Calm is not a luxury - it is a capability
In a world that constantly works against calm, how do we create the space to respond well, focus deeply and sustain ourselves over a long working life?
In 30 seconds
Calm is personal: what restores one person may drain another. The first step is recognising what helps you feel steady and making room for it regularly.
Workplaces can undermine calm through intimidation, chaos and constant interruptions. Protecting focus and reducing task-switching can help people think more clearly.
Calm is not passivity. It can grow from belonging, reflection, supportive environments and purposeful work that absorbs our attention.
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Calm is often treated as a luxury: something to pursue when work is finished and life has quietened down. But over a long working life, it is a capability - one that helps us respond to pressure, protect our attention and keep going. In this episode of Life Threads, Lynda Gratton explores how calm can be built in a world that rarely makes it easy.
Randall S. Peterson, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, explains that people differ in how readily they experience stress. The practices that restore us differ too. Some people need quiet and time alone; others feel most settled with people they love and trust. The key is to recognise what works for you and make it a regular part of life, rather than waiting until pressure has accumulated.
The conditions around us matter. Bullying managers and chaotic cultures can leave people on edge, while a steady stream of emails, messages and interruptions fragments attention. Randall challenges the idea that we can simply multitask. Moving repeatedly between activities carries a cost. Calm and good work both need protected space for sustained focus - sometimes a half-day or a full day, not just a few spare minutes.
Author and philosopher Robert Rowland Smith offers another perspective: calm can arise from belonging, from feeling at home with yourself, with other people and in your surroundings. Reflection helps us process experience and notice the patterns in our reactions. So can the places we inhabit and the work we become absorbed in. For Robert, a sense of calm is not inertia; it is a grounded state that allows us to engage with life. Together, the conversations show that calm is neither fixed nor passive. It can be strengthened through small, repeated choices: protecting space, reducing unnecessary switching, finding what restores us and creating conditions in which we feel safe and absorbed. These choices shape how clearly we think, how we respond to pressure and how we show up for others. The question to consider is: where in your life are you deliberately creating the conditions for calm?
Living the 100-Year Life
This episode explores the Calm thread in Lynda Gratton’s Living the 100-Year Life. It asks us to notice what helps us stay steady through changing stages of work and life - and to build those sources of calm into our routines, relationships and environments.
Key takeaways
Find your personal sources of calm and make them part of your everyday routine.
Protect time for focus; constant switching makes deep attention harder.
Pay attention to the environments and relationships that help you feel safe and grounded.
Calm is not the absence of activity. Purposeful work, reflection and a sense of belonging can help sustain it.
About the guests
Randall S. Peterson is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School and Founding Director of the London Business School Leadership Institute. His work explores leadership, teams and organisational behaviour, including how CEO personality and work environments shape collaboration and performance.
Robert Rowland Smith is an author and philosopher. His work brings together philosophy, systemic practice, writing, teaching and advisory experience for those seeking clarity on complex questions of life, work and relationships.
Mentioned in this episode
Lynda Gratton
