QuietSpacing

Leave Time Between Appointments

Imagine a wake of papers drifting to the floor behind you as you charge off to your next appointment (physical meeting, video conference, phone call, etc.). That’s what’s happening to all the thoughts and ideas you had in the apppointment you just left as you race to the next one.  They’re drifting into oblivion as you try to gain purchase on the upcoming subject matter. Worse, yet, you’re still thinking about those items as you enter the next meeting, resulting in loss of attention to the topic at hand. Two birds killed with one stone - with negative results.

Try inserting just a snippet of time between appointments - five to fifteen minutes. This will allow you to capture all those trailing thoughts into a  physical or electronic form, give you an opportunity to catch up on other projects in the works, and provide space for you to take a deep breath before moving forward. The net result is lowered stress, increased productivity, and a greater sense of command over your day.

Reduce Appointment Lengths By 25%

Work fills the time allotted. Not truism is more accurate in the business day. Meetings, conference calls, videocasts and the like can seem endless, sucking down valuable time that is better spent getting things done.

Try reducing meeting lengths by 25% and see what happens.  Reduce a 60-minute appointment to 45 minutes or take a 30-minute meeting down to 25. (Okay, that last is not exactly 25%, but you get the idea). You’ll find that people tend to focus more specifically on the topic de jure and cut through the side trips. If you don’t get everything done, just schedule another, shortened meeting!  The worse case scenario is that you run a few minutes long, but, thanks to the first suggestion above, you’ve got some leeway there.

Manufacturing Time Is Easy!

The two suggestions above are quite simple to implement. Other people may need some time to adjust to the new formats - shortened meeting lengths and spaces between appointments - but you can see that they go hand-in-hand. The net result of doing both is that you’ve actually used the same amount of time more effectively and efficiently. Consequently, you’re more productive, in greater command of your day, and feel less stress.

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“Multi-tasking” is part of the modern-day lexicon.  In spite of scientific evidence to the contrary, people who multi-task “well” continue to be applauded as truly accomplished magicians by those of us who struggle whenever too many things compete for our attention.

The Proof’s in the Pudding

The reality is that no one multi-tasks well. Of course, some are better at it than others, but everyone is always less effective when trying to accomplish more than one thing at a time.  There are plenty of readers who will object to this position and begin citing examples of multi-tasking efficiency.  To prove my point, try this simple exercise that I learned from David Crenshaw’s terrific book “The Myth of Multi-Tasking.”

• Take out a piece of paper and a pencil or pen.
•  Think of a longer word, like “impossible” which has 10 letters.
•  On your paper create two lines of 10 dashes each, one over the other, like this:

____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____

____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____

• Find someone to time you or time yourself.
• When your timer says “Go!,” begin spelling the word “impossible” out on the top row while alternately indicating the number that letter represents in the word in the bottom row.  It’ll look like this mid-stream:

  I      M      P    ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____ ____

  1      2   ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____

• When you’re done with the exercise on this first pass, jot down how many seconds it took you to perform it.
• Now, setup the exercise exactly the same way as you did the first time, thus:

____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____

____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____

• This time just write the word “impossible” out straight through sequentially on the top line, then write the corresponding numbers each letter represents straight through on the bottom line, so that mid-stream it looks like this:

  I      M      P      O      S     S    ____  ____  ____

____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____  ____

This is a fairly simple example of doing two things at once - spelling and numbering.  In the dozens of situations I’ve used this exercise it routinely takes people about twice as long to complete the first pass as it takes to complete the second pass through.  The reason is simple enough, you have to refocus your mind on a different activity each time you switch between spelling and numbering in the first pass, but you don’t incur that “switch cost” in the second pass.

Through Clarity Comes Focus

With the urban myth about multi-tasking debunked, we can now get down to business.  And that business is how to truly increase your productivity and, in so doing, increase your command over your workload and your sense of success when getting more done.  We all feel better when we get something done, so why not benefit from that result on the career side as well?

Attempts to multi-task negatively affect our ability to focus.  Focus is at the core of productivity and accomplishment.  The more we can focus, the more we get done. 

