Overload! Our Choice to manage! TBT!

Here are some observations / thoughts..

• Last week on vacation, I saw 4 people were sitting at a dinner table in a restaurant. 3 of them were playing with their iphones/smart phones for almost the entire time they sat there over the course of the meal.  
• Michael Dell said that in 2020, we will be creating 35 times as much data as in 2010.
• Mark Hurd of Oracle said that more data will be created in the next 4 years than in the history of the planet
• Eric Schmitdt of Google says we create as much data now in two days as was created between the dawn of time and 2003. 
• Studies indicate 2.8 hours per day are lost to non-important interruptions and recovery time required to get back on track.
• Every time I do a time management workshop (called Time Choices), Email quantity, 24/7 availability with email and interruptions by others are perceived as the major time eaters that need to be addressed.
• And then there are the studies that show the quality of what we pay attention to is changing:  in 1970, 39% of the US TV news was global in nature, now it is 12%. 

Where are we going with all this?  Does all this data (and perhaps information) make us happier, more balanced and more successfull in our lives?

Thinking about this, makes me realise how careful I need to be:r (a) managing the input I receive; (b) managing the output I create for others..... Is another news letter really what is needed in this world ? (c) focus on this topic in the Time Choices workshop needs ramped up.

Thanks to the www.worklifebalance.com for bringing this up.

(TBT = Think before Tweeting)

Great video from David Allen - Guru of DOING

Watched this video from David Allen at a DO conference (what a super idea!).

The ideas he says are:

• Pay attention to what has your attention ("scratch your itch")
• Decide outcomes desired, next actions required
• Free your psyche with a trusted system
• Share these ideas

This is so interesting, for 2 reasons.

1. First, I almost avoided David Allen's work (despite some great ideas for the system of managing one's time) because I found people get SO caught up in the system that it takes over the psyche! Managing and improving the system becomes the itch. This video - makes it clear to me that is not his intent and that is just a pitfall to know and avoid.
2. Secondly, this is so close to the coaching I do.... This set of beliefs is the corner stone of Best Year Yet's program, the first program I was attracted to in the coaching world, it is the corner stone of the Time Choices program I run (with all these great time management systems available, how come nobody has any time anymore...), it is in fact, the basis of most coaching interventions for most coaches, including myself!

Well - this motivated me to continue to scratch my itch to support others, and to continually improve my life in this way (am going through a bit of a change at the moment - trying to find a new type / level of balance so I keep focusing on what is important). Hopefully it will help you too!

Deeper thoughts about changing behaviour

It is interesting how growth and change happen...

Deepak Chopra has just summerised and clarified for me - two concepts I have been seeing and feeling through my coaching and especially in my time choices workshops, in his book "Reinventing the body, Resurrecting the soul". At the same time - I have been reading about neuroscience and how the latest research in that area can enlighten my coaching skills also... and it is all coming together! Neat!

Making change happen
He says there are 3 steps or options one can take to make change happen.
1. Reflection - Reflecting on what is working, what is not working, what should be different. Recognising the problem.
2. Contemplation - thinking about the issue bothering you, letting your mind wander over the issue, never getting too focused on any one detail.
3. Meditation - helping the change happen at a deeper level by getting back in connection with yourself.

My workshops and coaching approach is full of self reflection and contemplation and I think this is partly why they work ... so my challenge now is to do more of those things purposefully and to include meditation (also for myself).

Importance of getting rid of Procrastination
When I started doing the Time Choices workshop, it was a time management workshop with a coach approach and I have continued to make it more and more a coaching experience. One of the subjects we talk about is Procrastination and its negative effects, and how to change... Deepak Chopra takes this concept further and deeply connects procrastination to ill health. I can see from the discussions we have in the workshops about procrastination that it trully hurts people and the results they want from life, and this, combined with what Deepak Chopra's book proposes, suggests perhaps I need to re-order my workshop and give more "time" to reflection, contemplation and meditation on this subject.

What is your big picture plan for the year?

How do you do your calender for 2010?

Somebody (a fellow independant coach) asked me this recently and here is my reply:

My partner (ie. Husband) and I plan our vacations first in the calender. The big trips with planes required get booked, the ski touring gets booked and the rest is mapped out for the year.

Technically, this means we pay the booked trips, and put all (the booked and the mapped/tentataive stuff) of this in Outlook, which synchs with my phone so I have the updated version always with me. We also write it on our master calender in the hall (near the fixed phone line) where we both put all our commitments.

