Life and business necessarily intersect.

In the last 13 weeks, we’ve seen births, divorce, death, war, inflation, new hires, sales records, con artists, cancer diagnosis, treatments, remissions, birthdays, renewed vision, record monthly revenue, and record monthly expenses.

There is a word that is being suggested in the public discussion of psychology right now that is worth taking a look at… the word LANGUISH.

To languish is to “lose or lack vitality… being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation”

Author and Org Psychologist Adam Grant says…

It’s not burnout, because we still have physical fuel.

It’s not depression because we still have hope.

So what is the unpleasant place?

1. War?  No
2. Inflation? No
3. COVID?  No

What is causing us to feel weak and withered, to feel LANGUISHED?  

DISTRACTION

Translation - we are willfully allowing ourselves to be pulled apart… pulled away.  

Distraction (distrahere in latin) = PULL APART

We’ve all felt being pulled apart before…

• When a relationship goes sour or ends…we feel pulled apart and the nutrients of that relationship begin drying up
• • CS Lewis on the loss of his friend Charles Williams- “Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s [Tolkien’s] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald”

This is our new reality, and with it, we must find new ways for each of us to Flourish… new ways to both remain attached and ignore the things that will distract..

NOW is a time for something different.  

NOW is a time to pivot, to stop staring at the ball of fire that was the last two years, to see what was melted down, turned to ash, and begin to till that into the soil of something new.

On average…

• Check email 74 times per day (and yet vigorously defend it)
• We are said to switch tasks every 10 minutes (b/c we are checking email 74 times a day) 
• “Gloria Mark, Ph.D., associate professor at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and a leading expert on work, researched workplace interruptions and came to a fascinating conclusion: We don't have workdays -- we have work minutes that last all day.  It takes 23 minutes to get back on task”
• • I keep saying it BUT ARE WE DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT?

Grant suggests that we do not fight Languish with Optimism (that’s empty)... but instead we fight Languish with FLOW 

Before we do… what is FLOW?

Johann Hari has written a powerful book entitled Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention - And How To Begin Working Deeply

In his book, Hari describes flow as a state of mind when “you are so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose all sense of yourself, and time seems to fall away, and you are flowing into the experience itself.”

Flow is not focused on results.  In fact, sometimes the outcome can bring a bit of sadness because the project is complete.

We don’t know how to prioritize the limited resource of time we have.  So how do we find our FLOW?

Fascination (Desire)

• All things begin w/ desire
• John Gardner wrote, “The renewal of societies and organizations can go forward only if someone cares (has desire - an unstoppable push to accomplish something that matters).”
• • Hari says, “when your mind wanders, it starts to make new connections”
  • Hari interviewed Neurology and Neurosurgery Professor at McGill University Dr. Nathan Spring who said, “Creativity is not (where you create) some new thing that has emerged from your brain…It’s a new association between two things that were already there.”
• 74 times a day we forfeit the opportunity for our brains to make connections of impulses that are already there!!!

Like-Mindedness (People & Culture)

• Like-minded people aligned in principles and values move together.  
• The catalyst for like-mindedness?  Challenge and uphill battles
• • Joe McNamera - “Nothing brings people together, like shared adversity”...with predictable and repetitive communication

The third element of FLOW is your 

Operational Process

• In your head right now, you long-termers are eye-rolling and  thinking, “this isn’t new content!!!”  
• • NO!, b/c we cannot afford new content around the area of documented process b/c without it life swims in amnesia… and we waste our time starting from scratch everyday.
• Small businesses are notorious for “makin’ it up as we go”, “shootin’ from the hip brother!”, and reacting to every impulse that comes their way like the inflatable TUBE MAN.  
• • Except the tube man actually has you beat… at least it’s tethered to the ground!
• Process brings boundaries, boundaries bring FREEDOM! 
• You want the freedom of flow?  
• • Capture the process
  • Own the process
  • Share the process and repeat the process

The final element of FLOW

Wealth that you can draw from

• “Can’t operate from an empty tank”... can’t help others if you’ve got nothing to help them with… AND NOT JUST MONEY!
• Financial Wealth - for with it we have access to open doors that can benefit more people 
• Intellectual Wealth - for with it, we can open minds and influence decisions
• • Hari writes, “57% of Americans now do not read a single book in a typical year”
  • “Everywhere I have sought peace and not found it, except in a corner with a book.” - Thomas a Kempis
  • • “Those who cannot read are the same disadvantage as those who DO NOT read”
• Relational Wealth - for with it we can open communities
• Without wealth, walls are erected
• There is a reason that we are emphatic on 

When we find our FLOW… we FLOURISH, liberate ourselves from chaos, and make time for the things that matter most.