My brother worked for a start-up and would work a full day's work, then come home for dinner and then head back to work. It was tough. Thankfully it was only temporary.
This makes sense for a season of life but you can't do it for the long haul. Parents know what this is like as small children drain you one moment and then make you laugh the next. College students also can relate as their bodies become accustomed to staying up late in order to get all of their work done. Push and pull.
But what if you weren't in one of those seasons of life? What if you just wanted to cut the crap and stop all of the busyness?
As posted recently by LifeHack, there are times when you just need to quit being so busy. Quoting Jared Latigo from the post:
We have to be intentional about the time we set aside to read. To watch TV. To check email. And everything else. We can very quickly fill our time with stuff if we’re not intentional about what we do.
How intentional are you with your schedule? Do you find that social media adds or detracts from your busyness?
At some point, most parents encourage their kids to travel to a strange place. It’s called “the high road” and children have no clue where it’s located.
We parents lump The High Road talk in with other famous bits of wisdom. These include, but I’m sure are not limited to the following:
-“Life’s not fair”
-“You have to roll with the punches”
-“People are like that”
-“We don’t do that in our house”
And my personal favorite:
-“Offer it up”
Taking The High Road is a great metaphor for parents when they face a situation that is hard to navigate. Exhibit A might include a 6th grade son who faces a classmate who is a royal pain in the neck. The High Road would translate into ignoring the other kid as often as possible.
Exhibit B could include the coach who uses a few choice words after the weekend baseball game, again showing his inability to motivate youngsters. The High Road might supplement dinner conversation with a pleasant, “Oh well, Coach Fisher won’t be your coach next year. There are only two games left in the season anyway.”
All of this is fine but does it hold water once you turn into an adult? Could it be that we should still Take The High Road when we are managing others, executing projects and maintaining standards?
This is where our faith comes in. I suggest at least a few moments when The High Road might be appropriate after all:
-You get a nasty email from a colleague. The High Road: go and see him/her personally to talk about it rather than fire back a “you’re an ass” email.
-You get steamrolled by a boss during a meeting. The High Road: file that moment away in your mental Black List and never forget it. That boss showed his/her true colors and you’ll be prepared the next time.
-You fall victim to something in the rumor mill. The High Road: rumors are basically uncontrollable and driven by people who crave weird information. Ignore the mill.
-Your assistant is late for three days in a row, citing elder care issues. The High Road: show some compassion and be supportive. After all, you’ll be old someday too.
Whether you are five or fifty five, The High Road still applies. This is not to say that you become a pushover or compromise your standards. Rather it means that you leave some room for God to step in and be a central part of your work.
Question: when was the last time that you took The High Road?
Would you like to reduce your weekend errands so that you have more time for your family or friends? Do you have a list of errands that you just wish someone else could do for you? Better yet, would you like to find a simpler way to organize your errands?
I hate errands. Actually if I'm honest, I really don't hate them. I just don't like it when they take up time that I'd rather spend doing something of more value. Stuff like being with Cary and the kids or working at school.
There are usually two kinds of errands:
those you can complete on your way to something else
those that take up dedicated, focused energy
It's the second kind that usually gets in the way. These errands are unique and time consuming. We tend to put them off because we either don't know how to tackle them or find them unpleasant.
I experience this about every three months. I blame the oil change light in my Toyota but really the blame falls on my shoulders.
For whatever reason, I haven't mastered the concept of the oil change. I get it done but typically about a thousand miles over when I should. I have a ton of excuses but most of them are lame (the garage is far from work, forgetfulness, the non-urgency of the task, etc.).
Besides the inconvenience of errands like an oil change, they typically don't produce a high level of joy or satisfaction. I mean, who truly loves another trip to Doug's Auto Garage?
So what to do?
This week we're inviting all readers (and listeners of the podcast) to take part in a reduction of errands. My kids think that this is totally nerdy but they actually are the ones who benefit the most from me doing less errands on the weekend.
