Stuck on Good or Bad? It’s an Illusion.

Robert Plant just said, “The worst thing in the world for me would be to find the extraordinary and always live in that particular moment. You keep moving. This is what you do when you’ve got some time and you’ve still got some empty pages in your passport.”

This is a man who disbanded Led Zeppelin and went on to make 12 solo albums. He never stopped asking, “Now what?”

The Trap of Labels

As leaders, we often fall into labeling events as either “good” or “bad.” A deal closes — good! A project falls flat — bad! But does business, or life, really give us such clean categories? Rarely. What actually happens is our emotions fire first, and logic lags behind. If it feels good, we want more. If it feels bad, we want to run.

Regaining Your Power

Here’s the risk: once you label something as good or bad, you subtly hand over your power. You forget that you helped create the situation in the first place, and you always have the ability to shape what happens next.

The truth is, the most effective leaders bounce back quickly. They pause, breathe, and ask the only question that matters: “Now what?”

Moving Beyond Good or Bad

Still, even the best of us get stuck. We want the good moment to last forever or the bad one to vanish instantly. When that happens, add two more tools to your kit:

·       What else? (to see options)

·       How might we? (to open creativity)

These questions act like a headlamp on a trail colored by our emotions — they keep you moving forward, step by step, until the path clears.

The Illusion Exposed

Every leader knows both the rush of success and the gut punch of failure. But neither lasts forever. What lasts is your response. When you ask Now what? What else? How might we? you turn illusions of good and bad into momentum, decisions, and action.

Because in the end, good and bad aren’t destinations — they’re just signposts on the way forward.

APEX Experts support our clients to keep asking and keep acting. Call us to meet, we will bring the head lamp.