?? Welcome to the Human Energy Revolution: On My Mind

Welcome to my newsletter, where you'll find inspiration and actionable advice on how to build resilience and connections in our unprecedented times.?

Today's read is ~5 minutes.

Keeping the Mayor in a State of Flow

Loved hosting two dinners at my home, one with Handshake CEO Garrett Lord and the other with Gloat CEO Ben Reuveni, and a group of business and community leaders. The topic at both dinners was the future of work and the guest of honor was New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor Adams has been a role model for prevention and how we can improve our health with lifestyle changes, especially in his personal story of reversing his diabetes after his doctor told him: “It’s not your DNA, it’s your dinner.” (Yes, we served him a plant-based Greek meal!)

I also love the energy Mayor Adams brings to his job, an embodiment of the “Hustle” bracelet he wears on his wrist. In the interest of him staying at his best for many years to come, I presented him with a “Flow” bracelet to make sure he doesn't forget to balance the hustle with the flow.

Dinner at my home with Mayor Adams, Gloat's Ben Reuveni and business and community leaders

??

I admit, I’m not sure what to make of a report in Axios about how emojis “divide the workplace.” As Eleanor Hawkins writes, 91% of workers say their messages have been misunderstood or misinterpreted, and some members of Gen Z consider the commonly used ??, ?? and ?? to be, yes, cringeworthy. (But wait, speaking as someone who was once a parent to two teens — don’t young people find everything cringeworthy?) Insert confused face here. Emojis have emerged as a widely-accepted tool to communicate at work. They can be a creative way to express ourselves and keep things light and fun. But they can also divide us among unexpected lines. I’m reminded, for example, of reports that some find it rude or passive aggressive to end a text message with a period. And one of my favorite Onion headlines: “Stone-Hearted Ice Witch Forgoes Exclamation Point”! If question marks are still fair game, I’d like to know: What do you think?

The Sun Does Not Revolve Around the Earth and a Thriving Life Does Not Revolve Around Work

Welcome to the Human Energy Revolution. We’re in a period of profound transformation. Everything about the way we work, and the place of work in our lives, is being redefined in ways that have the potential to be just as consequential as the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Since the second century, Ptolemy’s theory that the sun revolves around the earth had been dominant. Then, in 1543, Copernicus published his revolutionary theory that the earth actually revolves around the sun. Today the Human Energy Revolution is replacing a model of life and work that dates back to the Industrial Revolution when we assumed that life revolved around work. It was a precursor to our own hustle culture: bragging about being on “24/7,” powering through exhaustion and proclaiming “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” But the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth — and our lives are not meant to revolve around work.

The Human Energy Revolution is about acknowledging the truth that life should be centered around our full humanity, which includes work but also includes nurturing our health and well-being, our relationships, our capacity for wonder and joy and for giving back. When our lives revolve around our full humanity, we’re able to fulfill our fundamental need to connect not just to ourselves but to something larger than ourselves.

We can see the breakdowns of the era we’re leaving behind in the Great Resignation, in the trend of Quiet Quitting, and in the fact that, according to Gallup, seven in 10 people globally are struggling with mental health issues.?

The work-centric model of life was gradually breaking down, but the full rejection of a burnout-fueled work culture suddenly took off during the pandemic, when we got a glimpse of a life that could be more aligned with our humanity.

But rejecting hustle culture and burnout are just the first steps. We can’t just toss out an old, outdated theory. We have to adopt a new way of living that affirms our full humanity and what we need to thrive. We can be engaged by our work without being defined by it. We can find joy in our work without having our lives revolve around it. We need a science-based mindset shift which acknowledges that we’re more productive and more creative when we’re recharged.

People are expressing their desire for a new way of living and working in their own individual ways. But what they all add up to is a collective longing to stop living in the shallows, which is where we’re confined when our full identity is reduced to our work. Only by putting our humanity at the center can we truly thrive. That’s the essence of the Human Energy Revolution.

Read More on Thrive: We’re at the Start of a Human Energy Revolution

What We’ve Learned From One Million Pulse Check Conversations

Pulse check — the entry point to Thrive’s platform — is a daily question to employees that prompts a moment of reflection about their well-being, and then gives them personalized, in-the-moment recommendations to improve their well-being. And I’m thrilled to say that just as Thrive is turning 6 years old, we’ve reached another milestone: one million Pulse check conversations with employees in 73 countries around the world. Pulse check is a continuous feedback loop that allows leaders to prevent burnout, attrition and other negative outcomes — in medical terms, to have more biopsies and fewer autopsies. So what have we learned? First, that despite the very un-quiet phenomenon of quiet quitting, most employees are engaged in their work. And second, that many highly engaged employees are experiencing early warning signs of burnout. Most important, we’re seeing conclusive data that the tools we’re providing leaders and employees to fight burnout are working. Learn more about Pulse check here.

Taking Small Steps Leads to Big Changes

Kathryn Carpitcher, this year's Thrive Challenge Grand Champion, at Walmart Store 103 in Shawnee, Oklahoma where she works

In 2020, Walmart and Thrive Global launched a program to help associates and customers improve their well-being with the Thrive Challenge. It’s based on the idea that by making small better choices each day, we can change our lives. The stories of people doing just that are endlessly inspiring. Kathryn Carpitcher was recently chosen as a Thrive Challenge Grand Champion. “Before I started this journey,” she said, “I felt like I was just getting by. But now I’m thriving rather than surviving.” Kathryn and her husband Jeffery were trying to start a family, but found out she has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and needed to start eating healthier. She lost 35 pounds — a remarkable accomplishment in itself — but as she says, it’s not about the weight: “It's about how our lives have changed. Our big, big thing is that we want to start a family and we feel confident that it’s going to happen.” Walmart recently added Kindbody fertility benefits to its insurance plan to help more associates like Kathryn realize their dreams of starting and growing their families.?

Before You Go

Neologism of the Month (new words, terms or phrases that define our time)

“Millennial Pause” — the split-second pause, after hitting record on a social media video, some people take to make sure their phone is recording. As explained by Kate Lindsay and Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic, this is a habit of Millennials that Gen Z finds cringey. As comically subtle as that is — like a video version of a dog whistle that can only be detected by people of a certain age (and not mine!) — the writers argue it’s part of a larger shift: a sign the Millennial era of social media is ending. “Gen Z has a more reflexive and natural-seeming relationship with social media that is actually defined a lot less by anxiety about its role in their lives,” writes Tiffany. Maybe, as the first generation raised entirely in the social media age, Gen Z will take the next step and create the Gen Z Pause, and pioneer new ways to create healthy relationships with technology and social media.?

Moment of Awe

Photo courtesy of Phil G. via Axios

With the end of Daylight Savings Time, today we got an extra hour of sleep. (If you remembered to set your clocks back last night — phones do it automatically now, while microwaves and ovens take until about February, when we’ve finally gotten tired of seeing the wrong time every day.) What will you do with your extra hour? One option: enjoy some breathtaking fall foliage — like these beautiful Aspens sent to Axios by a reader, who writes: “Aspens are like people — they only thrive in groups, never alone.”

Best,

Like what you see or want to share this with a friend?

Subscribe here and browse my previous newsletters and articles here.