Downtime...

Downtime can dramatically improve mental and physical health and our personal relationships. So how can you better use downtime?

Clearly schedule your time: schedule evenings off, one to two days a week free of work, and weeklong chunks of vacation every year.

Allow for ad hoc downtime when you need it: If you're feeling stuck on a problem, frustrated, or simply tired of sitting down, take 10 minutes to walk, read for fun, or grab coffee with a friend to clear your mind.

Shut off your smartphone: Constant interconnectedness is a stressor. Find ways to create clear boundaries between work and life.

Create rituals and routines: SCreate rituals and routines that signal to your mind that it's time to start work, leave work, meditate, or engage with family.

It can be hard to carve out space for downtime in a 24/7 world. But it's precisely this chaos that requires the knowledge worker of the twenty-first century to be more vigilant than ever about cultivating the discipline to use downtime when the moment calls for it. 

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New Year Stress Redux!

Welcome to the 2013 Work Year!

It is more or less impossible to be any kind of professional these days and not experience frequent bouts of intense stress. The difference between those who are successful and those who aren't is not whether or not you suffer from stress, but how you deal with it when you do.  Here are nine scientifically-proven strategies for defeating stress whenever it strikes. (Source: HEIDIGRANT HALVORSON, HBR.)

1. Have self-compassion.  Self-compassion, in essence, cutting yourself some slack.

2. Remember the "Big Picture."  Anything you need or want to do can be thought of in more than one way. So when staying that extra hour at work at the end of an exhausting day is thought of as "helping my career" rather than "answering emails for 60 more minutes," you'll be much more likely to want to stay put and work hard.

3. Rely on routines.  Reduce the number of decisions (tiring and stressful activity) you need to make by using routines. You need to focus your decision-making energy.

4. Take five (or ten) minutes to do something you find interesting.  Keep these two very important points in mind: First, interesting is not the same thing as pleasant, fun, or relaxing (though they are certainly not mutually exclusive.) It needs to be interesting or it won't replenish your energy.  Second, interesting does not have to mean effortless. Interest replenished energy showed that it did so even when the interesting task was difficult and required effort.

5. Add where and when to your to-do list.  Do you have a to-do list?  Deciding in advance when and where you will complete a task (e.g., "If it is 4pm, then I will return any phone calls I should return today") can double or triple your chances of actually doing it.  So take the tasks on your to-do list, and add a specific when and where to each.

6. Use if-thens for positive self-talk.  Another way to combat stress using if-then plans is to direct them at the experience of stress itself, rather than at its causes. For instance, "If I see lots of emails in my Inbox, then I will stay calm and relaxed," or, "If a deadline is approaching, then I will keep a cool head."

7. See your work in terms of progress, not perfection.  A Get-Better mindset leads instead to self-comparison and a concern with making progress — how well are you doing today, compared with how you did yesterday, last month, or last year? (vs. be-good which you compare to others, causing stress). When you think about what you are doing in terms of learning and improving, accepting that you may make some mistakes along the way, you experience far less stress, and you stay motivated despite the setbacks that might occur.

8. Think about the progress that you've already made.  It's the "small wins" that keep us going, particularly in the face of stressors.

9. Know whether optimism or defensive pessimism works for you.  What's your motivational style, and is "staying positive" right for you?  Some people think of their jobs as opportunities for achievement and accomplishment — they have what psychologists call a promotion focus. In the language of economics, promotion focus is all about maximizing gains and avoiding missed opportunities. For others, doing a job well is about security, about not losing the positions they've worked so hard for. This prevention focus places the emphasis on avoiding danger, fulfilling responsibilities, and doing what feel you ought to do. In economic terms, it's about minimizing losses, trying to hang on to what you've got.  Start by identifying your focus, and then embrace either the sunny outlook or the hearty skepticism that will reduce your stress and keep you performing at your best.

Opportunity Identification

Simply asking "what job is the customer trying to get done?"  forces you to go beyond superficial demographic markers and to zero in on frustrations and desires that motivate purchase and use.  I think that in everyday life, you can substitute  “person”  for “customer” and end at motivate.

Seductive simplicity hides a rich, robust set of opportunity identification tools: the five Cs of opportunity identification.

1.       Circumstance. 

2.       Context.

3.       Constraints. 

4.       Compensating behaviors. 

5.       Criteria. 

We all look at things through functional, emotional, and social lenses.

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Stressed?

The same reason most of us get stressed: frustrated expectations. Rob had an important call to make and his cell phone wasn't working. He was experiencing the gap between what he expected to happen and what was actually happening. That's the underlying cause of stress and it's afflicting us more these days than ever because our expectations keep rising, thanks in part to exponential improvements in our technology.

So what can you do about the stress and frustration that comes from unmet expectations? You have two choices: Either change the reality around you or change your expectations.

Trying to change reality isn't usually a stress reliever, it's a stress creator. A small thing — like changing a seat on an airplane — can be such a pain that even if it works it's often not worth the struggle. And the bigger things — like getting more accomplished in a day — can be even more frustrating.

Which leaves us with the best strategy for reducing stress: Change your expectations.  In other words, get used to not getting what you want. I know this isn't consistent with the kind of go-get-'em attitude most of us have been taught to embrace. But most of the time, fighting reality is not worth the effort. Either you can't change what's around you, or the fight is more stressful than the reward.  If changing your expectations proves too hard, your next best move is to get some perspective.

Imagine a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the worst reality you can imagine. Like living in a war zone or being in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Maybe 9 is a serious illness that most probably will result in death. Perhaps 8 is something that will forever alter your life, like going to jail or an accident that puts you in a wheelchair. Let's say 7 is something that temporarily alters your life like losing your job or having to move out of a home you can no longer afford.

Almost everything we freak out about is somewhere in the 1-2 range of dashed expectations. In other words, our moods and our stress levels are determined by events that actually matter remarkably little. 

So sit back, take a deep breath, and put things in the proper perspective.

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Introverts Guide to Networking

I know that I am an introvert, but after I graduated college, quickly learned that I could not be that way at work.  I developed a work persona that is more outgoing.  I also learned that I had to keep my smart-ass bottled up.  It has worked pretty well for me, but I still am not one to go to mixers and business events to socialize.  I stumbled upon the below article details related to introverts and networking.

Here's what worked for the author of “The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership”:

I learned to appreciate my introversion rather than repudiate it.

I have met so many introverts in business who talk about introversion as if it's a malady that one must get over in order to be successful. This is wrong. Introversion is simply a preference for the inner world of ideas because this is where we get our energy. By understanding and accepting this preference, introverts can optimize time spent with their ideas to refine them and recharge. This allows them to be as powerful and persuasive as possible when networking situations arise.

I recognized that one-on-one conversations would be my lifeline during networking. Generally speaking, business events — and particularly networking events that require engaging with groups — are demanding for introverts. An antidote to this, I learned, is to seek out conversations with one individual at a time. When I approach events this way I have more productive conversations and form better business relationships — and I'm less drained by the experience.

I stopped being afraid to be the one to reach out.

My inner introvert used to think that making the effort to introduce myself was risky. I worried that my target would not be interested in talking with me or that I would make them uncomfortable. I learned over time that when I extended my hand with a smile and an introduction my effort would be reciprocated, even when I approached executives above my rank.

I learned to prioritize time to re-energize.

While it can be tempting to go from a networking lunch right back to work, or from a networking cocktail event right to a dinner, if you're an introvert and you do that you won't be able to bring your best self to your next commitment. Take the time to recharge, whether by walking from the lunch back to work, or by finding 30 minutes alone between cocktails and dinner.

Introverts who avoid networking are making a critical career mistake. Being an adroit networker is non-negotiable — and not as hard as it might seem.

If you're an introvert, what networking strategies have you found that work?

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Time for Time?

François Mitterrand used to say. "Give time for time." The notion being that you need to make time in order to appreciate the ultimate gift we have been given: time on this earth. Every day, we make conscious and less conscious choices on time allocation.

Most of us will spend more than one-third of our lives and more than half of our waking adult hours in our workplaces. A natural concern, and one worthy of a New Year's reflection and resolution, is how can we be better, more honest and more efficient with that time. Here are five gut-check questions to see if you are making the greatest impact with your work time:

1. Are you working towards a purpose?


2. Are you running hard, but not getting ahead?

3. Have you done a calendar audit lately? Do you have a real sense of where you spend your time?


4. Are you booking sufficient think time? For most meetings there is at least a 1:2 ratio of prep time to meeting time, and it can go upwards of 20:1. If a meeting is an hour you probably need 30 minutes to prepare. For critical meetings you may need 20 hours of preparation for each hour.

5. Are you multi-tasking your way to lower productivity? Focus on the task at hand when you have scheduled the time to do so.


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Honesty In The Workplace

Honestly, you'd like to beat the other person over the head with your briefcase.


Possibly, you walk out with a sliver of dignity, promising yourself you will never put up with that sort of abuse again.


Actually, you force a smile, avoid eye contact and tell the client, through gritted teeth, that you look forward to getting their feedback.


Ideally, you detach for a moment, taking in the measure of the man, smile graciously, extending your hand and saying you'll be interested to see how things progress. You walk out feeling that you have demonstrated grace under pressure, maintaining your dignity and your status.


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Change Shaper

Five Questions That Should Shape Any Change Program

1) Where do we want to go? Sounds simple, but answering this question for both performance and health means setting an aspiration at the intersection of where opportunities exist, what capabilities you have, and where you are passionate about making a difference. 

2) How ready are we to get started? Leaders of most failed change programs we've seen moved straight from aspiration to action. But you can't know what actions to take if you don't have a clear view of the capabilities and mindsets you'll need to develop to make the change stick.

3. What practical steps do we need to take? We've found that leaders need to be as clear about what the company won't do anymore as about what it will do to improve both performance and health. 

4. How do we manage the journey? Implementing a portfolio of performance initiatives can take different forms — everything from running pilots to 'big bang' roll outs. But too often leaders underestimate the amount of energy that is needed to roll out large scale change. 

5. How do we keep moving forward? Those few leaders who actually reach their performance goal too often see it as the end of the road, and don't plan a transition to a period of continuous improvement. This creates a risk that you won't be able to sustain the impact it's achieved. 

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