We strongly value autonomy, but often fall short to tackle the accompanying responsibilities. As Seth Godin concluded: “Faced with the freedom to excel, we falter and hesitate.”

Self-management is a critical skill, yet we frequently take it for granted. There are several reasons behind this disconnect:

1.  We have embraced autonomy enthusiastically without adequately adjusting to the new demands. Modern management literature, such as Matthieu Weggeman’s “Managing professionals? Don’t”, has championed the virtues of autonomy. However, this shift towards less top-down guidance has created a gap that employees must fill through increased self-management – a significant challenge that many struggle with.
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2. Humans are not naturally gifted self-managers. As Seth Godin bluntly put it, we are often “the world’s worst boss” for ourselves.
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3. The need for robust self-management has become even more pressing in the post-COVID era. Additionally, the ubiquity of social media has introduced new, pervasive distractions. For instance, we unlock our smartphones on average every 10 minutes, disrupting our focus and leading to reactive rather than proactive behaviors.
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4. We often underestimate the importance of effective self-management, perhaps because we believe we are better at it than we actually are, especially compared to others.
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5. Improving self-management skills is hindered by a lack of data-oriented methods. As the renowned physicist Lord Kelvin stated, “if you don’t measure it, you cannot improve it.” Without clear metrics and feedback, it is challenging to track and enhance our self-management abilities.

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In summary, the growing emphasis on autonomy has outpaced our ability to cultivate the necessary self-management skills. Addressing this gap requires acknowledging our natural limitations, recognizing the heightened demands of the modern workplace, and developing data-driven approaches to monitor and enhance our self-regulation capabilities.