Who really wants to spend 30-40% of their free time running errands? I know that I don't so here are some suggestions that can reduce your errands by 25% or more:
Hire a personal assistant: if your errands are digital (preparing taxes, scanning documents, etc.), why not hire a Virtual Assistant? With resources like ODesk.com or Elance.com, you can find a "V.A." in about 15 minutes at very low cost. If your errands are geographically dependent, you can find help through a resource like CraigsList.com or through word of mouth. Some might object that spending the money to have someone pick up your dry cleaning is wasteful but ask yourself, "What is my time really worth?" Hiring someone might free you up to spend time on better things. Mike Hyatt has a solid resource on the reasons for going V.A. in order to save you personal time on tasks. You may also be able to find a neighbor, a retired person or just someone looking for a few hours a week who could help you.
Buy more gift cards: think of all of the time that you spend trying to find that "perfect gift" for someone's birthday. I suggest skipping this and just buying a gift card or a gift certificate. This might not work for every situation but it is a super option more often than not. Best of all, it will save you a ton of time. I have a wedding coming up and while I wouldn't recommend a gift card in that situation, I'll be giving cash for sure.
Simplify your yard: look at it this way- you could spend two hours mowing your lawn or you could install some ornamental grasses and perennial flowers that require no maintenance and still look nice. The result- you only have to mow for one hour a week, saving you 40 hours a year. Now that's a trade-off worth making. The less maintenance, the better.
Simplify your wardrobe: most of us only need 5-10 different outfits for work and about the same for casual wear. Start by weeding out old stuff that you haven't worn in years. Then settle on a few brands that you like and invest in quality items. I like Joseph A. Bank for my dress clothes and Timberland for my casual clothes. This has saved me so much time and stress in that I don't have to shop for new items nearly as often because both brands design clothes to last for years.
Just don't do them: when all else fails, skip the errands. There is a cost to this for sure but you might actually get away with not doing some of the things that you dread and are taking up your valuable personal time. Use caution with this one but always ask yourself, "Do I really need to do that errand?"
What can you do this week to cut down on errands?
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Have you ever wandered into the grocery store and stopped, scratched your head and wondered what you needed in the first place?
Or, in a workplace scenario, have you ever been in a meeting and forgotten exactly what you wanted to talk about with the person on the other side of the table?
The problem isn't your brain or the store or the pad of paper in front of you.
The problem may lie in your ability to keep lists and then activate their content at the right time. After all, an idea may show up at the most random of times and escape you at precisely the moment when you need it most.
In this post, I'll be showing you how to use Apple's Reminders app and Siri work together to make your lists work for you. When your lists are on high octane and working well, your team will benefit all the more.
Here is where I posit an almost heretical thought: could Siri actually manage your team for you? Could an app do your work for you? Let’s find out.
Here are the steps involved:
1. If you haven't already, set up Reminders on your Mac or iOS device. This is easy and can be done by pulling up Reminders and creating some lists that will be easy to remember when you are on the go.
2. Set up a few, can't forget lists. In your personal life, this could be Grocery Store or even Walmart. For work, I recommend lists named after the person you manage. If you manage Barbara, create a list called Barbara. If you have someone report to you that has a super-difficult name, you may want to give him a code name as Siri can have difficulty with tough names. As Craig mentioned in a recent post, this list naming can become a game (which isn't a bad thing for your productivity).
3. Try it out on the go. You can watch my demo here using the iPhone as my input device.
4. Now test it out with a person that you manage. This is where the magic happens. Rather than try to remember what you wanted to talk about with Barbara, let your list in Reminders do the work for you. As I showed in the demo, my next team meeting regarding Saturday’s event has a reminder that I might have otherwise forgotten to mention while at the meeting.
I use Siri and Reminders every day. My team has no idea that I use both applications to keep organized and that's part of the fun. When technology makes you look smarter than you are, I’m all for it.
Back to my wild idea: could Siri manage your team for you? Probably not. There is no substitute for honest to goodness human interaction and deep down, we all know that teamwork isn’t built on an app, no matter how smooth it may be.
Siri along with Reminders does a great job of keeping you on task and putting your ideas in front of you when you need them most. As a manager of people, that’s another thing…
How are you using Siri in order to get things done?
Remember that phrase, "wait before you make a change"? It's true almost all of the time. Sure, if you've hit rock bottom and things look bleak, making a life change is something that should be done ASAP. But for situations related to work, it's usually a good idea to be patient and then, only later, make a change. My kids like to watch reruns of "My Strange Addiction" and we saw an episode last week in which a woman was eating dirt. Now that's a good opportunity for life change and fast. For the rest of life's ordinary circumstances, waiting will do just fine.
