Tag Archive for: meaning

Habituation

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Is it helpful or harmful? How to recognize it in ourselves and our teams.

My daughter gave me this poster, saying that it reminded her of one of the values I instilled in her. Very touching.

This framed picture – gifted to me by my daughter – inspired me every time I sat at my desk – until I stopped noticing it and it became just another part of the woodwork.

This is something called habituation, a fundamental learning mechanism that can be both helpful and potentially harmful, depending on the context. Understanding how it works and recognizing its effects can be valuable for personal growth and team leadership.

Habituation allows us to filter out irrelevant information and focus on what’s required in the moment. This cognitive efficiency is crucial in our information-rich environment, helping us allocate our limited processing resources more effectively. It reduces stress by reducing our response to repeated, non-threatening stimuli.

One drawback though, is that extraordinary things around us get unnoticed over time. The beauty of a sunset or a star-lit night becomes commonplace. Inspiring quotes become wall hangings. The incredible strengths of the people on our team become ordinary. The qualities we once prized in another are now dull, unnoticed, and mundane.

While becoming cognitively efficient, complacency can set in and the beauty and meaning of life can be missed.

Ask yourself, “How can I s-l-o-w d-o-w-n and be present to the magnificence around me that I might be missing in my hurried, demanding life?”

We are clever people, efficient and high-powered, but in our zeal to get things done, we can forget the simple art of living. Let’s resolve to be mindful and attentive today to the splendor around us that has become ordinary.

Today there is a deep desire to connect to our authentic self, our true nature.

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Whether or not we can articulate that desire, this yearning can show up when you say something like, “I have a good job and make a living, but I’m not able to find a sense of meaning in it; I want something that I have a reason for doing.” The pandemic made this inquiry, for many, more explicit and deliberate.

We live in a society obsessed with an economic view, which supports us to work at jobs that don’t mean anything, or that we can’t find a way of making the job meaningful. I think we inevitably end up depressed or exhausted when we focus our energy on something that only responds to material things and is void of meaning.

It’s fine to spend forty hours a week on a job that’s meaningless, as long as you know what your real vocation is and find a way to express it – either in your work or away from your paid work.

Then you won’t confuse your job with the meaning of your life.

Are you re-inventing yourself when necessary?

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It’s natural to get comfortable in our life situation. But if we aren’t conscious and intentional, we can unknowingly become unsuitable to our existing environment. I’ve learned is that it’s good to periodically re-invent yourself in response to different life events. Regularly renewing yourself is a crucial component of personal growth and development. Otherwise, we can get trapped in cycles of complacency. What got you here won’t necessarily get you there.

I find this true in the speaking business. I give a presentation. The audience loves it. So I repeat it to the next audience. And they love it. Even though I customize the material, it’s easy to get into a rut giving essentially the same presentation over and over. Success can actually lead to failure.

It’s been the big changes in my life that have created the most meaningful opportunities to re-invent myself: the death of a close relative, the birth of a grandchild, kids leaving home; downsizing and moving to a new location. And now I am re-examining and rebranding our Authentic Leadership Academy with a team of colleagues.

How are you re-inventing yourself to respond to different life events?

Building a Case For Working Less and Producing More

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Cal Newport’s recent book, Slow Productivity, builds a great case for showing how working less can lead to greater productivity and accomplishment. However, it isn’t about just working less and or discarding your work ethic. It’s about working with greater focus and deliberate action. In short:

  1. Focus on fewer things at once. By reducing the number of current tasks and commitments, you can actually complete more meaningful work over time. This allows you to give full attention to important projects rather than constantly context-switching.
  2. Emphasize quality over quantity. Newport advocates for “obsessing over quality” rather than just getting things done. By slowing down and focusing on craft, you can produce higher quality work with more impact.
  3. Work at a more natural, sustainable pace. Newport critiques the “unsustainable pace of modern work expectations” and suggests varying your work intensity over time rather than constantly pushing yourself. This helps avoid burnout in the long run.
  4. Measure productivity over longer timescales. Instead of trying to be productive every day, Newport recommends looking at accomplishments over months or years. This allows for periods of deep focus as well as necessary downtime.
  5. Reduce “pseudo-productivity” activities. Much of what fills our workdays – constant emails, meetings, and digital distractions – isn’t meaningful or impactful work. Saying no or having clear boundaries allows you to work less and accomplish more.
  6. Create space for deep thinking and creativity. Historical figures like Isaac Newton and Marie Curie made groundbreaking discoveries during periods of reduced activity. Periods of rest can lead to major breakthroughs.
  7. Build a “craftsman” mindset. By caring about the quality and impact of your work, rather than just visible busyness, you can produce more meaningful results with less frantic activity.

Newport’s “slow productivity” philosophy suggests that strategically working less – by focusing on fewer, higher-quality tasks and allowing for a more natural work rhythm – can lead to greater long-term accomplishment, reduced burnout, and greater meaning and fulfillment. The key is to be intentional about where you direct your energy and to prioritize depth over shallow busyness.

How much is enough?

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Not long ago I gave a presentation to a group of entrepreneurs where the membership requirement was to be earning more than a million dollars a year.

I started with a simple question: “How much is enough?”

No one could answer the question. The best I got was, “More than we have now.”

So many have so much that they have forgotten what enough actually feels like.

We live in a culture that defines our worth by more: more money, more stuff, more followers, more likes, more titles, more fame, more visibility, more recognition, more status. The list goes on and on.

What we end up with is more exhaustion, more mental health challenges, more suicides, more overdoses, and a planet of dwindling resources.

Our model of more is simply not sustainable. We need a new approach to navigate this world with a reliable inner compass.

Lily Tomlin had it right when she said, “The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat… I will not join the rat race because I’m not a rat… The only race I’ll take part in is for humans being humane.”

If you feel compelled to step back and get a new perspective, to live and lead from an authentic, centered place with a community that will support you to be who you are, I hope you will join me in my upcoming Authentic Leadership Academy. https://lnkd.in/gMi2euzp

To get a preview of what you can expect from the Academy, sign up for my complimentary Authentic Leadership Mini-Series that starts in early March. https://lnkd.in/g4M9qpWh