The end to the latest lockdown is in sight but we aren’t there yet. Here’s how to plough on:
- Give yourself a break
Workers in the UK have increased their hours by more than 25% in the pandemic according to research by NordVPN Teams. You are no good to anyone if you burn out. Constant connectedness doesn’t help. Glamorised by a sleepless elite who claim to thrive on four hours sleep a night (Melissa Mayer, Jack Dorsey, Silvio Berlusconi, Tom Ford, Margaret Thatcher, Donald Trump), this ‘sleep is for wimps, so I’m sending you a 4.00 a.m. email’ creates an unhealthy, anxious 24/7 ‘always-on’ culture, cruelly magnified by home working. Organisations who still tolerate this shouldn’t be surprised when they lose people to more responsible employers.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff
The combination of guilt-inducing home and work schedules can be downright immobilising. Take everything off your list that isn’t absolutely necessary now. If you still can’t get all your work done, then you need to negotiate a more realistic balance between hours available and your organisation’s expectations.
Sheena Iyengar of Colombia University Business School did a famous jam experiment to illustrate how too many options paralyse us. One group was offered samples of six different jams available for purchase, while another group was presented with twenty-four different jams. The six jam group was ten times more likely to actually purchase a jam because they weren’t lost in a fog of overwhelm. Take some jobs off this week’s list to reduce your overwhelm, prioritise and schedule the rest.
- Be polite to everyone, but don’t try and please them all
That woman speaks 18 languages and can’t say “No” in any of them. Dorothy Parker.
You might try to please everyone, but you can’t. Turn down random curveballs that aren’t career enhancing or interesting. Don’t sign up for unappealing discretionary projects and committees just because you feel you should. Say a firm no and try to come up with an alternative: I’d love to, but I’m already at capacity. I’ve a couple of people in my team who want to get involved in this type of project so I’ll see who can free up some time for you.
- Schedule daily black-out time
Competing digital channels add to anxiety. I can’t think of anything improved by the word ‘instant’ in front of it (Nescafe just about manage it with Azera) and most definitely not ‘messaging’. Whilst people claim that IM creates a sense of connection, it is low-level connection at best. I run polls in my sessions to check what people feel are the most significant obstacles to getting their work done. Slack, Teams, Skype, Jabber etc always feature. Jumping to respond just proves that you are online. Is that really how your performance is measured or are you judged on actual work?
Some organisations black-out calendars now from 12.00 to 14.00 to give people breathing space from meetings, emails and messaging. If yours doesn’t, why not announce that you are switching off all notifications for a few hours, whilst you enjoy some deep work?
If you are stuck on something, then do something else. Your subconscious mind will continue to mull over the problem. Move, switch to a different chair if that’s all you can manage, read, walk, call someone, find inspiration elsewhere. The ideas will come.
Hang in there. Feel free to share this around your networks.