The NW London Athena Blog

Running on the Hampster Wheel

These days we are measured by the results we deliver, and not the time we’ve spent delivering them. But there’s a distinction here; you need to be productive, not just busy.

Yet is it just a question of working harder and harder; or can we become more productive without burn-out?

Andrew, a Senior Manager in a manufacturing business, was feeling very harrassed and overwhelmed by the volume of work he was facing every day. I agreed that it can be really stressful as your quantity of e-mails, phone calls, paperwork and meetings grows larger and larger.

“I’m beginning to meet myself coming back” he told me. “I just can’t see how I can keep up with it all.”

“What does it feel like?” I asked him. “I feel like a hamster running on a wheel,” he replied. “It’s like I am busy getting nowhere.”

I asked Andrew to think of one thing he could give up that would make an immediate difference. This was a huge challenge for him, but in fact Fate took a hand as we found out at his next coaching session.

“There’s been a computer crash today, and all my emails have disappeared from my inbox”. Clearly he was very worried what would happen next. I encouraged him to reflect.

“So what is the learning here?” Although his IT department was able to restore his inbox quite quickly, Andrew was actually pleasantly surprised to find that he could exist for a whole morning without being busy with emails. Things got sorted without him; and if something was important, people contacted him by other means.

We were able to reframe this accident into a very useful learning experience. I asked him to consider when he was most reflective, most productive and most communicative.

“How do you actually feel when you first sit down at your desk in the morning?” I asked him. Andrew said he felt harrassed, unclear and driven. Clearly leaping into action was not the best thing for Andrew to be doing first thing in the morning.

As a Senior Manager, Andrew needs to keep up to date with new trends, standards etc. He agreed that he would be better focusing on reading reports in the morning, when he was at his most reflective.

My Coach’s Challenge was for Andrew to create a “Stop Doing” list, as Jim Collins
suggests in Good to Great (Harper Collins 2001).

Andrew decided to stop answering unnecessary emails, immediately reducing the volume of emails in his Inbox. He also stopped having an open door until 10.00 am, helping him protect his reflective time without interruptions.

Andrew’s new approach to his work routine, and his Stop Doing list worked really well for him, and he is now feeling less driven and more relaxed, and is indeed more productive. “Working smarter rather than harder” is now his motto!

As a coach, I have found that “I am too busy” can hide a multitude of subconscious.

Here are some of the hidden messages behind being “too busy”:

• Not facing up to something; avoidance
• Believing you are indispensable
• Inability to delegate
• Trying to prove something
• Confusing action with results
• A belief in Struggle
• Putting your own needs last
• Having no definite aim or purpose

What is one thing that you could put on your Stop Doing list today?

Writer’s Note: as a business coach, I am committed to professional ethics and standards regarding client confidentiality. The above characters and conversations are entirely fictional, although the issues and coach approach are taken from real life.

You may distribute or reprint this article in an e-zine or website, as long as you do so as-is without any changes. It must contain the information about the author and any links must remain intact. Copyright entire contents 2007 by Lisa Rossetti. All rights reserved.

You can contact Lisa on info@positivelives.co.uk or via her website:
http://www.positivelives.co.uk

Rediscovering the Spark

I found this article on the Experts Online website and thought it was good advice for all of us as well as being and excellent opening for our new Blog.

Andi

Rediscovering the Spark

How to Enjoy Running Your Business Again

Carol came to me feeling stressed out and unhappy. Her legal business seemed to be thriving, but she was not. “When I first started working for myself, it was like a new freedom. I was full of energy. Now I have to work all hours, and I feel exhausted.”

Clearly Carol’s emotional and physical energies were very low. She needed more energy, to “rediscover the spark” again.

Carol told me about a typical working day. Sadly, she had given up the 9-5 for something more demanding. “It’s more like 7-11 these days,” she said. Lunch was a packet of crisps, sometimes a sandwich eaten in the car on the motorway. “I am just a small business. I feel like I can’t stop or I will go under.”

I asked Carol more about what her ideal business would look like. After all, she had once been inspired to take the bold step of setting up her practice. Could she reconnect with her earlier motivation and vision?

“I guess I wanted the freedom to organise my life how I wanted,” Carol said. “What’s stopping you?” I asked her. “Well, I guess relaxation and enjoying yourself just aren’t real life.” I sensed her disappointment.

Unfortunately, she had been influenced by the “moan and groan” brigade, the business old-timers who seemed to delight in tales of struggle and bare survival. Together we identified that Carol had a “Gremlin”©, an inner critic that believed she didn’t deserve success unless she was chained to her desk for hours at an end in a gruelling routine. Carol called her Gremlin “Old Misery Guts”.

To free herself from Old Misery Guts, Carol agreed to get up at 6.30 am and go for a walk, swim or run. Then come home for breakfast and start work at 8 am. She would start by planning her day and writing down the one most important and most productive task to be accomplished that day.

She would build in time for a healthy lunch, and also take a half hour break to “switch off” with a magazine or music around 3 pm. “My Coach’s Challenge to you, is that you also switch off your computer and your mobile at 3pm. Just for that half hour.” Carol agreed to do this. We also looked at when Carol was at her most productive. “Definitely in the morning around 8 am, “she said. “I think more clearly then.”

“How could you do less each day?” I asked. Carol was amazed. “If I do less, then surely I will be less productive?” “What is the one thing you could do, to be more productive?” I wanted Carol to understand the fundamental principle of the Daily Core Task. By planning and focusing one the Daily Core Task, Carol was able to accomplish a lot by the end of the week without trying to run ahead of herself and get exhausted.

Carol found her energy levels improved. Daily planning first thing in the morning helped her focus on her most important tasks every day. Her health was better, her insomnia vanished. “I wouldn’t have believed that just a few simple tweaks here and there could make such a the difference,” Carol was delighted to be back on form. “I never realised that investing in my physical and emotional energy is as much part of my business success as investing resources or money.”

If you feel drained and have lost your spark of enthusiasm for your business, try what Carol did:
1. She was creative and flexible with her daily schedule, to suit her needs
2. She prioritised exercise, good nutrition and relaxation
3. She focused on The Daily Core Task for her business.
4. She identified her inner critic who was holding her back.

Writer’s Note: as a business coach, I am committed to professional ethics and standards regarding client confidentiality. The above characters and conversations are entirely fictional, although the issues and coach approach are taken from real life. You may distribute or reprint this article in an e-zine or website, as long as you do so as-is without any changes. It must contain the information about the author and any links must remain intact.

Copyright entire contents 2007 by Lisa Rossetti. All rights reserved.
You can contact Lisa on info@positivelives.co.uk or via her website:
http://www.positivelives.co.uk
© Rick Carson; Taming Your Gremlin; www.tamingyourgremlin.com