New Normal is getting a lot of press. Politicians speak of it. Business pundits toss it around like a new toy. Friends and colleagues speak of it and it sounds good. Something new, and normal. And we don’t like it.
We like the sentiment that “New Normal” connotes, but this one is worth looking at more closely because we’re not so sure that a New Normal is what people actually mean, or actually want. We certainly don’t. Let’s pull this apart a little
The problem with New Normal, is two-fold. The first is having a goal of achieving normalcy, and the second is the desire to, in the absence of our Old Normal, replace it with a new one.
When people say “normal,” we think they’re usually talking about something different than that. People want safety; that’s a good goal. They want predictability; that makes sense. They want things to be familiar, reliable and more habitual. Ultimately these point toward a desire for Comfort, and the challenge is that growth and comfort are typically at odds with one another, and we favor growth.
Having a growth mindset doesn’t leave much room for comfort and is functionally resistant to “normal.” Think about any good entrepreneur or business leader (you might be thinking about yourself right now) and ask yourself if they got where they did because of their relentless pursuit of Normal, or their unflinching focus on Growth. It’s growth.
Things are shifting. We’re happy about the pandemic-loosening glimpses we’re seeing. But a new normal? That’s not for us. And we’re not convinced that’s what you want either
What if we stepped into the post-pandemic world with a focus on resiliency? What if our attention was on, and stayed on, having a growth mindset in every area of our lives? What if we took what we learned being sequestered with our families, or our spouse, or alone, and parlayed that into better relationships, closer connection, and deeper empathy. What if we put more energy into thinking about what matters most, and spending time with the people that matter most? What if we focused our time, and our thinking and our actions on a vision for the future that always lurked in the back of our mind, but never got the attention and energy it deserved
The experience on the other side of those decisions wouldn’t be anything close to Normal. It would be downright Evolutionary. And it’s waiting for us…