Achieving and maintaining a high level of focus in the modern workplace is difficult indeed.  Distractions and interruptions abound, many of them self-imposed.  My work with clients often starts with unlearning numerous bad work habits that actually reduce focus and productivity even though they were promoted as more efficient!  Let’s focus on those, if you’ll pardon the pun.

One is not the Loneliest Number

The exercise above points out that focusing on a singular task is more productive than trying to alternate focus between two tasks.  If you have fallen prey to the multi-tasking myth but are now ready to move to a higher level of productivity and success, these suggestions will help:

• Identify TODAY’S One Thing.  Most of us have dozens of things on our to-do list with more coming in each day.  Of course, everything is an “emergency” with an “ASAP” deadline.  (Note, I have yet to find ASAP on any calendar, so I’m not sure how it can be a deadline, but that’s for another time.)  A simple way to retake command of your workload is to identify the ONE thing that you WILL get done TODAY.  You are determining that this is the very most important thing in your world for today.  Hold yourself to that commitment and start knocking things off your list that you’ve been “meaning to get to” now for days, weeks, and months.
• One Thing At A Time.  This may be obvious, but if you want to increase your focus, then focus on only one thing at a time.  You can accomplish this by doing several things to your workspace.  First, clear a space on your desk (your whole desktop?) into which nothing but your one thing will reside while you work on it.   Move your computer monitor away from this space so that it’s not a distraction or, if your one thing is on your computer, minimize all other screens and turn OFF your new e-mail alert.  Finally, place your phone on Do Not Disturb and close your door.  Now, you can actually DO one thing at a time!  Of course, return voice mails and e-mails as soon as you come back online, but I’ll guarantee you that you’ll get that one thing done faster if you follow this simple procedure.
• One More Thing.  At the end of each day right before you close everything up to go home do One More Thing.  One little thing - return an e-mail (ONE), a voice mail, put something away, send out a quick instruction.  If you do that every work day of the year, you will do over 200 more things this year than last!

Recalibrate Your Behavior to Regain Command

Over the last 10 to 15 years, the pace at which we receive information has grown in orders of magnitude.  The notion of multi-tasking arose as a method for handling all these inputs.  Unfortunately, we’re just not wired that way and attempts to accomplish more than one thing at a time actually reduce our productivity and increase our stress levels. 

Finding ways to increase our focus will not only increase our productivity, but it will return us to sense of command over our work and careers.  Give the suggestions above a try and I wish you the best of luck!

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Before getting started on the substance of this post, I must give credit where credit is due. Much of the conceptual framework for this post is based on a fabulous article penned by Mary Goulet and published in Speaker magazine in April 2008. I found the content so compelling and clearly stated that I wanted to share it with my readers. Any praise you have for that part of this material must definitely be directed to Ms. Goulet.

The Difficulty of Making Decisions

We all struggle with decisions. Whenever there are options presented to us, we must always choose a path down which to go or fail to choose, which is still making a decision. The attendant risks of decision making engender stress and confusion in everyone - the more important the choice, the greater the stress endured. Yet, day in and day out, we continue to make decisions and weave our way through life.

What if there was a better, more straight-forward way to make decisions? What if we could greatly reduce the anxiety we experience when faced with options - both in our personal and professional lives? What if we could train ourselves to be more effective and efficient (and accurate) in our decision making?

The Body Parts Involved

Of course, all decisions are “made” in the mind. However, Ms. Goulet smartly identified three separate parts of the body that participate in all decision making - both euphemistically and literally. They are the Head, the Heart and the Gut. Though we could quibble endlessly about whether “gut” is really “intuition” and “heart” is really “emotion,” I like the sharp physicality of Ms. Goulet’s selectiosn and will stick with them here.

The Head

The Head brings analytical thinking to the mix. What are the facts and what do they mean in this situation? What else do I need to know about this decision? How will this play out and what are the risks of failure? What are the benefits?

The conscious mind loves to delve into these details and turn them around and around to see what shakes out. In fact, analysis paralysis - getting so caught up in the analysis that no decision is made - can result from too much “figuring.”

There has been and will always be a place for analytical thinking. The most valuable application of this type of thinking is in discovering new things. In fact, I would posit that much of what is called inspiration is often the result of dogged analysis - How can I make this better? or What else could be done to improve this process?

