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So continuing with our topic of practical ways to overcome procrastination (I offered the 5-minute technique and the salami technique in previous blog posts), I have one more to put forward.  I call this “happy birthday to me”, so called because it has to do with giving myself a gift.  Let’s face it: it’s easy to put off things that don’t have a positive result in the near future; it’s hard to get motivated to do something if the reward is too far out in time.  But if I can see a short-term reward, I find I can make a task feel much more immediate and so it gets done.  And if I can’t envision a prize on the immediate horizon, then I just create my own.  A walk down to the local coffee shop or 15 minutes of Angry Birds after I’ve finished a task is as much a reward or “gift” as anything else.  Perhaps most importantly, “happy birthday to me” works!

Jump in and share your ideas on how you overcome procrastination.  This is the last of three posts on this subject (at least for now), but you can add your comments to this or the previous two posts anytime.

Last week I offered up the 5-minute technique to overcome procrastination and I promised I’d share a couple more in this week’s blog posts.  So here’s another approach I’ve used quite successfully: I call it “the salami technique”.  I find this particularly useful when the task seems too big or overwhelming and for that reason I seem to lack direction.  Now I know that the name sounds odd but it refers to the fact that salami, as a roll, is decidedly unappetizing, but once you slice it up and pile the thin slices on to your sandwich, it suddenly becomes much more enticing and tempting.  In the same way, if you take your task or your project and slice it into smaller and smaller pieces by function or time, you will find that it will become easier to handle, or more interesting to start with, or you’ll be able to visualize the end result more clearly.  By “slicing” the task into smaller pieces, you’ll find that it isn’t as big or overwhelming or as uninteresting as you thought.  So the salami technique is – slice it up!

Well, what do you think?  Do you have other things that you do to overcome procrastination?  Do share.

Almost every leader I know is guilty of procrastination, guilty of putting off things till later, usually until it becomes a crisis. And even knowing that the eventual outcome will be a frenzied manic effort to get things done at the last minute, most people procrastinate anyway. So why do people put off the inevitable? Usually because of one or more of three reasons – they don’t like doing it, they see it as too big and overwhelming, and they don’t know how to do it. Here’s one thing that you can do to overcome dragging your feet.

I call it “the 5-minute technique” and it works really well for things that I don’t like doing; usually for me, that means routine tasks. So for example, I dislike routine filing and I am apt to put it off for as long as I possibly can, usually until the “to be filed” basket is overflowing. The 5-minute technique is exactly what it sounds like. I set a timer for five minutes, and for that period of time I do nothing but file. Once the timer goes off I have the option of resetting it for another five minutes, or just patting myself on the back and moving on to something else. But because it’s just five minutes, I do it – I figure I can tackle anything if it’s just five minutes, even the stuff I don’t like. And often, I find that the first five minutes builds momentum for another five. So it gets done!

I’ve got a couple more ideas that I have used very successfully to get things off my to-do list, and I’ll share them with you in next week’s blog posts. But for now, what about you? How do you overcome procrastination? Share your approaches please.

So you’ve probably seen the latest “video-gone-viral – how professional violinist Lukas Kmit handled the situation when an errant cell phone went off during his performance. If you haven’t, take 90 seconds to do so below.

Funny, right? But what I really liked about this clip is that it demonstrates how presence of mind and a sense of humor can turn what could have been an ugly situation into something much much more pleasant. It would have been so easy for the violinist to have lost his cool; after all, “turn off your cell phones” had probably been announced several times before the concert started. But instead, he kept his wits about him and turned something bad into something great. As a result, he’s probably gotten more publicity in the last week than he got previously in his entire career!

So is there a message there for the rest of us? I think so! In our day-to-day work lives, we face a myriad of unexpected situations, many of which can be professionally devastating if we don’t respond appropriately. Two things can make such situations better:

1. Not taking ourselves too seriously (Lukas Kmit didn’t)
2. Giving ourselves permission to improvise (Lukas Kmit certainly did)

Can you think of situations at work where doing these two things could have (or did) make the outcome better? Do share!

Last month, health and productivity expert (and my good friend) Michelle Cederberg, CSP was our guest blogger, and she gave us many ideas on easy things to work into our busy schedules in order to get more exercise, eat healthier, and stay hydrated.  Well, she’s back!  And today, she has even more tips to boost your energy, particularly useful if you’re a leader with a full schedule and a long list of responsibilities.

Last month, I wrote about how you can ride the leadership roller coaster of success and stress by taking small self-care steps every day in key energy-generating areas of your life.  I spoke specifically of the importance of exercise, healthful eating, and water intake.  Today I want to talk about three more specific areas that you can focus on in order to feel your best, so you can do your best — on the job and in life.

Zzzzz’s please

I know you’re busy and there aren’t enough hours in the day but when did sleep become a luxury? Read the rest of this entry »

My professional colleague (and good friend) Michelle Cederberg, CSP is a health and productivity expert who helps people with full schedules and a long list of responsibilities maximize their personal energy so they can optimize their productivity and success!  Hmm, full schedules and a long list of responsibilities …. well, if that doesn’t sound like every leader I know!  So I asked her if she would give our readers some quick and easy tips on how to do exactly that.  Michelle went all out; she was an absolute treasure trove of simple yet powerfully effective tips to take small steps toward big changes, so that you can find energy, productivity and success – even with a busy schedule!

In today’s blog post, she’s going to give us scads of ideas in three categories. And at the end, if you hankering for some more, fret not dear reader, I’ve already invited Michelle back!  She’s promised to guest on this blog again next month (December 1) and you can count on even more tips to become more energetic, productive and successful.

