A recent Wall Street Journal article by executive coach Brad Stulberg proposed Five Principles For A Post-Pandemic You. As the title indicates, the principles are proposed for your own consumption. However, the examples Stulberg provides—“the chief physician of a large healthcare system” and “an entrepreneur who had just secured funding for her next venture”—suggest a population accustomed to having options in making career choices. Also, the generalization that “Covid has worsened the stress, anxiety and isolation of modern life” may not apply to all readers. These caveats aside, you can celebrate the main message of the article. You can also, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving weekend, apply that message to someone in a different, perhaps less fortunate, situation than your own.
The five principles are provided as a “call to groundedness” whereby you or someone you know finds “the internal strength and self-confidence that sustains you through ups and downs.” That means leaving persistent anxiety behind and “finding a way to express your authentic self in the here and now.” The principles are described below.
Focus on the present.
This principle draws on work by David Meyer, University of Michigan and colleagues. The target of this principle is that of multitasking, which has been shown to take away up to 40% of a worker’s productive time. The idea of being fully present in the activity you are presently doing is embedded in a diverse set of spiritual traditions including those of Buddhism, Taoism, Stoicism, Islam, as well as various forms of Judaism and Christianity.
Read the full article at Forbes.
