Seven Years On, Reflections on Your Oxygen Mask First: How to Live an Amazing Life

October 7, 2024
|In Article
|By Jess Webb

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow! What a ride!”

                          • Hunter S. Thompson

I can’t believe it’s been seven years since we published Your Oxygen Mask First about the 17 habits to help high achievers survive and thrive in leadership and life.

I wrote the book because leadership is a completely crazy way to spend your life – and it’s ridiculously amazing.

But, as exhilarating and rewarding it is, it’s also the supreme test of your personal limits.

If you buy into the myth of martyrdom, you will be pummelled by your success.

So, I made it my mission to find out how to achieve huge success without being clobbered by it. The result is Your Oxygen Mask First.

Simply put, you won’t be of any use to anyone, unless you help yourself first. So, the antidote is resilience. Oxygen. Lots of it. All the time.

If you ignore your wellbeing, the smartest business strategy on the planet can’t save you.

Stories and Epiphanies

Since publishing the book, I’ve shared it with others, spoken about it more than 100 times – even shared the stage with Patrick Lencioni at a large events with the Growth Faculty in Australia – and developed a leadership development program for executives and senior leaders based on the principles in the book.

Through it all, people have generously shared all kinds of stories and epiphanies, related to different principles in the book.

Most commonly, they said that:

    • That really valued getting permission to take care of their own resilience, instead of looking after themselves last
    • With their batteries drained, they often made situations worse when they didn’t.

Over the next seven weeks, I’ll take a deep dive on some of the core principles of the book and how they’ve been impacted people, and share links to resources that might help.

Here are two of the stories bravely shared by people who got into very challenging states and what helped them to get back to being themselves:

The Challenge

    • What is the #1 thing you can do for yourself this quarter to be your best, most capable self?

Your Oxygen Mask First Resources

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