When we were talking about productivity and routines in the classroom, a graduate student commented that she had difficulty incorporating new management habits.
“I even start, but I don’t stand firm in the new habit. I can’t keep up with the pace of change and quit.” — said the student.
I replied that it happens to me too.
The conversation reminded me of an anthropologist’s story whose book now eludes me. The researcher made an immersion in the Amazon rainforest and witnessed a curious scene…
An indigenous man was stacking sticks to light a fire, but his toddler son knocked over the pile. Apparently, there was the book “Indigenous Parents Don’t Give In“1 available at the tribe’s library because the dad didn’t hit, didn’t yell, or even scold the little one. He just carried him away from the pile and resumed his work.
The child then returned, doing the same thing, knocking the sticks again. And the father calmly took him even further. This loop succeeded a few times until the pile could be completed and the fire ignited. The little boy was determined, but the father was more!
Productivity habits require a lot of effort, patience, and, above all, time to be truly assimilated. Often you may need to start over again and again. But with each restart, the number of sticks is a little bigger.
The key is to focus on the old maxim, understanding how the maths of advancement works: three steps forward, two steps back. The result? A step ahead.
It is important to note that though the process of habit change is easily described, it does not necessarily follow that it is easily accomplished. It is facile to imply that smoking, alcoholism, overeating, or other ingrained patterns can be upended without real effort. Genuine change requires work and self-understanding of the cravings driving behaviours. Changing any habit requires determination.
Charles Duhigg – The Power of Habits1
Notes
Tropical productivity: this post is part of a new series where I will talk about my search for productivity with a quality life, adding other perspectives to the debate, such as the cultural influences arising from my Brazilianness. The proposal is to dialogue with the international literature on management and personal development, approaching the topics from the point of view of someone who lives in a sunny and tropical country!
1 – A pun with the book French Parents Don’t Give In: 100 parenting tips from Paris by Pamela Druckerman, Transworld Digital, 2013.
2 – Book The Power of Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg, Random House, 2012.
Acknowledgments: Alberto Nogueira Veiga, Paulo Rocha, and all who gave me their precious feedback, thank you for your comments and suggestions.
Images: Calculator and Rulers (DS stories, Pexels), Indigenous Pataxó child (Milton F. Athayde, Wikimedia), Amazon Rainforest (Marizilda Cruppe, Wikimedia) .
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