Is it Fear or Wisdom?

To say there is a lot going on in our world right now is likely the understatement of the year!

I find myself going from big picture, what is happening across the world with Coronavirus, to the minutia of checking my bank account daily to make sure I have the funds I need to pay my staff and business partners.

Thoughts like:

• Will this be over and will folks be back to work by the end of April? If so, I think I have the resources to weather that storm. The fact is, I have more than enough to make it through April, so should I be generous to others who are really struggling. 

• If this current crisis goes through May, my retained earnings should be enough to carry me through, but maybe I should back off my generosity a bit.

• If my business is not as interrupted as others, what should my response be?

• If my business tanks because of Coronavirus, how should I respond?

• Is this an opportunity to launch into some new areas of work I have always thought about but never really had the time to focus on?

I am sure you are evaluating your work, and, for that matter, your personal life as well.  

• Some of you have fallen in love with working from home and are trying to think of ways to approach your boss to lobby for a more permanent home office deal.

• Some of you can’t wait to get back to the socialization of your team; this working from home is driving you crazy.

• Some of you thought your house was maybe too big for the number of people who now live there, only to find your college kids all came home and now you actually could double your square footage and still be cramped.

• Some of you had been thinking about giving up your gym membership to save money only to realize you would now pay double just to go workout with a coach.

• Some of you have learned to order your groceries online and just drive up to have someone load them in your car.

One thing is for sure, Coronavirus will cause many of us to rethink portions of our lives, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

As we rethink our personal and business lives let’s make sure we are doing it with wisdom and not out of fear.

What is it that you are afraid of? If I do not have any retained earnings in my business and if I am not getting any new work, then I should be afraid that my business might not make it. That is legitimate fear. Those are the facts.

How This works with Leaders

When I am coaching clients and we are trying to discern whether something is wise or not we always look at the facts. 

• Not what I emotionally want the facts to be. 

• Not the longing desires of my heart.

• Not what it would take to please the person I am trying to impress.

• Not irrational propaganda or rumors I might have heard.

No! What are the facts?

When I ask the question “What are you afraid of?” I get back answers like:

• I don’t know

• I am not really sure

• That _________ could happen if the stars align exactly right across every galaxy in the universe.

That is when I know we are dealing with a fear or an anxiety that is not going to help us make a wise decision.

As I am thinking about my own business and how I am going make it to the other side of Coronavirus, I am looking at how long I can pay everyone and what kind of new business I can bring in. I am putting those numbers in a spreadsheet, just like I always have, and I am pulling out my journal and I am reflecting on what those numbers are telling me. 

If my fear is an overarching, overwhelming sense that the world is collapsing, that is not helping me. We need to make decisions not on what I emotionally project might happen, but what the facts are telling me. I have developed a flow chart - if this happens, I will do A. If that happens, I will do B. The decision is already made and is informed by the facts of the situation. 

What I am trying to communicate here is if you are trying to discern between fear and wisdom, the facts of the situation are your friend.

Here is a little checklist you can use to discern if your decision is full of wisdom or full of fear. If you use this list you will most always end up with a decision that is much more wise than it is fearful. I used this model years ago when I wrote my dissertation on wisdom and am so thankful for Dr. Vern Ludden who conceptualized it way back in 2009.

• Start with what you THINK the facts are

• Think CRITICALLY about the facts

• How do these facts AUTHENTICALLY align with your character?

• What have been your past EXPERIENCES with these facts?

• As you REFLECT on these experiences, what are the facts telling you?

• Do you have the COURAGE to put the facts into action?

• Have you pressure tested the facts with a larger COMMUNITY of advisors?

• What did the above DELIBERATIONS tell you about the facts?

• As you COLLABORATE with others do you get a positive impression about the facts?

• Some of you who bring SPIRITUALITY into your fact discernment will call upon God to show you direction

Now you are ready to EVALUATE what you THINK the facts are.

Using an informed process like the one I outlined above can help you decide if you are using wisdom in your decision making, or if you are subjecting yourself to irrational fear or anxiety.

I wish you and your family all the best as you navigate this current crisis.

3-Step Recipe for a Productivity Reset

Question: When is the last time you experienced a productivity reset?

I read recently that in a knowledge-working society the work we do is really about creativity.  Now, when I hear the word creativity my mind immediately goes to the painters and sculptors of the world. And for sure the work they do is creative. 

But before those of us who are scientists, technologists, and managers or leaders abdicate the world of creativity to the artists, we probably should step back for a moment and make sure we are not leaving the best part of us behind.

The Story

I recently had a conversation with one of my graduate students who said she was completely burned out and didn’t know how she was going to get her research project finished on time.  She was definitely in need of a productivity reset.

Here is a part of our conversation: “…by the time I finish my commute to and from work I am logging 60 hours or more a week. In addition, I have a family and my church that are both really important to me. I just don’t have any energy left for creativity to get this research project finished.”

I could just sense the frustration and disappointment in her voice as she was trying to figure out how to be more productive. Then almost without taking a breath, she said, “…You know, perhaps I could be more efficient in the morning. If I got up an hour earlier I could get more done because I am at my most creative in the morning.”  

The Point

As knowledge-workers, we are all going to have to come to the realization that more time, more effort, more energy doesn’t equal creativity or effectiveness.  It just equals more time and more effort. That's it.  If you are playing a game of who-works-hardest then keep going, I guess, but if you want to be creative and innovative, then maybe work as hard as you can while you're working and then stop and do something else.

I think there is a reason that athlete’s work really hard in times of peak performance and then rest their bodies.

There is a reason writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, William Stafford, and Victor Hugo would work for a while in the morning and then go for long walks in the afternoon.  

Both high performing athletes and creative writers alike see the value of both hard work and the regenerative process of the productivity reset.  There is only so much a knowledge-worker can do to be productive before they need to recharge their brain.

According to Margaret Moussa, Maria-Estella Varua, and Matthew Wright’s work on knowledge-workers, what has been left out of the discussion up until now are issues of self-efficacy and well-being.  

The question we need to ask ourselves as leader is:

Can we leaders continue to treat our knowledge-workers the same way we treated productivity-workers of ages gone by?

And…

Can we as knowledge-workers continue to try and cram more stuff into our day and expect quality outputs?

3 Step Rest Process

Here are three things that I try to do when I am in need of a productivity reset.

1. Read. There is nothing like reading to stimulate productivity. If I ever have writer's block, reading is one of the best ways I know to get the juices flowing again. I have found that there is nothing like poetry and fiction to really get my juices flowing again. In fact, I just finished a chapter of Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman.
   

2. Walk. I love to exercise but when I work out I am really focused on pushing my body, so I don’t get many creative thoughts going when my heart rate is above 140. But when I am just out for a walk, and the sun is shining, and I can sense the beauty all around me, my creative energy just seems to flow.
   

3. Phone a Friend. For me, there is nothing like community and conversation to spur creativity. I always feel better when I get off the phone with my coach, my coaching group, or a conversation with Kevin or Joanne. There is just something about talking to others that will spur on my creative process.

As leaders, when we think about ourselves or those who are in our care, perhaps we need to be thinking less about how productive we can be and more about how we are practicing self-care. It is elements like reading, taking a walk, and engaging in a community that are the real ways we gain wisdom. 

Could it be that as knowledge-workers we are really seeking things like wisdom, and as we do we actually become more productive as a by-product?

I had many more things to say about this topic, but I am feeling a bit confused and convoluted right now….

I think I will go for a walk.