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Transcript

Greg - Which Glasses Are You Wearing? Choosing Light When It Would Be Easier to Complain · Project You 2.2

0:19
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Project U Two Po, the podcast where life and leadership meet endurance.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm Greg Helmer, joined by my wife and partner in life and work, Carrie.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Each week, we dive deep into the mindset, the neuroscience, and the real grit it takes to stop drifting and start living with the clarity, confidence, and endurance.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: This is about real life, real struggles, and real growth.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: So lace up, it's time to live with endurance.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: This week, Carrie shared one of the most meaningful stories she's ever told.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: The story of her grandma Charlotte and those rose-colored glasses.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: And Carrie, you captured something so important.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: Not naive optimism, not pretending that life is easy, but choosing how to see the world even when it would be easier to complain, criticize, or become hardened.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: That story stuck with me because it reminded me of something I've seen over and over again in leadership, in families, and in life.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: The glasses we wear don't just change how we see the world.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: They actually change how the world responds to us.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: A few years ago, during a particularly intense season of collective bargaining, we had a community member speak during public comment at a board meeting.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Ironically, this person was a former board member.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: They stood up, pointing their finger, angry, yelling, and essentially demanding that we give the teachers whatever they want.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Now let me be clear.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: We have incredible teachers.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: We still do.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: We value them deeply.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: That was never the issue.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: Outside the building that night, there were picketers, solidarity shirts, flags, posters, emotions were running high.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: Yet this individual was posturing, trying to demonstrate support, but the tone, it was aggressive, dismissive, and frankly, disconnected from reality.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: What they didn't understand or didn't want to understand was that collective bargaining isn't a moral slogan.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: It's a complex process.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: State aid, budget projections, revenue analysis, market competitive compensation, enrollment trends, geographic demographics, long-term sustainability.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: You don't just give whatever someone wants and call it leadership.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: this person wasn't wearing rose-colored glasses, they were wearing dark ones.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Everything was filtered through anger, accusation, and oversimplification.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: And I remember standing there thinking, this isn't about solutions, this is about emotion without understanding.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: And from a neuroscience standpoint, this is important.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: When emotions spike the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for logic, reasoning, and perspective, it goes offline.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Whatever takes over is a limbic system.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: Fight, flight, emotion, reactivity.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Dark glasses don't just distort reality, they shut down productive conversation.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: And leadership requires the discipline to not put those glasses on in return.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: Because here's what I've learned negativity is contagious, but so is calm.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: So is perspective.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: So is light.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to a very different story, and one that makes me incredibly proud.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: My dad is battling Parkinson's disease.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: He's a Vietnam veteran, a warrior in every sense of the word, a bit of a firecracker at times.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: He could choose self-pity with all of the tremors.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: He could dwell on those tremors, the muscle atrophy, the frustration of not being able to do everything he once could.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: And some days, I'm sure that temptation is there.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: But that's not how my dad is living.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: You see, instead, my dad, he's fighting, not angrily, not bitterly, but with endurance and intention.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: He does aqua exercise.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: He walks just about every day.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: And when the bet the weather's bad, he walks laps inside a local mall.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: He does massage therapy.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: He actually does chair exercises that he finds on YouTube.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes my mom joins him.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: He keeps moving, he keeps showing up.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: He's facing a brutally hard reality and choosing a different mindset.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: That's not denial.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: You see, that's my dad practicing discipline.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: From a psychological standpoint, what my dad is doing is called cognitive reframing.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: He's not ignoring the challenge.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: He's refusing to let it define his identity.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: And from an endurance standpoint, that is everything.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Endurance isn't about pretending the race isn't hard, and that race can be anything in life, right?
6:18
SPEAKER_00: It's about choosing how you respond when it is.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: That's what Grandma Charlotte did when one light bulb and a pack of saltines.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: That's what my dad is doing with Parkinson's.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: That's what leadership asks of us when emotions are high and reality is complicated.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: The brain has a natural negativity bias and scans for threats, problems, and what's missing.
6:51
SPEAKER_00: Left unchecked, it trains us to complain faster than we solve, to criticize faster than we understand.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: But the brain is also plastic.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: It can be trained.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: Every time you choose gratitude instead of grievance, perspective instead of outrage, discipline instead of impulse, you are literally rewiring your neural pathways.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: You are choosing which glasses to wear.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: And make no mistake, this is a choice, not a personality trait, not something that you are born with.
7:35
SPEAKER_00: It is a daily decision.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: So before we close, here's your challenge for the week.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: When something frustrates you, a conversation, a news story, a family moment, maybe a work issue, pause and ask yourself one simple question.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: What color glasses am I wearing right now?
8:01
SPEAKER_00: If they are dark, don't judge yourself.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Just notice, then ask, what would it look like to switch them?
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Not to ignore the problem, not to pretend it doesn't matter, but to look for the light, the lesson or the next right step.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: And once this week, I want you to be intentional.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Choose rose colored glasses, not because life is easy, but because you refuse to let bitterness become your identity.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, I promise you that choice, it will change your energy, your relationships, your leadership, your endurance.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: This has been Project U 2.2, where we don't quit, we don't coast, and we don't surrender.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: If today's episode resonated with you, share it with someone who could use a reminder that perspective is power.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: And every Wednesday at 622 AM, Carrie brings the heart of this work connection, compassion, and courage.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay strong, stay real, and keep living with endurance.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: See you at six twenty-two.