Then.... I fill in the inbetween sections with work. Sometimes that means a little juggling happens (a great workshop opportunitiy happens just when we should be hiking) so we find a solution that allows us to do both things.

These work sessions (even the 1 hour coachings and teleconferences) get noted also on the wall calender... (if anybody has found a lovely big calender that goes by month that has big boxes for writing all our commitments in, I would be a taker!).

This way... we live our priorities... First - vacation (after health of course), Second -Work.

We are now trying to make Mondays our "office day" - paying bills, teleconferences, filing, other admin etc.. but that is not working so well yet... might need to go back to the drawing board on that one :-).

Successful Time management is a contant work in progress!

How do we develop Self Discipline?

Just read an interesting articles in the Science Daily newsletter. Apparently, researchers have found out that self discipline increases when we surround ourselves with people who have lots of it and decreases when we surround ourselves with people that have less of it than we do. Interesting!!! So... if you need more self discipline, what one change can you make?

Meetings - a time saver?

I have been reading "Death by Meeting" by Patrick Lencioni. 3 key learnings came of out this book for me.

1. Enterprises are social organisations. (I know... this seems obvious..but..)
2. Purposefully plan different types of meetings, which are run differently
3. Well run meetings are actually a time saver!

1. Enterprises are social organisations. In management, we get things done through people. This means, people need to communicate with people! What better way than to have everybody in the same room/meeting. Meetings are / should be - how we get things done! So, it really behoves all of us to make them as useful as possible! So, seeing meetings as the heart of getting things done, could change your approach to meetings.

2. Depending on the purpose of the meeting, it should have a different format and be run differently and all of this should be part of the company culture. I always knew there should be different types of meetings, but I ran them all in more or less the same way: Strict agenda, timed discussion, end on time, as little conflict as possible (ie. steam roller people into agreeing with me). So, here the key learning for me is two fold: (a) generate conflict in meetings to get thoughts out on the table and (b) run different types of meeting differently (the agenda is not king!).

3. Meetings are a time saver: Think about how much time you spend after a meeting following up on things that happened or were discussed/not discussed but should have been in the meeitng, to get alignment, clarity, action. If we could organise the meetings better, all that time spent following up, resolving differences - could be saved!

Interesting approach -challenging us to change our attitude to meetings!

Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Killer To Do Lists

I have an ideal life: Get to spend a LOT of time doing great vacations (ski mountaineering, cross country skiing, hiking, biking, horse-riding etc..), have a great marriage, live in an outstanding place in the mountains, in great health, and have a fantastic job (coach and facilitator). Yet.... there are times I really hit rock bottom, the world is black, bad and going to hell rapidly and I sink into the black hole of dispair, self hate and self pity! W hat makes this all the worse, is that I really do have this great life... so all of these black hole expeditions are all in my head!!!

It usually happens when I am tired (no suprises there..), have many external demands on my time (most of which of course I initiated) and encounter a few obstacles.

So.. why do I get so tired? Well... my theory is the TO DO list. I am the queen of todo lists... When I have a lot to do and a lot on my mind, I follow my own time management advise and make prioritised to do lists. So far so good you might think. Well, wrong. First there is the size of the TO DO list - one full page, 2 columns (that is a lot of items,,even if they are priortised!). Then, secondly, the TO DO list turns into my MUST DO BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY list and I get driven to do as many things on it as possible. So, I work away, diligently crossing off things as I get them done, forgetting meals and other self care things and by 18.00 I am shattered, flop on the sofa with the cat, and feel incredibly guilty I am not working on my to do list. So, the next day, I try to get up early and start all over again and the vicious cycle continues. I begin to feel a loss of freedom, snap at my husband and the cat and I slip further and further into that darn black hole.

The good news is that I do have moments of realisation that this is happening (see the beetroot article below). The bad news is that somehow, that does not help me pull myself out it.

So... this behaviour just does not fit with this new life style we have been creating for ourselves the last 4 years and although it has served me well in the past, it is time for it to go.

And, thanks to 2 very different conversations with a couple of great coaches, I realised... what is happening and have a plan to fix it! Here it is in the GROW coaching model.

Goal: Have the lifestyle I want, be being in a state of peace, happiness and harmony, living mostly in the moment, enjoying the success and lessons of the past, and planning generally (but not too much) for an even better future. When I am busy, I appreciate the opportunity and approach work with calmness, focus and balance. I am a role model for the people I coach.

