Returning from a two-day leadership development experience, which I was fortunate to co-facilitate with a trusted colleague and friend, I was struck by something which resonated with a majority of participants.

We had asked them to individually record “Ah-has” from presentations by their fellow participants, then identify the top 2 or 3 that resonated with their team, members of which were in attendance as well.

“Back to Basics” was on nearly every list.

I found this oddly comforting as I reflected on the noisy, chaotic, demanding and often confusing world of leadership today.

Back to Basics.

If one has the gift of living long enough, one finds that at some point everything old is new again. People who are just beginning careers are in a different world than older colleagues were. That’s a “duh, obviously” remark! But some things—particularly human behaviors—are old as time.

I say that with a caveat. Humans today are navigating far more treacherous and unpredictable waters than we did decades ago. Not that ours weren’t similarly difficult. They were.

But what is most profoundly different from my point of view is the sheer number of inputs and noise of so many self-professed experts extolling the meaning of success and the good life.

Social media puts images to aspirations. This is wonderful! Until it isn’t.

Not to get all psychoanalytic here, but images are linked to past experiences, cultural and situational shaping, and reward systems. They are very personal.

Someone said to me years ago, “You know, Susan, people who have never seen cows have no flippin’ clue what you’re talking about when you talk of greener pastures.”

Huh. Hadn’t thought of that.

Similarly, when people talked to me of living walking-distance from bus stops, entertainment venues, and the best of nightlife’s hotspots, I couldn’t relate. I was keen to learn, but in order to do so, I had to acknowledge my inexperience. That’s not always easy to do.

Today’s myriad of lifestyle and workstyle choices blows my mind. If I were much younger, I wouldn’t have a clue what to choose. I would look to friends, respected “gurus,” and maybe Google categories for guidance. Thus the noise.

There are simply too many choices. Too many voices telling me in order to be awesome I need to do, be, think, and act in certain ways.

Says who? Where do they live? How do they live? What do they know about anything that matters to me?

Good questions, all. Which truthfully have no definitive answers.

Thus the desire to get back to basics.

A few I might suggest (without advocating for any in particular): decent nutrition, adequate rest, moving your body, thinking about positive things, recognizing when you are at your limit, and giving yourself time and space to consider what is happening in your world. Every one of these basics can be defined in wildly different terms! Listen to yourself. Have the courage to resist the noise of others. Dare yourself to unplug now and then to simply be.

Get back to basics.