Ep 741 | Chaos Is a Ladder

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. I want to talk about a quote today that comes from a pretty unlikely place, but I think it's one that actually describes business and life remarkably well. Now, I heard this quote just the other day as I was rewatching one of the greatest shows of all time, Game of Thrones. Now, I was anti-Game of Thrones for a while. Many of you may be into it. Many of you probably say, "Hey, I always heard about it, but I never watched it." I was in that latter category. I'd never watched it. But then, I got into it and I'm like, "Wow! This is This is a pretty amazing show. And within one of those episodes, there's a quote. And the quote is, "Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder." Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. It was shared by a character known as Petyr Baelish, better known for those that have watched the show as Littlefinger. Now, side note, Littlefinger is a bit of a villain. Um, might be— gosh, that might even be an understatement, but he's a villain. But before you tune out this quote, um, stick with me here because I think this line explains a lot about why some people rise during times of uncertainty, whereas others freeze and don't have that same degree of progress. So in the, in the show, Littlefinger, Petyr Baelish, is explaining how he views disorder. And while everyone else sees chaos, and on Game of Thrones there is nothing but chaos, while everyone else is seeing that chaos and they see it, see it as something maybe to fear or a pit that you fall into, he sees it as something else entirely. He sees that chaos as a ladder. When systems are stable, The power structures are fixed, not just in Game of Thrones, but in real life. The roles are, are defined when systems are stable. People at the top tend to stay at the top when everything is relatively stable. But when chaos hits, be it economic chaos, political chaos, social chaos, those structures tend to weaken. The rules, which were at one point clear-cut, that They start to blur. People begin to panic. Decision-making slows. And that's when movement becomes possible. That's, that's the ladder. Now again, Littlefinger is not a hero. He's, he's manipulative. Uh, he is self-interested, self-interested. He is pretty destructive. So this is not advice on how to behave. It's an observation about how opportunity actually works in the real world. Chaos creates openings that just do not exist during order. Speaking firsthand, when I go back to the start of my real estate sales career, I may have not started in real estate sales had it not been for 2006, '07, '08, which was, for many of you, you know, a pretty chaotic time in the real estate industry. A pretty chaotic time in our economy as a whole. During that time, things were not calm. They were chaotic. When everything is calm, progress is incremental and change is pretty slow. And that's a lot of times that has to do with just hierarchies being protected. But when the chaos shows up, the weak systems are exposed and, and the stronger operators stand out. And for me, if I go back to that point in time, I wasn't particularly bright in terms of, you know, choosing that moment to go seize opportunity. But when I reflect on it, had it not been for that chaos, had it not been for exposure of weak systems and inefficient leaders and performers in the industry being maybe being revealed, I don't know if I'd be here today. Now, to be clear, chaos doesn't automatically elevate people. It just reveals— it reveals them and it reveals opportunity for others. Think about the moments when you've seen real movement happen in, in your business. Maybe interest rates shift or regulations change. Maybe there's turnover within the industry. Maybe economic certainty— uncertainty opened up some doors. Market downturns. Just disruption. Most people respond the same way. They say things, at least to themselves, like, "Hey, I'm gonna wait until things stabilize." And that's, I think that's a pretty understandable position, but it's also why they stay where they are. Meanwhile, there is a smaller group of individuals that does something different. They make decisions when others hesitate. They recruit talent that suddenly becomes available. They acquire assets when, when prices decline or compress. They reposition themselves while competitors are somewhat frozen. Now, they don't create the chaos, they're just moving inside it. And I think this is why you'll oftentimes see companies and investors and leaders They'll trace their biggest leaps back to periods that felt incredibly uncomfortable at the time. Again, as I tell my story, that's exactly what I'm saying. The ladder only appears when that ground is shaking. Here's the part I think so many people miss. Chaos feels threatening because it removes certainty, and certainty is what allows us to be comfortable. It allows us to coast. Chaos forces questions like, is this model still working? Or are we actually as good as we thought? Do we need to change right now? And for entrepreneurs and, and operators and leaders, this is where separation happens, because some are going to cling to what worked and put their head in the sand, and others are going to adapt to what's coming. It's the same chaos, but it's just very different outcomes. Now, this isn't just about business. I think it shows up in life as well. Growth happens in life in career transitions and call it what it is, health wake-up calls, relationship changes, maybe losing a job, maybe becoming a parent, maybe being forced to start over. Most of us don't volunteer for these sorts of moments. But then later you hear people say, well, that was the moment that everything changed. Chaos strips away that comfort and it exposes habits and resilience and character. And in calm seas— calm seasons, calm times, almost everyone looks capable. In chaotic sessions, chaotic times, the difference becomes pretty obvious. Now I want to be really clear. This quote is descriptive. I don't think it's aspirational. You don't need to go create chaos. I don't think you necessarily need to go exploit it. You know, you certainly don't need to become Littlefinger, but you do get to choose how you respond when chaos inevitably shows up in your world, because you can treat it like a pit, or you can recognize there's opportunity here. You can recognize that it's actually a ladder. So again, I can't, I can't say it enough. I am talking pretty much from a business perspective, but this chaos does show up in the personal world as well. And if you look at that, that chaos, and say, hey, you know, whereas most would freeze or panic, I'm going to use this as opportunity. If you need some inspiration on this, go, go look on YouTube for Jocko Willink's video entitled Good, where every bit of chaos that's thrown his way, he says you should just say good because it presents all these new opportunities. That's exactly what I'm talking about here. Chaos is uncomfortable, it's disruptive, it's uncertain, but it's also really, really honest, and it reveals who's built real systems and real skills and again built some real resilience and who was just riding that momentum. The ladder that I'm describing is not going to appear when things are easy. It appears when things are unstable. Now, it's on you whether you climb that ladder or you fall and just let the chaos, you know, consume you. The more you are prepared for these opportunities though, the easier it is for you to seize it when it arrives. So, today's about awareness. I just want you thinking. You know, life is a series of ups and downs. No one lives an absolutely perfect life where everything is going in the right direction. There are absolutely going to be times for you over the next 12 months where there's going to be moments, periods of chaos. What are you going to do in that moment? That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day, brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.