Reality: When I am really busy with "work", I fall back to what made me successful in my past career... the ability to work really really hard, for long hours, with big, thorough to do lists. I over promise to myself and under deliver and then self worth hits the greased slide into the black hole. I am not totally sure it only confined to when I think I am busy.. it just gets worse then.. Here is a small, almost silly if it was not true, example: Hubbie was coming home from a trip - I wanted him to feel really welcomed back home, so I wanted to make him an excellent home made dinner, have the house cleaned from top to bottom, all the laundry done and put away, home made bread, an apple tart and oatmeal cookies. Well, I did not get the oatmeal cookies done and felt awful I had not done enough for him! Hmmmmmmmmm.

Options: I have lots of options to deal with this: taking on less work, measuring how much time it takes for preperation for each workshop, making shorter to do lists, getting my husband to tell me when he sees me entering into this mode, only working in my office so many hours a day, throwing away the to do list, getting more efficient at working.

Will: So, here is what I will do, what I commit to doing as concrete actions.

1. No more to do lists. I have not written one in a week.
2. Use my calender to schedule my days so I block time for each activity. Am doing this most days.
3. Block empty time "White Space" in my calender. This is harder... am struggling still.

Of course, there are a few other things going on also: Continuing to simplify our lives, getting a faster computer so I spend less time waiting for it to catch up to my fingers, getting more efficient at work as I gain more experience. But... getting rid of the to do list is THE BIG SHIFT right now. And... it feels good! I am back in control!

Beetroot!

Since we came back from our U.S. vacation, I have been really busy doing lots of fun things, including work. But... there have been some signs that perhaps I was a little out of whack... a martial arts master told me I had some serious signs of tiredness and emotional blockage; a doctor told me that I must be clamping my jaws when I sleep at night due to stress; my back felt like it was about to go out. Of course... since I obviously know how to manage my time and have worked steadfastly on eliminating negative stress ... I totally ignored all the signs.

It was thanks to Beetroot (see photo of pickled beetroot) I realised what was happening. I was in the garden, on a glorious fall day, with birds signing, Melvin the cat at my side, and I was picking the beetroot out of the ground. I felt like this was a really awful chore and the quicker I got it done, the quicker I could get to the next thing on my list so I could make sure I got that really important work done so I could make sure I would be absolutely perfect as a facilitator, so .... and on and so on. Suddenly - I realised this was ALL WRONG! I love being in the garden! I love being outside on such a beautiful day! I quit my job at Cat so I could take the time to do these types of things! So why was I rushing through this to rush through the 100 other things on my to do list for that day? Why was I feeling guilty that 93 of those things might not get done today and must be postponed until tomorrow instead of feeling guilty about not enjoying the moment?

So, I SLOWED DOWN! I took the time to wash the beetroot and prepare it for pickling and baking and really enjoyed it. I came back to enjoy the moment! Now the challenge is make sure I do that more often and even all the time! It showed me that although I have changed a lot since I left my corporate job... I am still on my journey to be as peaceful, calm and grounded as I would like to be! I have to work at it each day!

I told my coach about this little episode and she reminded about the work of Eckart Tolle. Time to go back and re-read some of that!

Eliminate the Vacation Email Backlog!

My coach (Belinda Merry), had a great idea for dealing with the "after vacation" email nightmare. While she was on vacation, she created an "out of office" message that said something along the lines of "please note that when I return to the office, I will delete all my emails, so if this email is still important at that time, please resend". Of course, she gave all her clients and close contacts a heads up she would do this.

She found it worked great for her, after a month retreat...

I am back!

I found this extract in an article on a website called Third Age. Thought it was worth sharing:

Life in the Present: A 10-Step Approach By Leo Babauta

1. Do one thing at a time. Single-task, don't multi-task. When you're pouring water, just pour water. When you're eating, just eat. When you're bathing, just bathe. Don't try to knock off a few tasks while eating or bathing or driving. Zen proverb: "When walking, walk. When eating, eat."

2. Do it slowly and deliberately. You can do one task at a time, but also rush that task. Instead, take your time, and move slowly. Make your actions deliberate, not rushed and random. It takes practice, but it helps you focus on the task.

3. Do less. If you do less, you can do those things more slowly, more completely and with more concentration. If you fill your day with tasks, you will be rushing from one thing to the next without stopping to think about what you do. But you're busy and you can't possibly do less, right? You can. I've done it, and so have many busy people. It's a matter of figuring out what's important, and letting go of what's not.

4. Put space between things. Related to the "Do less" rule, but it's a way of managing your schedule so that you always have time to complete each task. Don't schedule things close together - instead, leave room between things on your schedule. That gives you a more relaxed schedule, and leaves space in case one task takes longer than you planned.