Ahhh leadership! It’s a roller coaster ride of success and stress. Every day is fraught with highs and lows that keep you on your toes at a level far beyond life before leadership. Even still, every day you get to work at something you love, inspire your team toward common goals, put out fires, problem solve, maybe even change the world. To really amp up your effectiveness against that mounting to-do list you better arm yourself with energy-generating strategies. But it’s not like you haven’t got other things to do right? Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve probably found yourself in situations where you’ve come dangerously close to losing your composure.  Perhaps it’s a frustrating employee, an irritating colleague, or even an exasperating client; whatever the cause, you know that as a leader, it’s important to stay poised, positive and unflappable, even in trying moments, and to think clearly and stay focused when the pressure is on.  C’mon, we’ve all had the experience of doing something in the heat of the moment that we regretted later.  So what can you do to maintain your self-control?

The first step to exercising restraint is to identify your main triggers – the things that cause you to get upset, irritated or impatient.  It’s actually worth your while to make a list of the main triggers that get you all hot and bothered.  Perhaps it’s people interrupting you, colleagues who seem incompetent, someone who talks too much, folks who are rude, lateness, clutter, or too much noise.  Ask yourself: what are the things that not only irritate me, but also drain my mental capacity?   Once you can clearly articulate what causes you to lose your cool, you’ve just taken a giant step towards staying calm, composed and unruffled in the face of stress and strain.

In the coming months, I’ll periodically offer up other specific ideas for maintaining self-control.  But for now, I’d like to know what you do.  What specific actions do you take to keep your cool under pressure?  Do share!

When you think about it, this question is quite a mouthful!  Let’s look at it in the vernacular of the sport of hockey (one of my favourite spectator activities – I am Canadian after all ): are you going to play offence or are you going to play defence?

As a team, if all you do is play defence, you’ll never score a goal.  You can’t, because the net you have to score in is on the other end of the rink!  You’ll always be reacting to players from the other team.  Quite honestly, all you’ll be doing is trying to stay in the game, trying to stay alive, and the unfortunate part is that because you’re not taking control of the direction of the game, you will be playing defence forever (or at least until the buzzer goes signalling the end of the period or game).  At the back of your mind will always be the fear of “what if the other team scores?”  On the other hand, if the other team is playing offence, they’re going to gain confidence.  After all, they’re controlling the direction of the game, and others must react to their plays and manoeuvres.  Sooner or later, simply because they’re on the end of the ice where the net is, they’ll score goals!

And therein lies the difference.  Those who play to win are playing on a different end of the ice than those who play not to lose.  If you’re playing to win, you’re outside your zone, you’re in unfamiliar territory, you’re taking risks, you’re up against obstacles (other players) that get in your way.  But the singular advantage is that you can score goals that will allow you to win the game.  If you’re playing not to lose, you’re staying in secure and known surroundings where there are no difficulties or complications, and the going is easy.  But of course the most you can accomplish is status quo.

So which is it, are you playing to win, or are you playing not to lose?  Why?

Sunjay Nath, CSP, is known as the Human Performance Architect. He works with groups and individuals to help them improve their performance through empowerment and leadership.  And today he has graciously agreed to be my guest blogger.  Sunjay is a proud daddy and constantly marvels at the lessons he learns from his little ones.  Here is one recent situation that vividly illustrates how obstacles are in fact stepping stones to something bigger and better.

We are blessed enough to have a 21-month old and all the experiences and learning that go with him. Everyday, as I watch him grow and discover the world, I realize he is teaching me just as much as he is taking in – and this has been going on since before he was born.

In our bedroom we have a tree that sits in a pot and the pot is just slightly shorter than our son. And months ago when he first discovered it, it was just as tall as him. The problem is he is fascinated with this tree. More specifically, he is fascinated with the taste of the dirt around the tree! Now, my wife and I thought it would be a great idea to place some sort of obstacle to prevent him from having access to the tree.

We looked around his massive stack of toys and found the perfect solution. We call it, “Toy Mountain.” It’s a plastic mountain that has ramps and such on it that is supposed to be used for little to cars to boot around. It was the perfect solution for a couple of reasons. First, and most importantly, it was large enough to block his access to the tree. Second, it was one of his more favorite toys at the time and it served as a great distraction to help him forget about the wonderful tasting dirt. Read the rest of this entry »

Last summer, I had the opportunity to explore China, and one of my stops was the National Museum in Beijing.  While there, I marveled at the porcelain collections from the T’ang and Yuan dynasties – strikingly attractive pottery that was beautiful and sturdy, yet practical and delicate at the same time.  Turns out that this amazing porcelain pottery actually started life as your basic clay pot.  Porcelain is just clay and rock – kaolin, or china clay, mixed with pegmatite, a coarse type of granite – and water.  But what I saw in China certainly didn’t look like clay and was definitely not as frail and brittle as baked mud.  So how does a simple clay pot go from plain and fragile to porcelain that’s tough and strong, you ask?  The answer: heat – incredibly high heat – approximately 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,200 degrees Celsius that turns the brittle clay into a strong mixture of glass and mullite.

As I learned about the process of creating porcelain from clay that day, I couldn’t help but draw a parallel to growth in leadership.  Just like the white-hot heat of the kiln converts basic clay into strong porcelain, it’s the tough situations and the difficult experiences that crop up in the day-to-day workplace that grow average leaders into exceptional leaders.  Whether it’s an overflowing schedule or a myriad of deadlines; a thorny discussion about poor performance or a difficult conversation about body odour; a shortage of staff or an excess of complaints; it’s the “heat” that toughens and strengthens you and takes you from average to exceptional.

Worth remembering the next time you’re facing a tough day at work!