August. Our last full month of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. This got me thinking back to my corporate days. Sitting in my climate controlled office. Not always anywhere near a window. Sometimes I forgot what month it was. Not in relation to all my deadlines, of course. Just in relation to the seasons. It was always the same inside. When I left in the evening, there were times when I was actually surprised by what I encountered. Darkness vs. light. Heat vs. frost. Seasons slipped by as quietly as the fair weather clouds. Does this happen to you? In an era where the word mindfulness is never more than a few dozen words away, it really shouldn’t. But does it?
Wisteria is a climbing vine that drapes big, gorgeous clusters of lilac-colored flowers like a cascading waterfall. It is fairly easy to grow, so much so that it can get out of control and spread wildly. However, did you know that Chinese wisteria twines counterclockwise as it climbs and Japanese wisteria climbs clockwise? If you try to train these two plants in the same direction, you will succeed brilliantly with one and fail dismally with the other. The same is true of people. Your employees are as individual as the multitude of plants that thrive in widely varying conditions. Techniques that help one person thrive drive another person crazy. I think you know this as well as I do.
A headline caught my eye the other day. I don’t remember where or what it said. All I remember is that it contained the phrase “actionable strategy.” And it has bothered me ever since. So what could “actionable strategy” possibly mean? Perhaps more importantly, what does it mean to have a strategy that is not actionable?
The Roto-Rooter man was standing on the downhill side of the overflowing sewer access plug in front of our condo. He thought nothing of being in the flow and dropping his tools at his feet. I thought a lot about it. Eeww!
Of all the corporate certificates I’ve ever received, the one I’ve valued above all others is the one that reads “The Person Most Likely To Dispute Recognized Authorities.” I received this honor for my relentless questions about the evidence and conclusions presented from studies by PhDs representing venerable institutions such as Harvard and Stanford. Looking back, I suppose I was completely exasperating.
I just did it myself. I jotted down my top priorities on one of the 5×7 pads I keep handy. My goal was to help me stay focused on the top few things I definitely wanted to finish today. Choosing those top few priorities is a good thing. Don’t get me wrong. But it was a mistake.
I have always thought of myself as an active person. Hiking, skiing, ice hockey, ping pong, tennis, wilderness canoeing – you name it and I was game. From my tiny years when playing tackle football meant throwing myself around someone’s legs and hanging on as I was dragged the length of the field to the present day when more dignified activities like pickleball reign, action and sports have been a consistent, and nontrivial, part of my self-image. And then I got a Fitbit. The first few days were great plain fun. I loved watching the fireworks when I achieved the recommended 10,000 steps. I found pleasure in the flights, miles, calories burned, and active minutes that accrued. I bounced out of my chair when buzzed to ensure I hit the hourly minimum throughout the day. About a week in, on a work-filled, rainy Sunday, I pretty much forgot about the Fitbit. I ignored the hourly buzz. I just plugged away to get everything finished. At the end of the day, I was horrified to see I was nowhere near 10,000 steps. I hadn’t even hit 3,000! I missed the hourly minimum hour after hour. The number of calories I burned was pitiful. I may as well forget about eating unless I wanted to gain weight. I was officially sedentary!
When you think of productivity tools, you probably think of apps and other technological tools. Unfortunately, apps are not the route to greater productivity. As a matter of fact, technology often consumes more time than it saves. Here are my 13 favorite productivity tools, none of which require technology and all of which increase productivity:
I saw a bumper sticker today that read “Mediocre Is The New Fabulous.” This really got to me because it’s a little too true. It is also sad. Mediocrity is a sad state. It’s a state of moderate quality. Ordinary. Middling. We don’t want mediocrity for our families, our towns, our teams, our country, or ourselves. We want fabulous! We want awesome! But calling things awesome doesn’t make them awesome.
I was stumped. I was at a talk on resilience at Alan Weiss’ Million Dollar Consulting Convention and the speaker, Richard Citrin, asked us to map our careers. He demonstrated using himself, much like the diagram at right, describing each achievement and setback through his long career. Then he gave us some time to do the same.