From Survival to Thrival*

How much of your time are you spending ‘surviving’ rather than ‘thriving’? This is a question that I keep returning to as I realise that I find it far too easy just to slip into ‘survival’ mode – where life is ‘fine’, work is ‘ok’ and there is nothing that wrong with anything. But… I also don’t feel like I am growing, learning or being challenged. I am not ending the day excited by what I have done or looking forward to the upcoming days. 

I start thriving when I am leaning into my values – specifically when I get to help people with a problem they have. This can be something minor or huge. It can be for an individual, a group or a company. This can be at work or outside it. 

If I can get to the end of the day and pinpoint a way that I have made a difference, however big or small, then I feel a sense of purpose and fulfilment and I look forward to doing it again the next day. Whereas if I have just been focussed on boring admin tasks, getting through my own to-do list or sitting through endless meetings then although I might have “achieved” things from an objective point of view, I feel drained.

It really doesn’t matter ‘what’ makes you thrive, it is much more about noticing it and trying to fit it into your day and this takes time and practice. We need to spend time noticing what events energise us vs those that drain us. 

What makes you thrive? And how do you make sure that you are doing some of these things each day?

PS. I am also not saying that being in ‘survival’ mode isn’t important from time to time. There are times when we need to just hunker down and get through the day in whatever way we can. But where possible we should be looking to thrive – even if just for a few moments in a day. 

* I realise that I could have called this “from surviving to thriving” but it just doesn’t sound as good to me!