ISN'T enough.  In other words, RELATIONSHIPS is NOT all about quantity.  You can be the friendliest guy in the neighborhood BUT WHAT GIVES if those are hollowed RELATIONSHIPS❎❎❎

In short, we are counselled that true fulfillment in RELATIONSHIPS is about that genuine 'CONNECTION' and one of the most efficient ways to form that connection is by practicing WHAT the psychologists have coined as 'POSITIVE ALACRITY', that skill we define as creating those micro-micro experiences that can contribute and eventually trigger an emotional uplifting in others✅✅✅

Playing devil's advocate, I was talking to myself and asking:  DID WE REALLY NEED THAT 75-YEAR STUDY?  Probably NOT at all because supposedly, that's a given, a no-brainer we all knew all along.  So, the big puzzler here is WHY do we still [often] struggle to treat many of the most important relationships in our lives with the reverence and priority WHICH all along we know they deserve?  Let's rattle off real-life scenarios.  LIKE WHEN we're under stress, we have that tendency to be ruder to your spouse/partner as compared to a stranger📌📌📌

Our takeaway:  There are many more eye-openers in our life. LIKE when building up a startup business, you're willing to grind in 60-hour weeks and YET you can hardly spare an hour with your family?  OR once in that business, you may fail to consistently and proactively invest in deepening professional relationships that might even provide the breakthrough opportunities you need.  We can go on and on BUT the stark conclusion here is that you got to PUT ALL THINGS TOGETHER in a holistic manner [and NOT SILO'd] so you can achieve that lasting and genuine HAPPINESS you deserve😌😌😌

Viewpoints And Perspective Are Top Life Factors!

Viewpoints And Perspective Are Top Life Factors!

Sharing a Quora.com post by Frank Abah:  WHEN Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson unexpectedly dropped by a Virgin Atlantic branch office, he discovered an employee dozing off on a couch.  He snapped a picture next to him WHICH he later posted online with this shocking caption:  THIS EMPLOYEE WORKED SO HARD TO REMAIN THE FIRST COMPANY IN THE CUSTOMERS' SATISFACTION AND NOW HE'S TIRED, WHICH FORCED HIM TO REST A LITTLE.  Indeed. Viewpoints And Perspective Are Top Life Factors!!!

Indeed, a wider picture represents two individuals standing on either side of the number 9 that has been drawn on the floor.  For one person, it appears as the number 6 and for another, it's the number 9.  WHO is right and WHO is wrong?  Obviously , they both are right yet they both are wrong in the eyes of another individual because of the viewing perspective.  This is the simplest example showing perspective meaning

If people simply understand that a life perspective can be changed. molded and explained, the world can be a better place for all.  It can put end to fights, wars, even daily quarrels and much more.  The only requirement is to see things from another person's perspective.  We can make a perfect society with responsible adults if we teach our children about the PERSPECTIVE and its importance.  To learn HOW to see things from another person's perspective, you must learn the fundamentals of PERSPECTIVE.  You need to know WHAT a life PERSPECTIVE is in the first place.  YES dude, in our personal lives, few things are absolutely right OR wrong.  Mainly, we have two different PERSPECTIVES on one thing.  For instance, for one person, something extremely bad is just something normal for another.  And on the surface, that seems to be a non-issue

YES, it is easy to come across a lot of different debates especially online these days.  And NOT to anyone's surprise OR shock, there are a hell lot of polarizing debates around relationships, politics and even the zillion nuances in life, practically covering anything that has two sides to the story OR binary thinking.  Then, social media gets into the picture and suddenly, we have an entirely different ballgame!@#$%?

Our takeaway:  YESsirrrrrrs, when social media gets into the picture, fasten your seatbelt because even that old school of thought that there are two sides of a coin, that will be thrown out of the window.  WHY?  If there are ten folks giving their UNSOLICITED opinions, expect to hear ten versions. WOW, WOW, WOW, YES dude, VIEWPOINTS AND PERSPECTIVES ARE TOP LIFE FACTORS, indeed!!!

Outliers Are Outliers, Period.

Outliers Are Outliers, Period.

For alignment, let us quote definitions of OUTLIERS.  It is a data point that lies abnormally far away from other values in a dataset.  Let's take OUTLIERS in income.  Someone like Elon Musk WHO achieved a historic first by having his net worth breach $400 billion today, is a concrete example of an OUTLIER.  BUT we WON'T spend time on that.  Instead, we'd like to dissect how do we handle OUTLIERs in life.  YES, Outliers Are Outliers, Period.  Problem is, many times in our life, OUTLIERS do exist in incognito mode.  Even we ourselves, we often miss out to recognize that a particular situation is an OUTLIER📗📙📘

Let's swing back to our own selves.  WHAT IF in one of the stretches in our life, we seemed more mediocre in our performance, WHETHER that could be in our academics WHEN we were still in school OR WHEN we got employed.  And one day, your own boss calls you for a confidential discussion, highlighting a miscue you caused OR a quality defect you own at work.  Come next month, you get flagged down again for a different issue.  One day, you hit the nail on its head and voila, you were commended by your client, whoa!!!

Problem is, you thought the most recent client commendation you received reaffirmed that you are a TOP PERFORMER [really?] WHEN in truth and IN FACT, your most recent work performance was more of an OUTLIER.  That's the issue there.  Just because we had that FLASH IN THE PAN performance, all so suddenly we got 'drowned' with the commendations and we started to [WRONGLY] think that we were indeed a TOP PERFORMER?  Dude, that's the time to separate the shaft from the wheat💥💥💥

SO HOW?  it's plainly straightforward.  Anything that's consistent OR fairly regular, then that's NOT an OUTLIER.  BUT if you do receive client commendations  interspersed with a streak of foul-ups at work, pick up the gauntlet, take on that challenge to turn around that OUTLIER of a good performance and make it consistent enough.  Otherwise, an OUTLIER will remain an OUTLIER.  How about your relationships with your partner/spouse, your family, your work colleagues, HOW is it going???

Our takeaway:  IF it means being compared to your peers and all performance data support that you are the TOP PERFORMER while the rest of the pack are mediocre, then you yourself is the recognized OUTLIER from a positive perspective.  BUT if in your relationships, more often you are at fault and once in a while, you become a FLASH IN THE PAN, then you're a classic example of an unwelcome OUTLIER.  Yes dude, OUTLIERS are OUTLIERS, period.  Would you be one???