Complacency is a Death Trap And How To Survive
Someone was once asked “What is the difference between ignorance and complacency?” he responded, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
What is Complacency?
Dictionaries describe it as being self-satisfied, a calm sense of well-being and security, self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.
In attempting to understand the cause factors for unsuccessful change and to comprehend the chain of events that precede any attempts to change, one word appears frequently – complacency.
What causes us to become less vigilant when we do the same behavior for the 10th time?
Due to the repetitive nature of many of our behaviors, complacency is an ever-present danger. When a person becomes complacent his/her alertness level for the task decreases, and consequently, so does his/her performance.
Factors Contributing to Complacency
The three major contributors to complacency are:
- Environmental – Reliability – Today much of our behavior involves interaction with some sort of “equipment”, i.e. PC, tablet, Smart phone, car, etc. This “equipment” is usually so reliable that there is an excess of confidence that it will never fail.
- Behavior – Familiar circumstances: A person becomes more relaxed when faced with circumstances he is familiar with.
- Capabilities – Expectancy: When a person hears and sees what he expects to hear and see rather than what is actually occurring.
Take a look at this video I made that goes over the above three factors and your complacent zone.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r0OTM36e8M[/youtube]
Symptoms of Complacency
There are symptoms of complacency that we should be aware of and that should set off alarm signals. Knowing these symptoms will help us to respond accordingly.
- Accepting lower standards of performance: One of the early symptoms of complacency is simply a lowering of one’s standards. When individuals are not questioned or corrected for results that have diminished, they believe that the standard is at acceptable levels.
- Erosion of desire to remain proficient: The individual, who does not make the effort to stay updated in his profession, tends to fall behind. It is similar to staying in shape physically; you cannot simply lose weight once and then begin overeating.
- Boredom and inattention: If it is a chore to get to work day after day, or if we don’t feel challenged by what we do and are not motivated to meet that challenge, then look out for complacency creeping in.
- Satisfied with the Status Quo: Things as they exist are fine. Why change? Don’t rock the boat. Don’t make waves.
Curtailing Complacency
To develop positive methods of preventing complacency, we must keep ourselves aware. One of the first defenses is to keep your awareness level stimulated.
- Professional involvement: Staying abreast of your profession is an effective method of fighting complacency and also prevents us from becoming stale and outdated.
- Physical fitness: Being physically fit is an excellent defense for many of life’s challenges. Physical fitness results from conscious lifestyle choices including: proper nutrition, kicking the smoking habit, drinking in moderation, proper rest, maintaining proper body weight, and a regular exercise program. Physical fitness provides the endurance to protect against fatigue induced unawareness and poor decisions.
- Training: Initial and recurring training including personal and professional development training is fundamental to minimizing and preventing complacency.
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How “Routines” Kill Us
How does a routine create a complacent mindset, bad habits and ineffective behavior where we fail to take the necessary actions to succeed?
Seeing how a routine works will shows us how it is so effective.
First, routine is invisible; it is the act of doing our day to activities however dangerous. Second it is unrelenting. It is a constant pressure relentlessly applied for as long as we do an activity that fails to have some event that contradicts routine’s pressure.
Our rational mind knows that we need to take specific actions in order to achieve our goals, but our emotional brain begins to relax our all-important “W.I.N” factor as we that same thing over and over again. Most people don’t realize how critical that emotional component is to success and when you no longer “feel” the thrill of going after your dream…well routine has already begun to degrade your passion!
The “W.I.N” factor is what drives your mind to stay in the immediate “now,” maintaining an awareness of what’s important now (W.I.N).
Routine takes advantage of our inability to see it diminish our performance. The old principle that “if I do it, I learn it, and if I do it a lot I learn it well!” has a powerful proof in that it doesn’t matter if “it” is good or bad, we learn it well. Good habit or bad habit, the brain doesn’t perceive either, it just learns through repetition. It isn’t abnormal, you’re human, but it is dangerous and you need to fix it!
Fix what?
Your Complacent Zone!
