171: BMM- Bare Minimum Mode
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Bare Minimum Mode. What is it? How does it take hold? Understanding this will help us all recognize when we need to make changes in our lives.
Rohit says that we can very easily fall into a mindset that causes us to settle for the bare minimum to get by. In our careers we might recognize it in our appearances, or in the urgency we present in our tasks. Maybe you started at a new job wearing the best clothes you own. You come in dressed to the “nines” and put on the ultimate professional air. You show your dedication to your job on your sleeves and do everything with 100% of your abilities. Somewhere down the line though, you have those moments where you just don’t want to do as much work. Maybe you feel dejected because your team isn’t pulling their own weight. Maybe, you are just having an off day, but you decide to put in less effort. No one around you notices. This gives you the feeling that since no one noticed, no one cares.
The problem with this mindset is that your effort goes down, you do just enough to get by and not get noticed, and you settle into an auto pilot mode where you just go through the motions. If anything comes along and upsets your auto pilot mode, you get frustrated. Its hard to see things in a positive light and causes stress. Your mindset in Bare Minimum Mode is to get by without any disturbance to your standard routine. The slightest deviation can ruin your day.
How do you break this terrible habit? If leaders want to avoid their teams falling into this trap they should make sure their teams efforts are recognized. If you have a person going above and beyond, give them credit. Recognition gives a person a reason to improve. It can motivate others to do better in their jobs as well. If they are seeing their peers get recognized for good work, they know that they can earn that recognition as well. It is also important to encourage those who don’t get as much recognition. Let them know that they are not forgotten. A forgotten person feels like they are not valued, so they often resort to putting in less effort.
Outside of leadership, we can affect ourselves by setting challenges for ourselves. In my career, I think of new ways I can train and enable the people I work with and make the training a fun experience. I let my management team know what I am planning to do so that it gets on their radar. Once I complete my new project, I send out my results to everyone that I think might benefit from the project. This process helps me keep my job fresh, exciting, and challenging. In times when recognition is low, I can keep motivated and drive my own form of recognition.
Bare Minimum Mode is so hard to break up because it is human nature to take the path of least resistance. If we aren’t challenging ourselves regularly and if we aren’t looking to grow consistently it becomes all too easy to fall into the rut of doing just enough to get by.