The big risk the Head brings to leadership decision making is over-thinking the situation and engaging in inefficient (and often ineffective) analysis. Facts are facts. No amount of analyzing them will change them. All decisions are fraught with the risk of choosing the wrong option. An extended analysis of those facts/options does not measurably change the inherent risk in the choice. Fear must be overcome, not accepted.

The Heart

The Heart contributes emotion to the process. Our hopes, dreams, and desires all deserve a nod in most every decision - personal and professional. The problem with “listening to your heart” is that the Heart is fickle. Our emotions change constantly, day by day, minute by minute. If we actually listened to the Heart all the time, we’d end up with a different version of indecision - ping ponging back and forth between options.

The lack of clarity this communicates to others is very harmful in any group dynamic, either family or professional. It is also hugely inefficient as people begin reacting to one decision only to have a second, countermanding decision issue later. This occurs even within an individual as your efforts in one direction become largely wasted if a different direction is later chosen.

Success comes from moving forward in a single direction with a concerted effort. Succumbing to fickle emotion produces a lack of clarity and diminished results.

The Gut

This is the part of Ms. Goulet’s framework that I especially liked. For me, it turned on the proverbial light bulb. I experienced one of those epiphanic “Aha” moments that we all enjoy so much. Here’s what she said:

The Gut delivers the decision. There no fuss, no muss, just a decision. Many times it’s that very decision that the Head and the Heart are working so hard to overrule. In fact, much of the energy expended in decision making is actually the efforts of the Head and the Heart to change the Gut’s decision.

It can also be said that many of us lose the decision in this cacophony of noise created by the Head and the Heart! That is, the decision is usually short and sweet, terse even. Moreover, there are rarely fireworks involved because the decision is simply a choice. It’s not a discovery. Thus, all of the analysis and all of the histrionics associated with decision making can be categorized as subterfuge, an attempt to blur and obfuscate the underlying correct decision being proffered by the Gut.

Worse, though, are the consequences of falling victim to this game played by the Head and Heart. We’ve all made decisions we’ve regretted. Many of them were clearly wrong in hindsight. Yet, the logic or emotion at the moment of decision seemed so very clear! Our minds are powerful tools and they are weapons that we use against ourselves if care is not taken.

Five-Word Decisions

As stated above, most decisions are concise statements:

Let’s purchase it.
This is not a good opportunity.
She’s the right person.
I trust him.

In fact, by their very nature as choices between divergent paths, most decisions can be stated in less than five words. Consequently, we need to seek out the five-word answers our Gut is communicating to us whenever a decision must be made.

No fanfare accompanies these decisions. Yet, they are some of the most important decisions we make as leaders and humans. Getting caught up in the hysteria of decision making reduces our ability to make good decisions. Learning to listen to the Gut - that quiet, firm, clear provider of the path to take - takes some practice.  The most effective way to do this is to clear your mind (and physical world) of all distractions for just a minute or two. Then, instead of “thinking” about the decision, listen for the Gut to give it to you.

More Efficient, More Effective and Less Stressful

The benefits of learning to hear, then trust, your Gut’s decisions means that you’ll make those decisions more quickly, which is more efficient. You’ll also make them more firmly, which is more effective. And, finally, you’ll make them with less stress because of the trust you have developed in your Gut.

Will all those decisions be correct? Probably not, but they’ll be as or more often correct than the current mechanisms you’re using to make decisions and it will provide the additional benefits listed above in the process.

Good luck!

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We’re sure a twitter about social media! I guess that’s to be expected and, to some degree, it’s good that the early adopters are bringing the rest of us unwashed masses to the next great thing in the always-connected world.

Over the last six months I’ve investigated a large number of the new social media tools and their respective add-ons.  The effort hasn’t been exhaustive, but I feel I’m conversant on what social media is and how the basics work.  Throughout this investigation, my driving question has been:  Is social media a tool or a toy?  First, I’ll describe how I define these two terms then I’ll hold forth on the subject at large!

