Five Good Tips For Busy People

"Unless you are an hourly worker in America, boundaries between work and leisure are dead. Work bleeds into life, and life bleeds into work. People have the smart phone, aka the “digital leash”. Work will never be the same. It’s already gone."

          Kris Dunn, VP of People, DAXKO, The Blurring Line Between Work and Life

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Kris and the group speak the truth. We all know it although we may not like it.

So, what do you do to "mesh" the elements of your life without it becoming blurry. I'm not a fan of blurry; clarity yields a more peaceful lifestyle.

So, as I head off to sunny (hopefully) Florida to moderate a Learning panel at IQPC Corporate University week, I'm thinking about personal blurriness and how to clear it up.

Here are 5 Tips that work for me and I believe will do the same for you:

1. Scrutinize Meetings: Look at every invitation skeptically. If there's no clear agenda, stated ending time, or no purpose that involves your own purpose, "no" would be the right response. BTW: A lot of people would rather avoid the "no" and believe they can sit in the back and work unassumingly on something else. Nah, doesn't fly--and, it's not very courteous.

2. Learn when to stop: There's a fascinating dynamic at work here: the more pressure we feel the more we tend to hunker down and work even harder and longer. Harder and longer usually lead to working past the point where we're 100% attentive. The result: Reduced, or little, effectiveness.  And, it often requires going back and doing the work all over again.

3. Do take time:  to accurately convey your thoughts to others. How easy it is to rattle off instructions by phone or email when we're hassled. The result? Discovering (too late) that someone responsible for a key part of your project misunderstood what you said you wanted.

Accurate communication is always a time-saver over the long run.

4. How many ways can you learn to say "No!"? Develop at least a half dozen polite variations until you can say them on cue.. Then use them. A lot.

The best way to prevent personal overload is to stop saying "Yes" to requests.

Oh, the person requesting your time is your boss? Here's what to do: seriously and politely ask for clear priorities and explain that you need to know what to drop to make room for the new assignment. I think you'll be surprised at how often this will prompt your boss to reconsider the work assignment; and, (s)he will realize that your request has been helpful in clearing up departmental priorities.

5. Consider Consequences. Think ahead, and not just about what you want to see happen. 

Business folks are, by nature, results driven. "Driven" can lure us into focusing only on the goal and forgetting about the fact that bad things can happen. Tight deadlines can really be an enemy to ignoring risks. Rushing into action without counting the cost can prove to be the most costly way of operating.

What could go wrong and what will you do if it does? An ounce of prevention. . .

Off to Orlando in the (too) early a.m. Will try not to do the next post from the back of the room!

Related reading for busy people:

• Leadership: When "No" Is More Important Than "Yes"

• How To Influence Up
  

Comments

[Wally Bock]

I love the part about practicing different polite ways to say, "no." I also encourage "technology-free" time when the Blackberry and the email are off.

[Steve Roesler]

Wally,

Does that technology-free thing work out? I've seen announcements made in meetings, nuclear power plants and in the cardio room at the fitness center. Seems as if there's always someone who believes that life is empty without a phone call or a text message.

[Chris Witt]

As someone who "works from home" I long ago accepted the fact that the "boundaries between work and leisure are dead." I denied it at first, then hated it, and did all the other stages of death and dying. Now I simply live with it. The skill I'm working on -- to preserve both my sanity and my creativity -- is to focus, to be as fully present to what I'm doing at the moment I'm doing it.

[Steve Roesler]

Chris,

Hadn't thought of it, but those of us who have a home office that we occupy regularly have dealt with this for a long time.

"Preserving sanity and creativity" is a terrific line and, truth be told, a universal challenge in this situation.

Aside: I've found that the biggest challenge when working at home is looking out the window. Summer: cut the lawn. Autumn: rake the leaves. Winter: Shovel the snow. Spring: What the heck am I doing sitting here working in the office?

As always, thanks, Chris.