We say we want to grow. Then we open Instagram.
“We need a mindset that goes beyond the existing passive mentality whereby we see ourselves having to adapt to technological changes. … It is in our control to shape the future of work. It can be positive or negative depending on what we make of it.”
~ Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters.
There's an old idea — beaten up from overuse but still true — that it's not what happens to us that defines us. It's how we respond.
So. How do YOU respond?
When stress shows up — at work, at home, in relationships — do you reach for the drink, the scroll, the Netflix spiral? Or do you downregulate, do your yoga nidra, get to bed an hour early, and wake up fresh enough ready to face it and make it better?
When a relationship hits friction, do you go — screw it, I'll do my own thing — or do you learn to sit inside the discomfort and have the harder, more productive conversation? Not to win. Not even to find a perfect "win-win." But to find something that actually respects both people, both perspectives, the contradictions in the room?
When you see the way your team communicates, the way work gets done, clearly not working — do you shrug, because it's kind of fine and you've got other things — or do you lean in? Do you lead by example? Do you do more than your job title asks of you on paper?
It's the same phone.
Given to two people, one builds something — reads, learns, connects in ways that matter. The other scrolls into sleepless nights, arguing with strangers, stressing about worldly things outside their control.
Same tool. Different choices.
That's what the book reminded me of.
At every level — in technology, in relationships, in the culture of a team — we're either building on what we've been given, or we're participating in a slow downward spiral and calling it circumstance.
Will AI take our jobs?
Will WE let it?
We can't control everything. That's not the point.
The point is: we can choose what we build with what we've got, where we are, as who we are.
Over to you, dear reader,
The frustration sitting with you today, what's one thing you could do to make it better?