Defining “Tool” and ”Toy”

Whenever I set out to learn a new technology, my primary objective is to determine whether it will enhance my life in some way without costing me too many administrative cycles.  Most times, I find the administrative burden of adopting or adapting a new technology far outweighs the enhancement I perceive.  Thus, I rarely rush to the latest ”greatest thing ever.”

The second level of enhancement is to determine what type of enhancement is it:  Tool or Toy?  A Tool enhancement is a technology that will advance my professional efforts in some meaningful way.  For example, I recently started this blog because I felt that (a) blog platforms had matured enough technologically to provide me the communication options I sought and (b) my message was now refined enough to leverage the promise blogs bring.

Conversely, a Toy enhancement is something I enjoy doing in my free or personal time.  A great example of a technical toy I’ve adopted is Brickbreaker - the phone game originally available on the BlackBerry and now also available on the iPhone.  I enjoy this simple game, especially at the end of a long work day when I’m sitting in an airport and just want to focus on the challenge presented by the game for a while.

I have no bias towards one or the other, but I will admit that Toy enhancements have to be stronger (in terms of the level of enhancement they provide) because I value my personal time more.  Stated differently, when I have free time, there are already things I really enjoy doing.  Thus a new Toy has a high bar to reach before getting on the list of things to do during those periods.

Social Media is About Communication

First, before diving into my conclusion, let me first state my view that social media technologies are new communication tools.  Nothing more and nothing less.  So much hype surrounds the major players in this area, that this simple truth is often lost.

As a form of communication, it’s my opinion that users must define for themselves how they want to engage with the opportunity.  More specifically, the user should ask, “What is my purpose for communicating in this manner?”  Simply jumping in without an understanding of why you are doing so is a great way to waste your time - a resource in limited supply in everyone’s life.

The purposes for using social media are numerous - connecting with new people, re-connecting with old friends, self promotion, promotion of other people and other things, etc.  And you can decide to vary the substance of your communication between these myriad categories.  My advice is to simply think about why you’re doing it before launching to the mix.

But is it a Tool or a Toy?

My decision to engage with social media resulted from concluding that it was an enhancement to my professional life as a Tool.  Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or MySpace, I seek to communicate my content and message as a productivity consultant to people interested in what I have to offer.  That’s about 85% of how I use social media. The other 15% focuses on my love of fly fishing.

Because I determined that social media was of primary value to me as a Tool, I’m very selective about who I “follow” and “friend,” as well as the content I publish.  Because I’ve found a lot of content without substance in most of these platforms, I am quick to discard most of what streams by my screen.  However, I have also found a tremendous amount of valuable content and many fascinating people that I would have never found without this channel.

Does Social Media Enhance Life?

Absolutely.  However, social media is still in its emergent stages.  Like blogs, the technology platforms for social media have a lot of maturing to do before their long-term value can be established.  What is cetain, though, is like most of its communication predecessors, social media is here to stay.

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Want to know the best way to eliminate the interruptions that bombard you each day?  Simple:  Remove yourself from that environment.  It’s what I call sequestering.

Sequestering is what happens to juries when they aren’t physically present in the courtroom listening to the evidence during a trial.  They are secreted away and not allowed to communicate with the outside world.  This is done to prevent any influences other than the evidence from affecting their judgment.

In the world of productivity, the same concept can be applied to increase productivity.  The idea is to sequester yourself - go somewhere where the outside world cannot “influence” (or negatively affect) your productivity.  Where to go is pretty easy - somewhere that people can’t easily find you.  For example, go to a conference room or an empty office.  Go to the local library if it’s close or a small caucus room if your office has one.  The main objective is to secret yourself away from the normal hubbub of the office so you can focus on the things that need your attention right now.

What’s the length of time you can sequester yourself?  It varies depending on your workload and position.  The more you control your schedule, the longer you can be sequestered.  Regardless, the best way to make the most of this behavior is to do it for relatively short periods of time, e.g., one- or two-hour blocks.  Also, take only one or two things that need to get done and work solely on those items.  When you’re done with them, go back to your regular workspace.

Finally, keep your sequestering efforts as discrete as possible.  The whole idea is that no one knows how to find you during these periods.  When asked where you were, simply tell people you were taking care of business!

Go forth and produce!

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