Complacency is a dangerous state of mind. It tends to find us when we are most satisfied with our situation. There are countless examples of individuals, teams, and companies who have allowed themselves to be undone simply by being stuck in an overly satisfied state. Oftentimes, long after their undoing, each can point to a specific time in which satisfaction allowed complacency to set in followed by the blind spots that led to their demise. That satisfaction with the way things were led them to stop looking for ways to improve, allowing the competition to overtake them. They assumed their temporary competitive advantage would remain in their favor forever and their newfound commitment to doing no harm all but ensured the future would not be gentle on them. The warning signs were both visible and ignored. They were killed by complacency.
Complacency rarely happens within teams that are committed to continual improvement. These teams and the individuals who comprise them are constantly looking for ways to deliver new value, reimagine outdated methodologies, and challenge themselves and their teammates to be more than they currently are. My entire adult life has been spent on a continual improvement quest. Whether it is my profession, my private life, or my health, I have been squarely focused on being more than I was and more than I am. As those of us who choose to live that way can attest, it’s exhausting and takes a toll on both our mental and physical well-being. We may not always achieve the desired results and many of us wouldn’t be satisfied even if we did, yet we remain squarely focused on achieving more, even when more is almost certainly unattainable.
As we get older our priorities change and reality has a funny way of recalibrating (most of) us. For example, I am no longer interested in being physically better, faster, or stronger than I was years ago. It’s just not feasible and my Apple Watch reminds me of that regularly. Personal bests (at least physical ones) are largely a thing of the past. But I am committed to achieving my present-day/age best. My goals are not nearly as lofty as they once were and I don’t view that as a sign of complacency. Instead, I acknowledge it as a sign that I have found contentment.
Contentment? Now I have been told that contentment is for the weak. Contentment is the quickest path to complacency and we know that complacency leads us to irrelevance and unhappiness. Contentment is for those who are done challenging themselves. For my fellow Shawshank Redemption fans, contentment signals that we are no longer busy living, we are busy dying. Contentment is an unhealthy state. Or is it nirvana?
As a career naval officer, I had clear career objectives and thoroughly enjoyed navigating a path that allowed me to achieve nearly all I set out to professionally. I knew what was expected of me and dedicated my life to becoming more, achieving more, contributing more, and challenging my teammates to do the same. I was all in on more. There were many times I was pleased, and yet I was never satisfied. These days I am both pleased and satisfied.
In my professional life today, I no longer have aspirations for a specific title, salary, or level of authority/influence. I am not competing for promotion, though I relish the opportunity to promote others. I no longer am managing a career. Instead, I am content with doing all that I can to help good people do good things for as long as I am capable. After all, contentment is a decision. It’s the choice to appreciate what we have instead of feeling the dissatisfaction that accompanies continually yearning for more.
I am content, not complacent. I am far from done growing, learning, experiencing newness, and challenging myself. I remain committed to celebrating progress and growth as we experience it, while far less fixated on what has yet to be accomplished and where we might be deficient. I still live and lead with a sense of urgency, but I have let go of the feeling of anxiety that all too often accompanies it.
Complacency and contentment, each have a unique relationship with continual improvement. The former has no use for it, whereas the latter has a healthy affinity for it. I say ‘healthy’ because an unchecked commitment to continual improvement often leads us to burnout, poor mental health, unhappiness, and dissatisfaction.
- Are you falling into complacency? Overly addicted to continual improvement?
- Are you giving yourself permission to feel contentment with aspects of your life?
- Are you operating with urgency, anxiety, both, or neither?
