Entries Tagged 'Stress' ↓

I came across this great article over on The Huffington Post today. It covers burnout, stress, time management, and attention management. At the end of the day, managing your attention span is a pretty important skill. Below is a great list to help manage attention.

1. Each evening or morning before you start your day, make a short list of your intentions (the result and feeling of something you want) for the day and by each, write the related to do’s for that day. Try to keep your list to 5 intentions. Consciously choose what you will do and what you will not do. Keep a different list of what you will review for inclusion on other days.

2. List only what you really expect to do that day. As other things come to mind, write them on a separate list. By putting these items on a separate list, you are creating the space to be in the moment with each of your day’s priorities. Review that list as you plan for the next day and determine how they fit in to your plans. Give yourself some down time, enjoy your successes at the end of the day.

3. Give yourself meaningful blocks of uninterrupted time to focus on each intention. Turn OFF technology each day during those blocks and focus on your intentions.

4. At home, be clear about what technology you’ll use and where. Computer in the kitchen? Maybe not. A friend of mine just removed the computer from her kitchen and said she is now far less likely to stop to constantly check email or news. In the kitchen, she pays attention to her family and prepares food. Sometimes they do group family activities at the kitchen table. When she heads into her office to work on her computer, her children know not to disturb her while she works.

Do you manage your time or your attention?

The good folks over at 37Signals have just posted a great blog entry focused on the evils of building a team of work-a-holics. I’m sure a lot of us have been there, and I’m the first to put a stop to building a culture based on 14+hr days as the norm.

1. Workaholics may well say that they enjoy those 14 hour days week after week, but despite their claims, working like that all month, all the time is not going to be sustainable. When the burnout crash comes, and it will, it’ll hit all the harder and according to Murphy at the least convenient time.

2. People who are workaholics are likely to attempt to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at the problem. If you’re dealing with people working with anything creatively that’s a deadbeat way to get great work done.

3. People who always work late makes the people who don’t feel inadequate for merely working reasonable hours. That’ll lead to guilt, misery, and poor morale. Worse, it’ll lead to ass-in-seat mentality where people will “stay late” out of obligation, but not really be productive.

4. If all you do is work, your value judgements are unlikely to be sound. Making good calls on “is it worth it?” is absolutely critical to great work. Missing out on life in general to put more hours in at the office screams “misguided values”.

5. Working with interesting people is more interesting than just working. If all you got going for your life is work, work, work, the good team-gelling lunches are going to be some pretty boring straight shop talk. Yawn. I’d much rather hear more about your whittling project, your last trek, how your garden is doing, or when you’ll get your flight certificate.

In my mind, you really want your team to work normal, reasonable hours so they can go home and have lives. That balance is critical to being a well rounded human. Additionally, there are times when a little extra effort is needed and it’s those RARE times that you want your team to step up and genuinely put forth the extra effort since it is a rare thing. The best teams I’ve worked on are balanced ones.

What’s your take on work-a-holics?

Over the years, I’ve found that people don’t take enough vacation. It’s been estimated that American’s leave an average of 4 vacation days un-used per year. When you consider that workplace stress and pressure is at an all time high and only creeping higher, this is a worrisome problem. Exhausted and burned out resources are not ideal for long term productivity.

As a manager it’s important to be on the lookout for folks in need of a vacation. Being able to sense when your top performers need a few days out of the office can be an invaluable skill. Despite the short term perception of lost productivity, the long term benefits are huge. It can be as simple as bookending a weekend with a couple vacation days to have a magical effect on many people.

The benefits of vacation are pretty obvious…

Stress reduction
Creativity booster
Morale reviver
Mental and physical replenishment
Personal satisfaction and happiness

With benefits like that, who wouldn’t want to take a vacation?

When thinking about vacation and making it a part of your team’s working environment, it’s important to remember that taking vacation and focusing on remaining fresh and motivated is a big part of being a damn good manager. If you are it can be very stressful and pressure filled. Don’t make the mistake of burying yourself unnecessarily. A big part of being a damn good manager is knowing when to take a break so you can remain on game.