In my years working in different organizations and seeing people react to some of the things I trained, I am often amazed at how strong the reaction is when I tell them they need to say “No”. Why is that so hard? It’s a simple word. It takes very little effort to form the word and actually say it, but it apparently takes a great deal of emotional effort to say.
I’m sure that you are thinking I am loosing my mind when my post has a title like Sustainability and the Duck, but I have a reason for sharing this with you. In my time working with people and organizations, I have had the opportunity to observe a lot of their characteristics. It is because of this experience that I write about and promote Individual Sustainability. A system that is not operating in a sustainable way cannot be predicted. It cannot be measured. Because it cannot be measured or predicted, it cannot be improved.
Before I get farther into this post, I will start by saying I am not a psychologist nor a medically trained individual. What I offer here are my observations supported by other knowledgeable individuals or groups. I often use myself as the example because I try to write from a position of experience. This post is dealing with emotions and how you can use Individual Sustainability to help shield you from strong emotions like fear and anger. Independent of your opinion about how the human brain formed, there are some things we accept about how it functions. We seem to agree, at least in the fields associated with interacting with users and customers, that there are some primitive reaction networks...
In the introduction to this section, I listed couples interaction as a ritual. Date Night is only one of the couples interactions that help create and support Individual Sustainability. In fact, Date Night is actually a type of ritual that is about more than just couples.
As a male, I have spent a large portion of my life avoiding shaving. Based on conversations with my wife I understand there is a comparative disaffection with some personal grooming tasks for women as well. However, I discovered something about shaving that I had not considered when I started so long ago.
