Let’s Take the 1% Challenge

“It is no measure to be adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”

• Jiddu Krishnamurthi

The pandemic has revealed just how many compromises we have made in our lives. Prior to COVID, it was considered impossible to have vast numbers of employees work remotely. Literally overnight, that became our reality.

Many of us realized the toll that long commuting and long hours sitting at desks in front of computers had taken on our health and on our families. We have been largely unaware of our role as the first generation in human history to grapple with the impact of rapid technological transformation on our lives, our work, and our planet. Many of our adaptations were not suitable for us or sustainable for the planet.

The Mindful Leadership Summit I attended pre-pandemic in Washington, D.C., brought together world leaders in business, government and non-profit organizations who are seeking to bring about systemic positive change. In an inspirational talk by author Pilar Gerasimo, she shared these sobering statistics:

• 50% of U.S. adults have been diagnosed with at least one chronic disease
• 68% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese
• 78% of U.S. adults are taking prescription drugs
• 80% of U.S. adults are mentally and emotionally “not flourishing”
• 97.3% of U.S. adults are not monitoring four critical health habits (smoking, rest, diet and exercise)

(Statistics are from ncbi/nmh.org)

That leaves 1% of U.S. adults who are currently healthy and on track to stay that way. Pilar calls us “healthy deviants” and she has a book on this topic. She is on a mission to invite leaders to ponder this question:

“Are you breaking yourself, and are you encouraging others to break themselves?” If you answered “yes” to either of the above, what can and will you do to change it?

She invites leaders to shift away from being an “extractive industry” in which “more is not always better” to instead making whole-person well- being a company value. Ask instead:

1.) Are my people healthy and happy?

2) Am I practicing pre-emptive repair, including adequate sleep, healthy nutrition, meditation, and exercise?

3) Do I model continuous growth and learning?

She concludes that “an unhealthy defunct reality depletes our human capacity and sets people up to fail.”

Our collective experience living through COVID-19 is offering us all an opportunity and responsibility to create something better.

Let’s grow the 1% so that we can all contribute our best work and selves, while being healthy, happy, and connected. This is our moment. Let’s not waste it.

Susan Freeman is an accredited Executive and Team coach, speaker and author of “Step Up Now: 21 Powerful Principles for People Who Influence Others”. She writes on the topic of leadership and influence using her unique innovative system that blends Western strategy and Eastern wisdom to activate the Guru Leader Within.