How to stay motivated through challenging times

The term VUCA was first used in 1987 at the US Army War College in 1987 to describe the context of strategic military leadership as being Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Whilst it may have originated to describe leading in military contexts, it’s here, there and everywhere now as the contexts we live and lead in become increasingly complex, uncertain, ambiguous and volatile.

Everything, Everywhere, All the time 

I heard recently that there’s been an additional A added to VUCA – from VUCA to VUCAA – and that additional A is for Accelerating. This certainly reflects what I’m seeing in with the organisations, leaders and teams that I work with – the other four factors of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity are emerging more quickly.

It’s not just happening in workplaces. VUCAA is happening in our lives at home. It’s happening in our social worlds. It’s happening with the people to whom we’re most closely connected – partners, family, friends, colleagues. Which means we’ve got layers and layers of VUCAA and we’re feeling the impact in exhaustion, cynicism and overwhelm.

So how can we keep going and stay motivated – particularly when we’re leading others?

Unravelling Spaghetti 

I’ve found this tool helpful when you’re feeling the impact of everything that’s going on and you feel like you’ve got spaghetti in your brain. I’ve used it for myself, and to help leaders and teams unravel the impact of the VUCAA environment and move from burnout to break through. It comes down to three questions.

The first question is, as you think about what’s going on for you right now, what can I control?
The reality is, the only thing you can really control is yourself – What are you thinking? What are you saying? What are you doing? How are you responding?

The second question is, what can I influence?   These are the things that even though we might not have 100% control over them – they’re not all about us – we do still have some influence over them. So maybe there are agenda items you can put forward for a meeting, maybe you can choose to ask a different question of someone; perhaps you can initiate a conversation or put forward a white paper. What are the things that you can do that can influence the situation that you’re dealing with right now?

The third question is, what can I not control? These are often the things that we feel most energy around, that we’re most frustrated with, that we’re most stuck on. Because of this they become a black pit for our energy, our attention, and our focus, which is why they’re also the things that make and keep us fragile. And if we continue to focus on them, they can be a big contributor to feelings of exhaustion, cynicism and overwhelm.

The point here is not just to identify what we can’t control, but also to ask can I learn to accept? 

In my experience, this is often the hardest work to be done, because this asks us to let go of or adjust our expectations and face the reality of the situation in front of us.

What does good look like? 

Once you’ve answered the three questions, take a look at your responses and assess what good looks like for your next steps. As you do this, prioritising what you can control (you) and what you most highly influence will help create a sense of progress and build confidence to face the challenges and leverage the opportunities you have now and ahead.

Stoic philosopher Epictetus is understood to have said, ‘The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals, not under my control, and which have to do with the choice I actually control.’

And while times may have changed since he was alive in the first and second centuries, understanding what’s yours to on and act on, and what you need to accept and let go of is a critical to staying motivated and leading our current VUCAA contexts, exceptionally.

Written by Dr. Paige Williams.

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