fwd1 Wrap-Up

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"Is my life, my energy, moving toward that which is most meaningful?"

Similar to an August vacation, the holiday season is a natural time of reflection.

The fwd1 (“forward one”) series has introduced a small set of questions and prompts to help examine how we turn our intentions into action, at an individual level. These habits are solid basics; in some ways they merely scratch the surface. I hope that they’ve been helpful, even if in a small way.

How might the underlying principles—of discernment, direction, alignment, intention, and action—be put to further use? Here are three areas of potential leverage:

·      Individual – Continue development of self-mastery and leadership skills

·      Team – Build working group habits, cadence, trust, and accountability

·      Organization – Identify cultural strengths/gaps, and intentionally shape organizational health

If you'd like to discuss any of this, I would love to hear from you.

fwd1 Exercise 3: Find Your Flow

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“Got clear goals?”

“Check.”

“Top Three priorities for this week?”       

“Check.”

“Time blocked to focus?”             

“Check.”

“Okay, begin.”                                   

“Will do, after I respond to Ellen on Slack.”

“You can start anytime now.”     

“Did anyone see my Insta post?”

“Seriously, get going!”

“I wonder what the markets are doing.”

Feel familiar? We are distractable beings in a distracting world. There is always something stimulating we could do to avoid the tasks we need to do most.

It helps to start the day in a calm and steady manner. This is more about being than doing. Don’t just do work; instead be relaxed, intentional, and committed to your priorities. In this state of mind-body, we create the possibility of experiencing “flow” in our work.

Take a few minutes to outline a start-of-work routine that would help you set aside distractions, calmly complete the first tasks of the day, and be mentally prepared for focus time and/or important interactions. Here is mine:

·         Begin at least 30 minutes before my first meeting

·         Refresh my memory of today’s calendar appointments (for which I prepared yesterday)

·         Sequence the first 3-5 tasks/events of the day (#1, #2, etc.), in writing

·         Close my eyes and meditate (12-14 minutes)

·         Begin item #1

Put your routine into practice and build it into a habit. Experiment and adapt as you go; perhaps it could include making a pot of tea or doing chair stretches—whatever helps you get centered. The more frequently you practice this habit, the more you will accomplish—and the less stressed you will feel.

"Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz." ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Building Inside-Out

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“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared with what lies within us.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“In a world that’s becoming more materialistic, more professional, more outcome-oriented, we believe, to the contrary, that the ultimate competition is you against you.”

– Al Carius, North Central College, Coach of 31 NCAA championship teams

Al Carius book: https://a.co/d/58F6aXy

fwd1 blog: blog — Penn4 Solutions (squarespace.com)

Reflect: How is it going?

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As you wrap up the week and prioritize/plan ahead, take a moment to reflect on how this past week has gone.

“Compared to my intentions for the week, I ended up…”

1.       Struggling, distracted

2.       Moved ahead on 1+ priority

3.       Strides made w/most priorities

4.       Nailed it, with ease!

fwd1 Bonus Discovery Exercise: Explore Your Mindset

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Keep practicing: Top 3 priorities. Organize for success. Follow the plan.

If you often find yourself working on things other than your priorities, examine your mindset (preferably in conversation with someone you trust):

·       In a more perfect future, how would I deal with low-priority requests or other distractions that put my own priorities at risk?

·       When I turn to activities that are not really a priority for me, what thoughts go through my head? What emotions do I feel in this moment?

·       What beliefs and/or values do I hold which drive these thoughts, feelings, and behavior?

·       How has this behavior served me in the past? In what ways is this limiting me?

·       What would I need to believe differently, to shift my behavior toward what I desire?

fwd1 Insight: Overreacting to Requests

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A great boss of mine said, “Just because a request comes from me, that doesn’t necessarily make it the most urgent thing on your list.” What a true and helpful thing to remember. How often do we overreact to requests based on hierarchy? A good boss knows that you are juggling multiple priorities.

fwd1 Exercise 2: Organize for Success

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As you plan the week ahead, block time on your calendar to accomplish your Top 3 priorities. This may mean moving or declining some activities currently on your calendar. You may need to say “no” to lower-priority activity in order to say “yes” to that which is most important.

Friday… already?

