HR, we have a problem

A reader who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons has a little situation:

I go to put my office Google account on my phone, but it won't set up right. So, I log in to gmail via chrome to check my work email briefly... and forgot to log out. [We shall omit the gory details, but suffice it to say that logging out would have been desirable.]

My first thought is to ignore this issue. There's a lot of web browsing we have to do. But yeah, I think: don't draw attention to a problem that may merely be overlooked. Then I think, better to go to the girl above me, and without giving details, explain [the situation]. This way I can control the narrative, show a little shame, and maybe they'll say they won't even look at that history.

I have no interest in the various mistakes or moral failings that occurred here, what I find both telling and problematic is the instinctive response. To preemptively try to fix a situation you don't even know is an actual problem yet is a very Gamma response. "This way I can control the narrative" is the key phrase that identifies that dangerously sub-optimal way of thinking.

The truth is that the reader is likely to do precisely the opposite, and not only fail to control the narrative, but create a situation that is beyond his boss's ability to overlook. Moreover, it assures the worst case scenario, which is that relevant people at his place of employment find out.

This goes to the lack of confidence at the heart of the Gamma. Instead of assuming that there will not be a problem, he assumes the worst and then seeks to make it happen. He does this because the insecurity of not knowing what may or may not happen is psychologically more painful to him than the consequences he is seeking to avoid.

I think every Gamma, or Delta with Gamma instincts, should watch the TV show Suits. Louis Litt embodies Gamma, and it is tragicomical how his constant efforts to preemptively fix problems he has created and control both the narrative and the flow of communications invariably makes things worse.

Don't be a Louis Litt. Don't try to fix things unless you are certain they are broken. Don't try to control the narrative, relax and let yourself flow with it. Wu-wei is very, very difficult for the Gamma, but most of the time, potential problems tend to sort themselves out without any action from those who foresee or imagine them.

Posted in: Gamma,Practice