Does it seem like there are more aggravations in our lives than ever before?
Aggravations are facts of life for us humans. For most of our history here on Earth, we have had our share of aggravations. We’ve gone through wars, plagues, invasions, natural disasters, famines, and economic distresses. At a tad lower level, we’ve had our conflicts with friends & families and issues at work.
We need to differentiate aggravations from annoyances. They are similar, but not the same. Annoyances are minor inconveniences which cost little to handle. Aggravations are major inconveniences which cost us significantly to fix or overcome.
How each of us determines an annoyance or an aggravation depends on our personal standards. I once saw a businessman on a German commuter train swear and walk out when he heard a public announcement that the train would be delayed leaving the station by five (5) minutes. To the businessman, a five (5) minute delay was an aggravation whereas for other commuters, it would just be an annoyance.
We, of course, try to avoid aggravations. Aggravations stem from adversities. Adversities are the unfavourable situations that we run into or that arrives in untimely fashion. We run into adversities as we pursue satisfying our needs, achieving our goals, and realising our dreams. The loftier our needs, goals, & dreams are, the greater the chance of challenging adversities.
I have observed that we, as in people in general, have set loftier needs, goals, and dreams over the decades. We never have been more dissatisfied; we always desire something better from whatever we already possess. We constantly seek that elusive best for us and for our families. We made it to the moon; we now want to go to Mars. We can live up to 100 years, but we want to live forever. Whatever we have already reached is not enough; we want more.
We can cite ambition, competition, devotion, and other desires as the drivers towards our loftier needs, goals & dreams. But there’s a price to pay and that comes in the form of adversities. And when there are adversities, aggravations follow.
In 2019, the popular buzzword was disruption. Disruption was short for “disruptive innovation,” which described new upstart enterprises challenging established firms with “simpler, more convenient, or more affordable” products. (as per Stefano Virgilli, disruption has actually been a buzzword since the 1990’s, but it seemed quite the talk-of-the-town word in 2019).
Entrepreneurs and innovators challenged mainstream companies, even though some of the latter were former disruptors themselves. Tiktok challenged YouTube. Grab displaced Uber in Southeast Asia. Joyride and Move It went head-to-head with Angkas in the motorcycle ride-hailing market in the Philippines. The delivery apps of FoodPanda and LalaFood challenged the traditional leaders of fast-food industries. And artificial intelligence was looming on the horizon, which spurred the titans of Google, Microsoft, & Apple to review their information technology strategies.
Disruptions bring aggravations to enterprises. We, who are managers, must adjust, adopt, and change either to defend our turfs or counter the inconvenience. Aggravations are a source for many problems we identify, prioritise, and solve.
In 2020, as we were managing through disruptions, the coronavirus pandemic hit us. It was the worst global aggravation since the Second World War. Many of us lost loved ones and saw our livelihoods sink. For us who managed enterprises through disruptions a year earlier, we once again had to adjust, adapt, & change.
Numerous problems followed the pandemic for three (3) years afterward. Some of those problems remained unresolved. Nations went to war. Prices went up. Trade swung up and down. Supply chain shortages & delivery delays festered. Labour was tight as people insisted on additional benefits such as higher wages and the option to work from home. Activists pressed for issues such as climate change and human rights.
With a changed world and with our insatiable demands & desires, we were running into aggravations more so than ever. We acknowledged the need to deal with aggravations, never mind the frequency & intensity of adversities that have come with progress.
Many people (e.g. politicians, so-called wannabe experts) offer quick-fix solutions to our aggravations. Many don’t work because we either didn’t identify the problem in the first place or formulate effective solutions. When we try to solve problems underlying aggravations, we prefer solutions to be fast and easy. And that can’t and won’t happen unless we set aside emotions, step back, and follow a rational problem-solving process.
Solving problems is best done via the following steps:
- Gathering information
- Identifying root causes
- Establishing criteria to choose which root causes to address first
- Identifying the problem from the chosen root causes
- Laying out options as candidates for solutions
- Evaluating the candidate solutions via our established criteria
- Selecting the solution
- Developing the solution as in formulating strategies, plans, & roadmaps
- Designing the program or prototype
- Experimenting by running a pilot program or building a prototype
- Implementing the solution (‘going live’)
It’s a straightforward process though it may not offer an immediate resolution to aggravations. And that’s the lesson when it comes to dealing with aggravation: we shouldn’t let it rule us. Just as we are taught to keep calm in the face of calamity, so too must we be rational when we face aggravation. We may not avoid the anxiety and emotion, but we can still retain control as we deliberately work out our problems.
Aggravation is a reality for all of us, more so in the post-pandemic world of our 21st century that is cluttered with so many global issues.
Aggravation stems from adversities and drives many of the problems we prioritise. But we shouldn’t let our aggravation determine how we solve our problems, if not even what to prioritise. We shouldn’t surrender control to whatever (or whoever) is aggravating us. Instead, we should solve our problems deliberately and rationally, through a tried-and-true problem-solving process.
Ellery's Essays 