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Habit-build: Create a Top Three card for next week, listing YOUR priorities, aligned with what is most important to YOU.

Assess: How has this week gone, in terms of moving forward on your priorities?

Reflect: What gets in the way?

The Most Important Thing

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How are you doing on your Top Three priorities this week?

To view current and past fwd1 posts, go to Penn4’s blog page: http://penn4solutions.squarespace.com/blog

“There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.” - Brian Tracy

fwd1 Exercise 1: Top Three Card

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“At the end of next week, I will feel great if I have ____________”

Each Friday, write the three most important things you want to accomplish in the coming week on a pocket-sized index card. Keep the card with you through the week, looking at it at the beginning and end of each day.

Your Top Three may include aspects of your home life, civic life, and/or work life—but should align with the things that are most important to you. They may include actions to move you toward your work goals, build skills, or strengthen relationships.

fwd1 Insight: Aim High in Steering Your Life and Work

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Consider the driver who darts between the left and right edges of their lane, apparently unable to remain steady in the center. Where is their attention? Their eyes are likely trained on the road immediately ahead of of their vehicle, prompting an overreaction when they touch either the right or left marker line.

When a driver raises their eyes to see the road farther ahead, they naturally remain more steady and centered in the lane.

Paying attention only to urgent tasks may help one “get a lot of stuff done” while failing to achieve overall success. Conversely, a constant focus on long-term results (looking too far ahead) doesn’t really help one discern next steps and take action. Successful people learn to manage the mid-term.

In practice, this often means planning and executing work one week at a time while incorporating a monthly/quarterly view of milestones. We’ll discuss and practice this in upcoming fwd1 exercises.

Exercise 0: Attune to Your Sources of Meaning

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“What makes me happy?”
“What are my signature strengths?”
“What is my purpose?”

Our first fwd1 exercise: As you move through this week, give yourself permission to reflect on what is meaningful to you. This may prompt thoughts related to your home life, reflections on your work, questions about your priorities, etc.

Let your mind roam as it wishes. Capture your thoughts in writing, drawing, and/or audio.

If you’re interested in developing a more complete picture, check out Centered Leadership: Leading with Purpose, Clarity, and Impact by Joanna Barsh and Johanne Lavoie. The image here summarizes their research-based model, which you’ll find is both relevant and actionable.

fwd1: Impact, Made Easier

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A former colleague of mine, “Jane,” shocked me with her effectiveness. We were a small team deploying a global corporate business improvement program. As the program gained momentum, we each took on ever-increasing loads of program and project work. Whenever I asked Jane to lead a new initiative, she would say “No problem!”, initiate the project, and smoothly incorporate the new activity into her workflow.

Jane worked normal hours, occasionally starting early but never staying late. As I struggled to manage my own workload, I began paying attention to how she managed herself and her work.

Jane blocked time after each meeting to immediately summarize and clarify actions to be taken. This reduced the “switching cost” of mentally returning to that meeting and the related project later.

Jane never overreacted to surprises or changes that arose, but calmly took note of emerging items while following through on her priorities for the week.

The result was that Jane managed a complex set of initiatives with apparent ease.

I’ve observed a range of behaviors among those who consistently get results as well as those who seem to struggle. Effectiveness has little to do with how “hard” one appears to work. It has everything to do with direction and intention, put into action through the habits one maintains. And these habits depend on one’s underlying mindset.

Next week: watch for fwd1 Exercise 0: Your Sources of Meaning

Introducing fwd1

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“Where did this week go?” If you find yourself getting sidetracked from your most important work, you are not alone. Join me for fwd1 (“forward one”), a short series designed to build habits which make work easier and lead to long-term success.

Pandemic-related disruptions to the workplace have left white collar workers and managers feeling off-center, uncertain, and distracted. Generational differences in preferences and expectations are shifting workplace cultures. We see people pulling in different directions, miscommunicating, and failing to execute on the things that are most important to them. Does this sound familiar?

What can be done? A lot, actually. These shifts present tremendous opportunity for those who harness individual and collective energy. The fwd1 series prompts the building of habits to harness our energy through greater direction and intention in everything we do.

If this sounds worthwhile to you, follow me on LinkedIn or send a message with your email if you’d prefer these come to your inbox.