Have you ever had the feeling that you’re itching for a fight? I have—for several months now.
I hadn’t been able to put my finger on why, but I’ve had a general edginess about how I viewed and responded to the world around me. The gym is usually a good place for me to work out that crabbiness and to discover the causes. After several weeks, I was able to uncover what’s been making me so nutty, but I also found that the gym was adding to my upset, too.
And in the course of my discovery, I asked several colleagues and clients about their observations as well.
There was general agreement that many of us are feeling edgy due to sensory overload.
Everything is getting bigger, louder and busier. At the gym, for example, people are literally yelling across the room to each other: “HEY, HOW ‘BOUT THAT GAME ON SUNDAY?” At a restaurant recently, there was a table of guests who were so loud that I swear their mothers never told them to use their “indoor voices.”
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? HE SAI D THAT???”
I found myself screaming, “I’LL HAVE A CHARDONNAY AND THE MUSSELLS!”
It’s not just about the noise—we’re bombarded with visual images, too. I was previewing a client’s new video that had so much visual “bling” that I couldn’t focus on the message. Hesitantly, I commented that it was very interesting, and gosh, there sure were a lot of visual effects. He said, “I hate it. But they told me that everybody’s doing it. Watch the news, they use it too.” And sure enough, the news has drumbeats competing with the anchor’s message. There also are scrolling messages everywhere, and multiple faded “bling-bling” swirling in the background. It’s enough to make you nutty.
I have an image of Americans sitting down to a bacon-wrapped, triple cheeseburger with jumbo fries and a Big Gulp, in front of the 52-inch TV, with the Ipod blaring and cell phone in hand, alternating between text messaging, taking pictures, talking and watching yet another rerun of Law and Order (all on their phones).
When is enough, enough?
I have a theory, which seems appropriate to share given that this is the holiday season and people pretend to be caring about those less fortunate this time of year.
My theory is that catastrophic world events and institutional scandals are escalating at a rate faster than we can comprehend—all in an effort to make us aware of our own insanity.
Just in the past five years, we’ve experienced September 11; the dot-com crash; countless corporate scandals that left retirement funds bankrupt; major scandals in the Catholic church, the FBI and the federal branch of the government; the tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita; and fears of pandemic diseases. And we hear about it non-stop thanks to 24-hour news coverage. Just when we think we’ve seen more suffering than we can handle, there’s another major catastrophe to get our attention.
Many of us retreat to our solitary worlds of isolation on the computer, Ipod or video games to escape the reality of having to deal with the tragedies, people and issues we’re facing.
So what does this have to do with work and the business environment? Nothing, and everything.
It would be easy for businesses to say “Problem? What problem?” or “It’s not my problem.” But the bottom line is that we all are being bombarded with sensory overload. Whether it’s multi-tasking to get everything done or trying to manage multi-generational or blended households, our lives are more complex than ever. And we’re living in a society that supports the pursuit of abundance and excess of everything.
All of our advanced technology, as great as it is, also is disconnecting people from each other. We can hardly hear each other any more. No wonder people come to work and find it hard to serve the customer or each other. So here’s the coaching for the month: If you are a manager or business owner, look for the warning signs of people who are experiencing overload. Short tempers over insignificant things, increased absences or illnesses, missed deadlines, being easily distracted and a decline in quality of work.
Have (non-punitive) conversations with employees to see what’s going on.
Consider implementing an Employee Assistance Program if you don’t already have one. If you do have one, encourage employees to use it. Encourage people to take a break at lunch and take a walk.
And, most of all, support an environment that honors and respects each other and your customers.
Marty Stanley is a certified business and life coach. She works with business leaders and their teams to put the structures in place to increase personal, professional and organizational effectiveness and get results. She can be reached at (816) 822-4047 or
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