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Pragmatism seems to be somewhat undervalued these days. And yet it is a powerful antidote to the plethora of fads and trends promising easy fixes and quick answers to every aspect of our existence: how we eat, work, think, feel and play.

At the end of the day, surely the willingness to engage pragmatically with reality is the only way to get productive things done? Anything less is simply wasteful NLP-fuelled busy-frenzy.

Pragmatic is getting to the core issue, and only focusing on the core issue. Imagine if we can just sit down and ask ourselves: What are we really dealing with here? What are we trying to solve?

Pragmatic is now. What do we need to do right now? Planning ahead is always good practice except when it stops us taking action in the right now. Reflecting on and understanding the past can be useful to our growth and development. But again, not at the expense of halting actions in the now.

Pragmatic is achievable. It is not caught up in over-planning. Useful outcomes are actually delivered.

Getting people to confront reality can be difficult. As a species we prefer the comfort of certainty and routine, even when these are delusional and not grounded in reality. We have all seen companies respond to morale or ethical breakdowns with … gasp … new logos!

image: Pragmatism via Shutterstock.