With 168 hours in the week and an average healthy sleep schedule of 56, you have 112 waking hours left. An optimistic only 8 hours of work every day reduces this to 72 hours, or almost 10 hours per day, to fit in all of the other aspects that define you.
This basic calculation can help explain why so many people feel overwhelmed, just as a cluttered room can be stressful. And I haven't even included the time we can spend thinking, even ruminating, about events that have occurred and can keep us up at night.
Not only do huge pressures like the COVID-19 epidemic and rising living costs add to this pressure, but micro-stress accumulation can considerably reduce our efficacy, the feeling that our effort can make a difference, and sense of accomplishment.
What if you had a 'recipe' for moving forward and reducing the stress involved with attempting to solve the problems that cannot be solved?
What if there was a way forward that addressed complex and complicated challenges?
The Pond Metaphor for Making Progress
Consider a murky pond with sunken logs, hidden currents, and hazardous creatures ready to snap at you, with the problem or challenge you are facing in the middle, out of reach. The old way of approaching the task involved relying on your 'pond' expertise and then jumping in based on your understanding of seemingly similar but distinct ponds. However, given the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the challenges of leadership today, you'd probably drown.
A more effective way to make progress is by conducting safe-to-fail experiments (with varied perspectives from around the pond), learning from them (via collaborative interactions), and amplifying the activities that move you in a direction you want to go and dampening those actions that move you away. That is, you learn your way forward.
The drowning scenario is played out in organisations as leaders dive in rather than being nimble and learning their way forward. In other words, the complexity of modern working life renders the traditional concept of becoming an 'expert in pond diving' obsolete. The complexity of work renders traditional leadership models outmoded.
At first, you may think that this strategy will take more time. However, by avoiding costly mistakes in both time and money and relationships that occur when you dive headfirst into a pond with a problem-solving approach, you make better use of your time.
Want to Find Out More?
Thinking of complex challenges through this pond metaphor provides a ‘recipe’ for navigating through the complexities of our professional and personal lives. It enhances our ability to tackle challenges and fosters adaptability and resilience.
To bring this metaphor to life and experience the transformative 'aha' moments and relief it can offer, schedule a 30-minute exploratory conversation with me. We can tailor it to your unique challenges.
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