As I noted in my May post two months ago, I have spent this "Summer of Slow" recovering from my broken ankle. During the 4th of July weekend I had some extra time to take stock of how I was doing mentally as this process kept unwinding and had to face the fact that I was somewhere between "struggling" and "surviving." I recognized that I need to rally and somehow find the resolve to move into thriving if I was going to recover adequately. Obviously, this is easier said than done, but through a concerted pursuit of journaling, reading, reflecting, talking with trusted friends, and some prayer, I feel the clouds starting to part.
These resources below are resonant with this pivot -- how can each of us regroup and find new strength and direction in the midst of so many personal and global challenges? I hope you find them encouraging and stimulating.
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Thoughtful description of how life has felt since March 2020. The majority of my client conversations revolve around how much life has changed since the pandemic, both personally and professionally. With those changes, not all of which have been bad, there have been some deep losses. This newsletter post captures some of the sorrow that accompanies those losses, and how to work through your sadness productively so that you can move forward.
Let’s Redefine the Role of Manager. I’m assisting in management training with two different companies, plus 1:1 with some individual clients. I believe this brief podcast captures how much the role of manager has changed due to several factors: the pandemic (obviously), generational changes in how people view work, advances in technology, to name a few. The deeper dive on this question is found in this article, written by the same person interviewed in this podcast: Managers Can’t Do It All. I strongly suggest you review these two resources if you are an executive, so you can get a very clear sense of what your managers are dealing with... and if you're a manager, I hope you'll appreciate how these capture your reality.
Tracking my stress at work actually helped my productivity. I liked this article because it not only proposes an idea, but walks the reader through the steps to apply it. I would be interested to hear if you apply it and find it helpful.
Understanding anxiety —and its surprising upside. Coupled with the article above, this interview helps us to reorient and try to move, as I stated above, from surviving to thriving. (PS I recommend this podcast overall -- the host consistently interviews fascinating people and touches on some truly thought-provoking topics). This article, It’s time to reframe our thoughts around anxiety. Here’s how to use it productively, is a good companion to the podcast in that it interviews the same neuroscientist, so the content gets reinforced and outlined.
The Big Winners and Losers From the Remote Work Revolution. This is a pretty darn interesting discussion and very different from other conversations I’ve listened to on remote work. The core question they talk about: what is the “job” of the office?
"The average American has only been to 5 of these places, how about you?" This one is purely for fun. Though I am happy to say that I've been to twenty of these places. But then again, I have no idea why these particular sites are on the list.
Thanks for reading -- share it with a friend or co-worker. And please feel free to send questions and feedback to kelly.soifer@ksleadershipdevelop.me. Onward and upward.