5. Spend at least 5 minutes each day doing nothing. Just sit in silence. Become aware of your thoughts. Focus on your breathing. Notice the world around you. Become comfortable with the silence and stillness. It'll do you a world of good - and just takes 5 minutes!

6. Stop worrying about the future. Focus on the present. Become more aware of your thinking - are you constantly worrying about the future? Learn to recognize when you're doing this, and then practice bringing yourself back to the present. Just focus on what you're doing, right now. Enjoy the present moment.

7. When you're talking to someone, be present. How many of us have spent time with someone but have been thinking about what we need to do in the future? Or thinking about what we want to say next, instead of really listening to that person? Instead, focus on being present, on really listening, on really enjoying your time with that person.

8. Eat slowly and savor your food. Food can be crammed down our throats in a rush, but where's the joy in that? Savor each bite, slowly, and really get the most out of your food. Interestingly, you'll eat less this way, and digest your food better as well.

9. Live slowly and savor your life. Just as you would savor your food by eating it more slowly, do everything this way - slow down and savor each and every moment. As I type this, for example, I have my 3-year-old daughter, Noelle, on my lap. She's just sitting here quietly, as the rain pours down in a hush outside. What a lovely moment. In fact, I'm going to take a few minutes off just to be with her now. Be right back. :)

10. Make cleaning and cooking (and other chores) become meditation. Cooking and cleaning are often seen as drudgery, but actually they are both great ways to practice mindfulness, and can be great rituals performed each day. If cooking and cleaning seem like boring chores to you, try doing them as a form of meditation. Put your entire mind into those tasks, concentrate, and do them slowly and completely. It could change your entire day (as well as leave you with a cleaner house).

Keep practicing. When you get frustrated, just take a deep breath. When you ask yourself, "What should I do now, Self?" The answer is, "keep practicing." "When you drive around the city and come to a red light or a stop sign, you can just sit back and make use of these twenty or thirty seconds to relax - to breathe in, breathe out, and enjoy arriving in the present moment. There are many things like that we can do." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Survey results: What do u want more of in life?

The latest results from my survey on what people want more or less of in their life are just in... and, overall, the results did not change much. People want more:

• Time (48%),


• Health (23%),


• Serenity/Peace (18%)

It is interesting to see what falls into the category of "other". The "Other" category accounts for 25% of the responses so far and are items that are reported only once. Here is the list so far...

Fearlessness, Focus, Patience, Self belief, Flexible workhours/location of work, Personal development, Respect, Tolerance, Nature (maybe I should classify this in Holidays), Fairness

Photo - Grimentz Jan 09: Susan; wanting more time to fix her skis before attacking the descent!

Alignment = balance!

Many people complain of a poor work/life balance and so time management becomes a key issue. However the root cause is often not poor time management but living life in a way that is inconsistant with our core values. The more aligned your life is with your core values, the more balance you have!

How aligned is your life, your actions with your core values?

How to find your key values:
Think about what values are most important to you in your job, your family and relationships, your self (body, heart, mind, spirit), your environment? Make a list of the values important in each category of your life. Then, look for the common ones between all the categories. Narrow the list down to the 5 to 7 that speak to you most. Write a one sentence definition of each.

How can you use your key values to generate more happiness?

5 ways to Make more Time

Ever heard of 5S?


5S is a concept used a lot in factories, not enough in offices and even more rarely at home! It's purpose is to reduce waste (effort, material, time) to only what is really needed to do the task.


I wont go into what it all means, where it comes from and how it is rolled out in a company (but if you are interested, let me know!), what is important here is how it can help you generate more time, to spend on what you want!

5S stands for:

• Sort (Deciding what you need the most frequently to do the task in question)





• Straighten (Making sure what you need the most often, is close by)





• Scrub (getting rid of dirt, rubbish, other stuff , tidying, makking sure all works)





• Systemize (finding a way to keep doing the 3 things above!)





• Standardize (developing the habit to keep things sorted, straightened and scrubbed).

Here is an example of how it works..

In the kitchen, we all probably use this technique to some degree. If you think about your stove top, probably, you have thought about what things you use frequently (ladels, knives, herbs, salt/pepper) around the stove top (Sort) and you have located them close to where they are needed (Straighten). The area is also probably free of things that are not used often, is clean and the stove top and the tools you use often all work (Scrub). This is mainained this way (Standardise) as you have found a way (Systemize) to clean the stove top regularly, and wash and store the utensils/herbs etc. back where you found them. You have done this because it saves you time and frustration when you want to cook!

