High performance habits for humanitarians

Core habits drive our behavior. Core habits get wrapped around our principles and activities to make us who we are, and form how we act/react in any situation. In a recent post about how positive habits can replace traditional training for social sector workers, I discussed the concept of habits, and how they can help us transform our work and life. 

But what are the best habits to form and maintain? On a recent work trip to Niamey, Niger in Africa’s Sahel region I had the privilege of spending time with social sector professionals from the Niger national government, United Nations, and non governmental organizations. 
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These groups are working to reduce poverty and save lives by helping people survive and overcome disease, poverty, and natural disasters. The professionals in these organizations are dedicated people who have oriented their lives and their careers toward the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Humanitarian Principles. They are working in an austere environment with security concerns, short of human resources, and with never enough funding for their organizations to fully respond to these challenges. The temperature outside is hot year round. Malaria is common and the food options are basic and monotonous. This is a recipe for stress and burnout for the social sector workers in that environment.

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This scenario got me thinking about the high performance habits that aid workers could use to first survive, and then excel in this scenario. What core habits could they adopt to thrive in this environment and maintain focus toward their missions?

Here are five high performance habits that work for me, and others in this type of situation.  These habits are designed for the austere environments where  humanitarian aid operations take place, but have direct relevance across the social sectors in any setting. The habits are taken from my research into habit formation and high performance approaches from other disciplines, and then adapted for my own life and experience. I hope you can also find them helpful:  

1 - Know your real circle of control in this specific environment - So many of our social sector project documents state high level outcomes like reducing poverty, finding solutions for forced displacement or achieving harmonized coordination in a chaotic and multiplayer context. In reality, our circle of control is small. We control only our thoughts, interactions with others and actions on a daily basis in service to these high level outcomes. We have no real control over the ultimate result, but on paper we are accountable and responsible for reporting on these often unattainable goals. Wherever you are working today, get out a sheet of paper and draw a circle. Inside the circle, write the things that you directly control in your life and work. Then record the things you don’t directly control outside of the circle. Your organization’s project goals, the security context, how your co-workers react, and what the people you are helping think about you, is all outside the circle. Let this liberate your thinking by knowing the few things you directly control. Then, focus on a process that helps you fine-tune the things you can control. 

2 - Have a process and follow that every day - The places where humanitarian aid workers operate are inherently unpredictable. This can push us to be reactive to the ever changing environment. We need to push back against this seductive approach with a core process that we follow every day. We adapt this core process as needed given unpredictable events, but return to the core process whenever possible. Defining a process for ourselves in our specific job, means writing out an ultimate day that we would follow if we had full control. Reverting back to the processes after a diversion can keep us on track in a changing context. 

3 - Know your organization's goals and how that fits in with your own personal mission map - After getting familiar with your organization’s mission statement, make one for yourself. Write it down and internalize your own mission. Understand how it fits  with your organization’s goals and use both visions to orient your work. This can help make tough decisions easier by reducing uncertainty in your big picture. 

4 - Know your energy drains and recharge with the positive behaviors - We aid workers love to mythologize the wild parties and fun times that we have as an essential stress reliever in high pressure environments. Yes, those have been fun for me, and I have seen them as essential in the past. But the crazy party approach to stress relief has an expiration date that will catch up with you eventually. Make a list of the activities and scenarios that drain your energy. In the next column, write down the things that plus -up your enthusiasm and vitality. This helps identify depleting scenarios so you can avoid them where possible, and have a reference for the things that recharge you, so that you can restore this lost energy and maintain your focus on your mission for a longer cycle. 

5 - Never look busy - In our humanitarian aid world we are externally rewarded and validated by looking busy. Our cause matters and may even save lives. So we want to appear dedicated and consumed by this worthwhile mission. This is understandable, but ‘never looking busy’, though counter-intuitive, means that you are focusing on the real things that matter. You identify and focus on things that make a quantifiable difference within your circle of control, and let the other things fall away. Zoning out on your computer to  appear important and dedicated, feeds into this false validation. Instead, identify what really matters for your work. When that is finished, close the computer and do the top thing on your recharge list. Sit up on the roof and watch the sunset or go for a walk. Then go back and finish your most valuable task for the day with a short, direct blast of focus. 

Making the habits happen in the real world - I developed these habits after years of doing the wrong thing at the expense of my health, mental wellbeing and professional impact. Doing the wrong thing for a long time put me in painful burnout cycle and left me at times disillusioned with my social sector mission. These positive habits crystallized for me, in response to a low point of feeling failure, stasis and burnout. After forming and implementing these habits, I felt more focused, effective, and clear that I was working toward what mattered. I was no longer working hard just for the sake of sacrifice. I am more clear on what is inside my circle of control and increasingly able to walk away and recharge when those tasks are finished. 

However, every day is still a battle. It is a battle of my hard won personal habits and frameworks against the external status quo.  Even on this last trip I found myself quipping to colleagues about how hard I worked over the weekend, an old and unproductive habit of demonstrating ‘martyrdom to the cause’. But knowing and practicing the habits helps me reset when the old ways creep in, allowing me to refocus on the right things.

As with any intense environment, stepping out and coming back home to a less pressurized environment brings its own difficulty. Applying these habits in austere environments can be much easier than continuing to apply them when the mission or project finishes, and ‘normal life’ sets in. Applying these habits when there is no glamorous emergency response going on or intense project deadline, is hard. But the habits apply to all environments and bring clear benefits of increased focus and tranquility in all contexts. 

These habits will differentiate you from your peers. You might feel like an outsider at first but the approach will make you better at your job and spill out into a more centered and joyful life outside of work. It is easy to fall into whatever the unhealthy norm is for your social sector work. 

Push back and create a new set of high performance habits that gives you a foundation to do your best work, while also enjoying your life. 
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Happy Trails!