Nurturing my seedlings to give them the best chance to make it.
My seeds are sprouting. I’m doing my best to nurture them and give them the best chance of making it. It’s pretty easy since they are in our living room in front of a nice big window.
Some are doing better than others.
Before I know it, I’ll be planting them outside.
I’m pretty good about watering, and I’ll occasionally pull the weeds around them. Other than that, they will be for the most part on their own.
Of course, I’ll keep an eye on them and do anything I can to help them.
After all, they will always be my seedlings. ❤️
From Play-based childhood to Phone-based childhood
I’m reading the newly published book,Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. I was curious if it offered any workplace solutions for the mental health struggles of Generation Z (29 years old and younger).
Haidt claims the combination of parents’ overprotection of their children in the real world and society’s under protection of children in the virtual world are the major reasons that “the great rewiring of childhood” has been occurring since 2010. He says it’s caused an epidemic of mental illness.
He explains that childhood has shifted from play-based experiences to phone-based experiences. He says a phone-based life pulls people downward. It changes the way we think, feel, judge, and relate to others. It makes us not well.
In doing his research he has come to believe that “the phone-based life produces spiritual degradation, not just in adolescents, but in all of us.”
The phone-based life pushes us down and weakens the essential socials skills we need to be awesome at work and content in our personal lives.
In addition to practical advice for parents of children, Haidt challenges the reader to strive to understand that we need practices in our lives that promote happiness, wellbeing, trust and group cohesion and pull us up.
He explains how religious and spiritual communities promote the types of practices that pull us up. He implores us to make these practices part of our personal lives.
What You Can Do at Work
You as a leader, can promote practices that pull people up and get them performing and developing their essential social skills (their IRL business skills) and winning.
Here’s a workplace adaptation of Haidt’s spiritual elevation tips:
Workplace rituals: Create regular in-person special events for your organization. Look forward to time together to acknowledge your heritage, milestones and accomplishments.
Tell positive stories: Take note of morally beautiful actions both at work and in your personal life. Share them with others, especially your youngest workers.
Meditation time: Calm your “jumping monkey.” Set aside the phone-based life, for a set period of time each day (start with 5 minutes) to sit in stillness, silence and meditate or pray. Encourage others to do the same each day.
Weekly Live Checkin & Checkout:Plan and reflect together. At the beginning of each week, hold a live checkin with your team. Have everyone discuss their top goals for the week. Then at the end of the week, checkout with the same group. Discuss the week’s noteworthy events.
Get Outside: Refresh away from your screens. Take a 5-10 minute walking break without your phone each day to clear your head. Encourage your team members to do the same.
Your Seedlings
For those of you leading early career employees, read my latest book, Gen Gen Z into the Game. It's your playbook for winning with young talent.
Key Points
Growth takes time — seedlings need steady care, not constant evaluation. Progress happens quietly before it’s visible.
Leaders who protect new ideas and people during their fragile stage create the conditions for real, lasting growth.