December 2009

This time of the year always seems to sneak up on us – we look up and suddenly Christmas is mere weeks away. Our calendars fill up as quickly as our to-do lists; there’s always more to do than hours in the day. Here are some ideas on how to get in control, feeling relaxed and calm.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season with family and friends.
Warm regards,
Karole

All I Kneaded to Know

I recently took a bread making class and ever since I have had a dough-filled fridge. Which is what was so interesting about the class. I've been making bread for years and thought I was well versed on the subject but I had lots of interesting things to learn. It’s not the ingredients that have changed; it’s our understanding of fermentation and our ability to take advantage of modern innovations like refrigeration which have changed bread making. Kneading is no longer necessary and dough rises in the fridge over several days where it develops complex flavours with a lot less work on the part of the baker.

Which got me thinking about how work has changed over the last 10 - 15 year; these changes mean that our old approaches to time management just don't cut it any more. Work doesn't show up as predictably as it once did. It used to be you'd create a memo or write a letter and send it off and not expect a response for days. But now we get phone calls from people asking if we've got their email yet and if so, why haven't we responded.

Like bread, the basic ingredients of work are still the same. We are all accountable for carrying out tasks and reaching goals. But the complexity and pace of work often means we don’t think about our work – we just react. And given the volume and range of information that comes at us in a day it often seems like we barely have time to address one issue before the next one pops up. How can we trust that we are working on the right things and spending our energy on the right tasks?

In his book Getting Things Done, David Allen has created a simple but effect method for getting control and perspective of work and life. His basic framework requires you to get things out of your head and into a trusted system. This way you know everything that has your attention so you can make the right choices about what to do rather than reacting to 'stuff' as it shows up.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a system to help you stay in control, feeling calm and effective no matter what shows up in your day?

IDEAS YOU CAN USE

1. Capture all your commitments: Have you ever asked someone else to “remind you to remember” or stuck a Post-It note on your computer screen in the hopes you wouldn't forget to pick up the dry cleaning on the way home? The scientific name for this is distributed cognition. Your brain knows its limitations and is trying to get the information into system other than short-term memory. The best approach, however, is to make sure you write down everything as soon as you have the thought. I carry around small index cards just for this purpose or have a notebook close at hand for writing down random thoughts and ideas. Not everything I write down is worthy of acting on but my brain trusts that I've captured the thought so it can relax. Keeping track of all your commitments in a trusted system means that you can make the right choice about what to do because you know you’ve got a complete inventory of everything that has your attention.
2. Get unstuck: We all face those projects or tasks that seem to defy us - they stare us down and stop us in our tracks. You just can't get started. Instead you fill the stapler, bake cinnamon buns, empty your recycling basket, look for old school friends on Facebook. The list of distractions can be endless. When you notice yourself putting off doing something that's your clue that the task isn’t sufficiently defined. Your brain is rebelling and rightly so. To get started you need to get really clear on what outcome you want to achieve. Many tasks on our to-do lists are vague - so vague we don't know where to start. So the first step to getting unstuck is to get clear on what you want to achieve – what would success look like in descriptive terms?
3. Break it down: Once you know "what done looks like" then you need to determine what the next action is - what's the next step you would take to get you toward that successful outcome. If you had nothing else to do and no other commitments what would you do to move forward on this project? That's your next action. The trick is to make sure it really is the next action and that you've broken it down into a small, doable chunk. What to do needs to be clear and attractive enough to make you want to do it. Sometimes a seemingly small task like “Call for estimates” isn’t the next action because it’s not broken down far enough. You might need to start by asking friends or colleagues for some recommendations on whom to call or you may need to gather some information, such as measurements or timing about the project you want to undertake. Until you define the next action you can’t get started. Small is beautiful when it comes to action lists.

Perhaps it’s time for you to rethink how you approach your work and take advantage of methods which help you get more done with less stress. Just as I learned that there’s no need to knead any more, you might benefit from taking a fresh look at your approach to personal productivity.

About the Sutherland Consulting Group
The Sutherland Consulting Group helps leaders create teams that get results by showing them how to leverage their personal strengths and the expertise of their team to improve collaboration, decision making and communication. We specialize in developing great teams and outstanding leaders.

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