You can’t live normally if you’re under constant threat of fire drills.

Most of us are constantly ready, but there's great value in being un-ready.

There’s a reason that firefighters take shifts living at the fire station.

You can’t live normally if you’re under constant threat of fire drills.

A constant state of readiness is important, no doubt, if you’re on the hook to face surprise dangers, especially in service of others.

But think about life between the fires, if you’re living in the fire station. You can act like things are normal. But you know, by your elevated heart rate, that they’re not.

It’s like sitting next to a celebrity in a restaurant (I sat next to Harrison Ford one time… can confirm), or driving on the freeway at night, next to a police car.

You can act like everything is normal, but it is not.

You can’t breathe deeply and you can’t be still and you can’t explore new ground if your fast twitch muscles must be primed and ready to go.

The upside of readiness is speed, of course.

But what’s the downside? You can’t sustain readiness forever without going mad or getting into a rut. It’s why firefighters also have to spend time away from the fire station. 

And it’s why you, your team, and maybe your whole company need to acknowledge and be honest about fire drills. Both their frequency and intensity.

Because there’s value in both readiness and un-readiness.

There is an openness, a freedom, in purposeful un-readiness. An opportunity for discovery and new pathways of thinking. Call it Rest. Call it Flow. Call it tapping into Creativity. Cal Newport calls it Deep Work.

So let’s get honest about fire drills.

If you’re a boss, are YOU the fire? 

If you’re on a team—and a firefighter—are you spending too much time sleeping at the fire station? Are you getting enough time at home?

If you’re working solo or a freelancer, does your constant readiness feel healthy or overwhelming?

What is your fire alarm?

Maybe it’s your boss or your boss’s boss. Maybe it’s your phone notifications. It could be fear disguised as a TV addiction (ahem, raises hand). Maybe it’s your puritanical, Midwestern work ethic mixed with self-doubt that causes you to make everything into a personal fire drill. Maybe it’s just the feeling of panic of not making enough money to make ends meet. Any of these things can trigger an imbalance of readiness and un-readiness.

I’m in a state of un-readiness these days, and only now realizing the effect of the self-imposed fire drills I’ve been living through. I’m un-ready and I’m thinking more clearly than I have in a long, long time.

Where are you today? Sleeping at the fire station or at home?