In talking with people about the 2020 disruptions, it strikes me that we are entering a new phase where we are having to accept that our new lifestyle may be lasting longer than we anticipated.

We are discovering that working from home has some distinct advantages, but its dark side reveals a danger that we may be overloaded with work and home responsibilities. Many parents, particularly those with little ones are reporting that their best work hours seem to be from 9-4 (PM to AM).

In my resilience assessments, I’ve heard from people that they are as productive in their work and sometimes more productive than they were at work but that it often requires that they kick in some extra energy to get things done.

From a resilience perspective, we refer to that extra oomph as “grit” which is the additional effort that is taken to meet a task at hand when one might be a bit tired of it all. Angela Duckworth, who has studied grit points out that there is more to grit than perseverance. In addition to being conscientious about the effort we are making, having grit reveals that we are manifesting passion and belief about the value and worth of our work.

In the graph above (The Resilience Advantage Curve) you can see that focus and grit kick in when our stress and work levels become high. There is a danger of going into burnout if we continue on that path so finding ways to work more efficiently and strengthen are self care are the keys to productive work and good health.

Your Challenge This Week: Assess your workload and those of your supervisees and make sure that they are not tipping towards burnout.

Resilient Mindfulness: Join me and others this Friday at 8 AM for another Resilient Mindfulness session where we will focus on Workload Management