How to Change? Why I turned to Psychology for Answers
I am in constant pursuit of greater efficiency and effectiveness. As a senior manager, I’m faced with a deluge of tasks on a daily basis. There are emails to write and respond to, reports to prepare, meetings to attend, research to conduct, and publication targets to meet. If I am to believe the management gurus, those are not the strategic tasks that should occupy most of my time. So, in addition I should be engaged in creative thinking, problem solving, strategizing, planning, and networking. I should be setting clear objectives for my staff, providing constructive feedback, and helping them to develop professionally. I should be pursuing a portfolio of personal passions, nurturing my soul and spirit, stretching my body to peak fitness, and investing in healthy enriching relationships. There are numerous books, blogs, videos, and courses that provide helpful - and sometimes not-so-helpful - advice for those who are striving to be better and to do more. With a veritable smorgasbord of resources, we can find ourselves doubly overwhelmed by the work we are trying to conquer and the possible ways in which we can supposedly conquer it. I established that it was not enough for me to place checkmarks against a list or to clear an inbox; that my life must all be for something. And that something must be bigger than just myself and my personal ambitions. I was clear that my entire raison d'être should be transformation - of self, of those around me, of community, of country, and beyond. I understood that my time should be spent on tasks that are linked to priorities; and that those priorities should be firmly rooted in a transformative agenda. But having established these lofty aspirations, I was stumped. It was easy enough to come up with what I wanted to focus my life on. I then needed to figure out the how. I needed a frame of reference in my quest for an intentional and purposeful life. I chose psychology. The obvious reason for this choice is that I am a psychologist. Another reason is that change is not possible without understanding, and psychology sheds light on why we do what we do. It examines how our behaviors and choices are influenced by physiology, socialization, genetics, experience, emotion, and evolution. Psychology provides systematic and intriguing answers to the question of how we change, and how we encourage change in others. Finally, psychology is all-encompassing and expansive. There is unlikely to be any conundrum that it does not address - at least in part. As Maitland Evans writes: “the underlying assumption is that there are psychological insights and truths which inform a person’s capacity and by extension, that person’s level of performance.” Psychology offers explanations for why multi-tasking is a myth; why intense psychological activities like planning should be done when our energy is at its peak; why using mnemonics can improve our memories; why culture matters; and why performance and motivation are two sides of the same coin. Psychology points us to strategies that we can use to improve our creativity, our productivity, our self-management, our relationships, our leadership, and our health. So, I have transitioned from merely studying or teaching psychology to applying it for change. This is where I share this journey and the insights that I am gathering along the way. How do you think psychology could help you to improve?
