Tag: working life

Focus and relaxation

Plan No Comments

PlanePlanes have been in the news recently with the exhibition at Tate Britain (which is even more impressive in reality).

In this photo (with a great headline from The Sun), we see one member of a team of two with total focus, flying low through a valley. Meanwhile, the other is (for that moment) able to relax.

Managing the pace of work is a key element of what it means to be part of a team that is on the front foot.

See this on getting the balance right here.

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Get it done this week

Do No Comments

We all know the challenge: we have something important on the ‘to do’ list but we don’t get it done. It hangs over us.  We worry about it. We set time aside to crack it but those hours come and go and we seem to have filled them with other things.

Try this to break that pattern: 

– focus on the one thing that you really need to get done. Force yourself to prioritise and be ruthless about rescheduling everything else to fit around that.

– energise yourself by meeting with the right people. Involving others in the thinking is a great way to get your mind moving. The right people are those that can contribute the necessary perspectives and constructive ideas.

– find the right space to work in for the bits you need to do by yourself (hint: it might not be the office nor home – try a cafe, the botanic gardens, a walk).

– shut off (or switch off) the activities that distract and fill the time. Email is the worst. At its best, the mind gets into a flow, as when you are effortlessly doing something you enjoy like gardening, crosswords or playing music (and the hours fly by). You need to give it some time to get into this.

Got something important to do? Why not get it done this week?

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Ironies #1 and #2

Reflect No Comments

Ironies #1 and #2

1)    En route to see someone devoted to improving travel in a large city – and I am in a taxi in traffic jam…

2)    Waiting for a client at 4pm, I meet someone who has turned up early for a 5.30pm seminar on… ‘avoiding working long hours’

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