This is a time for new leadership…

In March 2020, we became a digital-first world. We didn’t really have a choice otherwise. Everything changed overnight. We had to figure out how to keep up. We had to learn how to adapt. We’re still learning. We’re still trying to figure out what new role we’re supposed to play in this new future. As leaders, it’s not just about leading the accelerated digital transformation for our companies. It’s also about understanding and leading the digital transformation in our personal lives.

Don’t overlook the fact that we have changed and are changing as a result of digital’s effects on our lives. The key to mastering change and not being shaped by it, is to learn why and how.

This is a subject that’s near and dear to my heart.

I’ve studied the impact of mobile devices, social media, online worlds ad games, to understand how we changed. I learned that digital has a way of transforming us. And it’s not always for the better. Since 2020, we’ve had to embrace digital in our lives and work as a matter of survival and that too, changed us. Since then, we’re only moving faster, but we’ve not yet had a chance to slow down to understand how we’ve changed, what’s good and what’s taking away from our potential, what’s helping vs. what’s harming us, and what to do differently, intentionally, moving forward.

Before all of this, I wrote a book that seems more timely in this new world than it did then, LifeSCALE: How to Live a More Creative, Productive, and Happy Life. The book shared a research-based path for personal transformation in a digital-first world. That story, and our response to it, is more important now.

We need to reestablish the social contract that we have with our devices and our apps and the time they take from us in this new world.

We need to be in control of how digital plays a role in our life.

To be in control is to use digital with purpose, to set boundaries, to grow with intention, to be more mindful, and to be more present.

To be in control is not giving digital license to distract us in times of focus or presence, to make us feel less than who we are, or to hold us back from truly living our best lives.

To be in control is to use digital in ways that make us happier, more conscious, and open-minded. To be intentional with digital is to see what happiness and greatness looks and feels like, to become a better person, to be smarter, to learn, unlearn, and adapt to new ways of working and living. It’s about being more creative and less distracted or robbed of our potential.

Throughout all of this change, we can’t lose sight of our own wellbeing. With new digital routines come great responsibility and accountability. It also presents us with the need to learn new skills to not only work, but also understand and practice self-care to thrive in our personal lives.

Digital wellness is now something that’s going to be part of our everyday lives. And it has to be something that you and I decide that we’re going to own.

As leaders, we must help our teams, our employees, our communities, and our loved ones, especially our youth, learn to be more mindful, to embrace disciplines that embody well-being and unlock healthier, more purposeful lifestyles…because digital isn’t going away.

We’re now on a permanent path for accelerated digital revolutions, for better or worse. I think it’s a choice.

We’re already starting to see the line between digital and physical blur. We reach for our phones over 100 times a day and gaze through little windows into immersive worlds for hours a day. And just on the horizon, Apple will introduce its augmented reality glasses. Facebook and Ray Ban are already here their new digital glasses. Snap recently launched a pocked drone that goes with users to capture moments on demand. Meta’s Oculus and new virtual worlds, including the emerging metaverse, are only going to become more and more and more part of our lives.

It’s time to now take control of our well-being and help others navigate these new challenges and opportunities with new skills.

We need to take time to focus on our relationships with digital and each other. We need to reestablish our social contracts and how we use these devices in our lives and in our work. But more importantly, we all need to press pause, to breathe, to look up and become more present. We need to make time for more self-care, creativity, and originality in our routines.

The world is changing around us and we get to define who we want to be in this new world, where we want to go, and how we will SCALE our life toward those goals and aspirations, and the vision we have for a happier life, starting today.

Please watch this short video on the subject…