Another example of Straightening is our base ball caps. We now have all our baseball caps on a rack, near our garage door (where we most often exit) so we know where they are and can easily select which one we want and then put it back where it came from easily (Systemizing and Standarizing)! This came out of pain (the missing baseball cap was always the one we wanted to wear...). It is not perfect... a little sorting wouldnt hurt... but it is much better than before.

So, what tasks are you doing that you find are cumbersome, take too long, potentially full of wasted effort and time? What could you apply from 5S in that task that would create more time for you?

If you are interested in organising more time for yourself, have a look at this blog.

EnJOY!

People want more of...

Latest results from my survey about what people want more of /less of: People want more time in their lives to do what they want to do and less stress and busyness .

So, the self coaching questions of the day are:

(1) What could you do to create more time for the things you want in life?

(2) What could you do to destress and declutter your life?

(3) What are the consequences of not making positive changes in these areas?

What are YOUR biggest time wasters?

My top 10 time wasters are definitely: (1) watching garbage on television, (2) overly focused on perfect planning, (3) not having a to do list for the day, (4) having an un-prioritised to do list and doing all the easy stuff, (5) avoiding taking important decisions because I don't know the answer already... (6) not doing something right the first time because I think I know how to do it (7) checking email (8) getting side tracked by some great idea that adds little or no value to reaching my goals (9) not getting enough sleep and then feeling drowsy and tired the next day (10) getting hung up on bad or fearful feelings about somebody or something and letting that inhibit me from taking the next steps.

• What are your top time wasters?
• How do these time wasters help you or get in your way?
• What ONE THING could you do to reduce one negative time waster?

Priorities work!

Well, it is has been a while since I posted anything on my blog! To be honest, it fell down to the bottom of my list of priorities... Life has been very busy since October 2007! Here is a quick summary:

• I ran my first Coaching workshop for Six Sigma leaders (which was a great success!)
• I became an associate of Lore International (to coach and run workshops for them)
• I became certified to deliver the Myers Briggs Type Indicator for indivials and groups.
• And most importantly, Juerg and I had a fantastic ski touring season (Dec 07 until Apr 08).

For 2008, my first priority is to make this an extremely, positive, joyful, memorable year for both Juerg and myself as Juerg is turning 60 this year. This means December 07 through April 08 would be packed with great, successful ski tours. For those of you who dont know what ski touring it is, it is a masochistic sport where you walk up the mountain with your skis and then attempt to ski back down. Although it sounds pretty awful (and sometimes it is awful), once you get hooked... there is no going back! And, it has been tremendously successful. We have been to places we did not know, met and enjoyed being with great people, and did one fantastic trip after another. We have just finished our last trip for the season (La Haute Route: Chamonix to Zermatt). If you want to have a look at some of photos from these tours, check out the webshots link to our photos to the left.

There are 3 lessons I draw from this experience.

1. Having a clear, short list of goals or priorities for the year, works.
2. Focusing clearly and often on the successful outcome of what you want, works.
3. Understanding where I put my energy and why, helps me accept the results in the areas where I put less energy.

The big question I now have for myself, is "why only do this for the year that Juerg is turning 60?".

If you are interested in a great way of setting goals and executing the actions that accomplish the goals... check out the Best Year Yet website. There is a place there, under "Personal Programs", where you can create for free, your own 12 month plan. All you have to do is answer 10 questions!

Enjoy and talk to you soon!

Running of out time?

I recently did a survey of friends and clients about what they wanted more of in their life. The answer came back loud and clear: more time to do what they want (be with family, friends, for sport, for me, for vacation etc. etc.). So, here are some suggestions on how to start creating the space in your life, to spend the time on what is most important to you.


How cluttered is your house, car, work area, life? How many things are there hanging over your head that you "should" do? How much energy do these things drain from you, day after day?


Each time you eliminate one of these "shoulds" and simplify your life even in some small, tiny, easy, way, you free up energy to be more positive, to put towards your goals, to be in the moment with yourself and others.


So, make a list of all that is cluttering up your life. Prioritise it into the following categories:

1. Easy to do and quickly done.


2. Easy to do but will take some time


3. Challenging to do and will take some time


4. Challenging to do and will take a lot of time!


5. Doesnt need to be done at all!

Start with the things in category one, the quick and easy stuff. This gives you traction, momentum, victory over the shoulds! Do one a day or a few a week. Keep going. And, from time to time, challenge if it really needs to be done at all...

Let me know how it goes (the good, the bad and the ugly of it!). Share with others what works for you.