Nonsense is everywhere. My definition of nonsense is ‘actions and words that make situations more complicated, noisier, and are not at all aligned with personal or organisational values, vision or purpose.’
Nonsense can be found in organisations, in relationships and sometimes in our own brains.
Nonsense is stuff like ‘this person said this and so I’m going to say this in response because I think this person is an idiot.’ Nonsense is ‘I can’t believe this happened – how outrageous, I now must talk to about 27 people about it even though it’s already done and dusted.’ Nonsense is ‘how can I get more worked up about this change that’s taking place, even though I have no control over it and ultimately it doesn’t really affect me that much.’
The world can get so loud and full of nonsense. Just being around it makes us less productive. Nonsense is a drainer of energy and it’s contagious. If someone is in conversation with you and they’re sharing their nonsense it’s quite hard to resist entering into it with them.
Nonsense comes from a place of fear, or ego, or gremlins, or worry, or uncertainty. Nonsense comes from a place of heaviness inside us, and we start to lash out about people, things and situations around us rather than working through what’s going on for us internally.
Nonsense, and pushing back against it, is a part of the human experience. It’s something all of us come across at least once in our lives. But it doesn’t have to be ever-present, we can find ways to move past it in order to live more peaceful, centered, calm, quiet, innovative, creative, energised lives.
So, here are some ways to try and cut through the nonsense.
1. Identify you are ‘in nonsense’ or in ‘other peoples nonsense’. Basically, identify whether nonsense is around.
2. Take a step back, and a breath. Go to the loos, go outside, go into another room, put some headphones on. Get some space away from the nonsense.
3. If the affects of the nonsense persist (eg you continue to feel stressed hours/days/weeks after having a convo with someone) find two mutual, empathetic people to talk to about the situation.
4. Design with people around you that you’d like a ‘no-nonsense’ agreement. That you can call each other out when you notice nonsense is a-brewing.
It’s possible to get so wrapped up in nonsense that we can’t see that life is super simple, and easy. It’s possible to step back, and find it’s actually a relief, it’s lighter, it’s more inspiring when we’re not bogged down by all that noisy nonsense.
To explore this further give us a shout. We’ve just had two slots open up for resiliency coaching with me, or we have workshops available to help teams see through any organisational noisy nonsense. If you’re a CEO or a leader within a not-for-profit or public sector organisation, email us to find out more.
Sending love, Hannah
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash