Putting Out the Fires

“I’m always putting out fires!”

Many of us find ourselves in reactive modes, constantly managing the loudest and most immediate. Even in our downtime, we might still look for fires to put out, having grown accustomed to this mode of functioning.

For some of us, this is the nature of our jobs. But for others, it doesn’t need to be. And, it’s not always obvious what’s going on.

Numerous inputs–email, Slack, messenger, proprietary work systems, a task manager–can trap us in modes of hyper-vigilance...