Thursday, June 26, 2008
Things That No Longer Serve You
I’ve kept the fact that I’m in the midst of writing 2 books relatively quiet, and just recently decided that thought process in no longer serving me. Why? Because by not talking about these projects has given me a great excuse for procrastinating. It’s so easy to find something else to fill up my time - easy tasks, planning fun team events, creating new team games, even filing papers had a special appeal the other day. Isn’t that interesting since the stack has been piling up for a month?!
As a leader, you can always find “other” things to keep you occupied during the day—and, these are the things that will stagnate your career if you let them continue. A quick client survey revealed the following ‘Things That No Longer Serve You’ responses:
* Not delegating administrative work to the appropriate team member.
* Forgetting important employee dates (birthday and anniversary)—it’s so easy now to track this in a planning system and goes a long way in creating good will.
* Working hours beyond day’s end (or taking work home). The quality of your work does not get better nor do you get more done.
* Not taking enough breaks throughout the day to breathe and think about what is going on “in the moment.” Be consciously present in every interaction and you will connect with your team on a much more genuine level. By the way, the breaks can be as short as a couple minutes to get yourself refocused. Oh - and stop eating lunch at your desk!
I urge you to spend a few minutes reflecting on your own personal list of things that no longer serve you. You may be surprised at what comes up and you now have the power to make different choices. For me, I’ve decided to talk about my team-building book and finish it in three months.
Until next time...live like you mean it!
Marjorie