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Three Ways to KISS – Keeping it Short & Simple

Friday, July 29, 2011

Our workdays are bombarded by endless interruptions and distractions.  They cause us to lose focus, feel more stressed, and reduce our productivity.  Much of my work centers on ways to create quieter work environments (internally as well as externally) so that people can get more focused, get more done, and get more work/life balance.

Once we can quiet the cacophony of the modern work place, the next point of attack is to increase productivity (and it’s cousin – sense of accomplishment) by making the way we actually get work done more efficient.  And, like most things, it’s all been done before.

Texting is Great Practice for Good Communication

Much lamenting is heard about texting.  How we are “disengaging” from our surroundings to remain digitally linked to persons distant.  We also talk about how our use of the English language is suffering from the cryptic abbreviations used in texts.  And let’s not forget the ~ping~ that sounds each time a new text arrives.

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Deadline Setting is a Team Sport

Monday, July 11, 2011

Urgent!  Top Priority!  A.S.A.P. These are the deadlines routinely issued today by superiors, customers and clients.  Whether issued in the Subject line of an e-mail, the closing minutes of a meeting or via a voice mail, these mandates suggest that all current activity must stop immediately and that full attention be directed the new assignment.

The problem with this type of deadline setting is that it has become common place and is attached to all manner of work delegation – both urgent and … well … less than urgent (to be polite).   The quandaries this behavior creates are numerous:

  • If I have five “Urgents” on my to-do list, which one do I do first?
  • Why is an assignment recipient being asked to shoulder the responsibility of gleaning the true deadline in play on any particular piece of work?
  • Isn’t deadline setting a managerial responsibility most logically expected of the assignment giver?
  • And, if the assignment giver is just shoving the assignment downstream in the same manner it was received from above, doesn’t this notion of who’s responsibility it is to determine an actual due date and time even more pressing?

Lazy Deadlining

Lazy Deadlining is what it is.  Work givers using these deadlines at all levels have simply abdicated their responsibility to determine when a specific piece of work must actually be accomplished.

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Making Time is Easy Once the Priorities are Established

Sunday, May 22, 2011

I was recently on a week-long business trip.  My schedule was booked solid with meetings both at my online business – Outdoorplay, Inc. – and with my QuietSpacing® clients.  Just another week in the modern world … before the call came in …

The Call

Me (seeing it’s my mom on caller ID):  Hi!  How are you doing?

Mom:   Not so good.

Me (sitting straight up because (a) this is never the response I get and (b) my father is 86):   What’s going on?

Mom (sounding very discombobulated):  They’re admitting your father to the hospital because they don’t know what’s wrong with him.

The remainder of the conversation covered the events that led up to my father’s admission to the hospital.

The Situation

Turns out my father had gall stones and one had become embedded in his digestive tract causing an infection.  This is a painful condition but not generally life threatening, unless you’re in your mid-80s.

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Productivity and Happiness Lessons from Plato and Ben Franklin

Monday, May 16, 2011

 Editors note:  This is a guest post by Chris Tuttle. Chris is an avid cyclist who focuses his intellectual property legal practice on cycling and the outdoor recreation businesses.

I just got done with a great read – Hamlet’s BlackBerry by William Powers.  Every page is filled with QuietSpacing® wisdom.  Before sharing specifics, a couple words on terminology.  This book is about the often dysfunctional relationship we have with the “screens” in our lives.  Desktop PCs, handheld smartphones, laptops, iPads, etc.  Any electronic device can be a “screen.”  The unexamined axiom of our times is that we and our screens should be connected as much as possible, all the time.  Connection = good, disconnected = bad.  But when we are connected, there is no quiet, there is no space.  If our lives and screens are connected 24-7, the promise of QuietSpacing (a more productive and happier life) will forever be out of reach. 

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