I've lived through leaders who make changes too quickly. The result is a skeptical audience. People start to think that you have an agenda. They ask, "are we not good enough?" They wonder, "were things really that awful that a change was necessary?" These questions often come out in the parking lot or at the local grocery store. For the leader unfortunately, they rarely get to her desk.
So why wait to make a change? Here are three reasons:
1. Patience still is a virtue. If you can take the Survivor mantra to heart, your leadership will flourish: outwit, outlast, outplay. You want to be in this for the long haul. You can wait, really you can.
2. Waiting allows you to learn people first. Let's face it, people matter more than anything else in your organization. Get to know them, go out to lunch with them, serve them, love them. Then and only then, begin to make your changes.
3. Slow now leads to fast later. If you can fight the urge to make changes too quickly, you'll be able to make the changes that are needed but in the right time. Think of your role as playing out over five years instead of one. Think of it as ten years instead of five. How do you want to leave it when you leave as opposed to right now?
Ask those that I serve and they'll tell you that I haven't lived these principles out perfectly. I regret some changes that I made when I made them. Now I know to be patient and wait. God will eventually provide windows of opportunity but you need to wait on His timing in order to gain His blessing.
Question: which decision have you made that you had wished that you had waited to make?
Have you ever walked into a store with the hope of getting a great deal? Or a car dealership? Usually that faint glimmer of hope starts with an ad in the paper.
I had one of those moments this past week when Cary and I were scheduled to get new eye glasses. The ad said "Two Pairs for $69 Including an Eye Exam". A friend had recommended the place and we picked up our perscriptions from Dr. Mackey and were off.
A half hour into the store and we had picked out our glasses. I typically dread this experience as the kids are getting increasingly antsy and I just want to get the thing over with. We sit down with Joe, the store rep and begin "The Process".
I'm familiar with The Process in car dealerships and I would rather have a root canal than purchase a new car anytime soon. An ad draws you into the place and your hope of a new, fresh, humane car buying experience is tangible. It quickly goes downhill and you begin to relive the last car buying experience you had (which was a nightmare). The rest is history. Why car dealerships don't change their model is beyond me.
Back to Joe and the eye glasses as he tells me, "Mike, I'm sorry but your perscription is out of date; today's deal won't apply unless of course you want two pairs of specs for yourself." Now, why would I want two pairs of glasses for myself? Only celebrities do that, I told myself. Why did Dr. Mackey send me off with an outdated perscription in the first place? Why won't Joe make an exception and send me away happy? Lots of questions and few answers.
Worst of all- why the heck did I just waste a half hour of my life?
I left Joe and his pretty shop pretty bummed. Cary got her glasses and I played the part of the good husband, telling her that "she really needed them more than I did anyway". Deep down though, I was seething. I just hate wasting time and this situation was all wrong.
Until I realized that in the big scheme of things, none of this mattered.
I wasted time, sure, but may have walked away with a few insights as a result. How do you and I deal with these minor disappointments that inevitably come up in any given week?
Affirm your own practice of time management. The fact that I hate wasting time is actually a sign that I take time management seriously. Does it bother you when someone kills an hour from your day for no good reason? It should if productivity is a value in your life.
Plan more carefully. While it's true that my eye doctor should have looked at the perscription more carefully before sending me off, it's my own fault for not having an up-to-date perscription. That's something I can fix.
Regroup, then regroup again. There was a commentary in America magazine a few weeks back about parenting being similar to managing an alien attack. You have to recalibrate your phaser guns over and over again in order to survive their attacks. What worked with your oldest child rarely is effective with your second or third. Dealing with disappointments is very much like this- breath, regroup and get your day back on track. You can do it.
Regroup and get your day back on track. You can do it.
4. Remember what matters most in life. While it's true that Joe, Dr. Mackey and a host of other characters sidetracked my calendar, I got to spend several hours with Cary and the kids and at the end of the day, who else would I want to spend my time with? In light of eternal salvation, family and friendship, that old advice still stands, "Don't sweat the small stuff."
One more thing- if you happen to pick out new eye glasses, the ones on the top shelf, third over from the right are mine. Don't even think about it.
