I’m a big fan of incrementalism — at least in some contexts. Want to lose 30 pounds? If you want it to come off and stay off, the best way is a half-pound at a time (maddening though it may be!). Want to expand your vocabulary? Learn a new word every day, and you’ll be a logophile in no time.

But there’s always the lobster problem. (And as one who enjoys a good crustacean with butter, the phrase “lobster problem” doesn’t come easily.) That is, incrementalism can also work against you. Sit in some water and turn it up a degree at a time, and you may not notice until it’s scalding. (Or, in the case of the lobster, until you’re dinner.) Eat an extra 100 calories a day, for instance, and you’ll have gained nearly 20 pounds in a year.

This all began to occur to me when I had an accident with my smartphone. I won’t go into detail, other than to note that in this case, the phone was the only thing that was smart.

The net result was a phone that didn’t work very well, and either needed to be repaired or replaced. I opted for the former, and now it’s en route to some repair facility, and I’m without a device for a week or so. And that’s when incrementalism slapped me upside the head.

I realized I had adjusted to a New Normal. One in which I was connected, I had access to news and information constantly, and I could do a crossword puzzle at a moment’s notice. Sure, most of these are frivolities, more or less. But it’s what I’d become used to. And isn’t much of what we consider “normal” frivolous anyway?

What is our New Normal in the workplace? What are the things that we don’t even consider until they’re gone or changed? Maybe it’s the presence of a particular coworker, or the position of an office or cubicle. Maybe it’s the pattern of spending twenty minutes of every hour dealing with e-mail. Maybe it’s dealing with a dysfunctional team.

Sure, there are lots of parts of the New Normal that are great — things we want to keep. Maybe it’s connectedness, maybe it’s a culture in the workplace, maybe it’s not having to go to a weekly staff meeting. But in order to know what to keep and what to fix, you have to surface what you otherwise take for granted. It’s like a fish talking about the water. Not always easy to do.

Of course, we have some tools to help do that, by using images to step back and see the whole picture. But regardless of how you get there, you may want to give it some thought: What’s your new normal? How has it changed in the last few years?

Thoughts? Comments? We'd love to hear 'em. Chime in below: