Hurrying much?

/ AHI Leadership LLC/

In Boston, a lot of drivers are rushing their cars through lights that are far beyond (even for Boston) changing red. And it’s not new to see someone speeding to a stoplight and then waiting impatiently (a.k.a. “hurry up and wait”). Their behavior potentially dangerous, is stressful to them, and upsets (understatement) other drivers.

 

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” — George Carlin

 

Business leaders aggressively react to the relentless emergence of new technologies (you’ve heard of artificial intelligence) with fast-paced change in a race to be competitive. It’s one of the main sources of stress for IT leaders and organizations.

 

 “Some one has said that we are moving so fast that when plans are being made to perform some great feat, these plans are broken into by a youth who enters and says, ‘I have done it.’” — Elbert Hubbard

 

Fast pace is nothing new. In the late 1800’s American physicians and psychologists creatively diagnosed and treated people who were “living too fast” and suffering from “depleted nervous energy” resulting from exposure to modern things, particularly “steam power, the periodical press, the telegraph, the sciences”. They called it “neurasthenia” and “Americanitis”. *

"They say I'm old-fashioned,
and live in the past,
but sometimes I think progress
progresses too fast!"
— Dr. Seuss

The fast pace is real. Things must get done. Deadlines must be met. Information flows faster. Circumstances change. What makes a difference is the energy of its urgency, both as created and as received.

Negative urgency, as in the above examples, has characteristic thoughts and feelings such as worry, impatience, FOMO, entitlement, judgment ("maniac", "idiot"), winning or losing, helplessness, burnout, and even road rage.

The thoughts and feelings characterizing positive urgency need some different examples. Consider the focused, hyper-aware driver skillfully maneuvering in traffic to get to the train station where their aging parent is waiting to be picked up. Or the calm confidence and competence of an EMT treating a person having a heart attack while compassionately responding to the fears of their life partner. Or the vulnerability, confidence, and curiosity of an IT leader engaging their team in how to meet a challenging deadline. Or the compassion and empathy of a customer service rep on the phone helping a grandparent navigate their new and confusing meeting tech in time to zoom to a grandchild’s birthday party.

Creating a sense of urgency is a leadership competency. As a leader, practice like having awareness and understanding the context, engaging with and having empathy for the people involved and affected, providing support and positive inspiration, and taking the relationship between urgency and importance into account, create positive urgency. The opposites of these practices, i.e. ignoring the context, not caring about the people involved, etc., create negative urgency.

On the other hand, in responding to urgency, everyone has choices. Here are some positive ones:

  • If the urgency is delivered to you negatively, you don’t have to be hooked into the negative energy. Be mindful of your reaction. Breathe. Get present. Do your calming practice, then do the steps below.

  • Use empathy to better understand the person/people/circumstances setting the urgency. What are their fears and motives?

  • Be curious and get clear on any expectations. Validate all implications and assumptions. Why the rush?

  • Re-balance priorities. Find out how this activity fits in with others. Escalate priority conflicts not in your control. How does it fit in?

  • Set and manage your boundaries. Be clear on what personal and other work areas cannot be impacted.

  • Try reframing an urgent challenging race you must win into an opportunity you choose to take on, one that gives you a different or related benefit.

So that you are better prepared to encounter something urgent or anything negative, practice mental fitness, all the time. Take your health, wellness, goals, values into consideration in any choices you make.

While there may be others involved, creating, performing, competing, contributing, resisting, or managing the pace of the race, what makes a difference is how *you* show up. How you respond. How much you engage. How you face any unmet objectives, setbacks, failures, suffering, changes, wins, successes, and achievements.
 
It even makes a difference whether you experience it as a race to be won, or as an opportunity to find out how far you’ve come since you started racing.
 
And are you taking time to enjoy life?

 
 

Self-care, self-awareness, self-compassion, calmness, presence in the moment, structured breathing, empathy for others, gratitude, curiosity, and finding the gift and opportunity in any situation, are all leadership mental fitness practices I coach, especially for high-tech leaders. If you are feeling inspired to build, reestablish, or further develop these and other leadership practices and get happy, again, check out my Energy and Mindset Reboot Program. Click here to find out what it can do for you in a free 30-minute Discovery Session.

“Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy
Ba da da da da da da, feelin’ groovy” 

- Simon& Garfunkel **

References:

* ‘Americanitis’: The Disease of Living Too Fast / How a 19th-century nervous condition shaped the way modern Americans think about health and happiness – The Atlantic, March 11, 2016 By Julie Beck [link]

** Harpers Bizarre, Simon & Garfunkel (Feelin' Groovy) The 59th Street Bridge Song [YouTube]