Are there days you leave your office feeling like a wet T- shirt just out of the washer: heavy and useless? Would you like more days when you feel like a freshly ironed shirt?
Find What’s Juicy For You
- Take a stack of Post-It™ and jot down the components of your job. One per Post-It™. And spread them across your desktop, yoga mat, bar, whatever.
- Put a big smiley face on the ones that are easy for you. Not easy as in no effort, but easy as in you feel good when you are doing them. Put an unhappy face on the activities that wear you out. My friend John loves fixing technology glitches but feels like he’s having a nervous breakdown when he’s facilitating a group that goes off track. I hate dealing with glitches in technology. Don’t tell me all those contacts didn’t upload into the new database… while the challenge of facilitating unpredictable groups exhilarates me. Everyone’s different. It’s okay if you feel a little juicy when you’re stuffing envelopes because it lets you daydream about that novel you are writing, put that down.
- Jot down your observations. Is there a theme or certain characteristics of those activities you love? If you want more juice, then you want more of those kinds of activities.
- Experiment with one of the following and see what works for you.
Get What’s Juicy for You
Time Your Yippee: What time of day is best for taking on your best tasks? Do you squander your early morning energy on C priorities? Do the mentally challenging or most creative tasks during the time of day when your energy is highest.
Move the Rock: Is there something that you stumble over frequently? Does it frustrate you and suck your energy? It may be having to shuffle through papers yet again to find that note, or realizing you still can’t use that new application. STOP and ASK, “What must I do to get this rock out of my road?” THEN DO IT. You may think you don’t have time to do it, but you don’t have time NOT to do it.
Ask Your Boss for Help: Have a chat with your boss about those types of assignments you’d like more of. ASK, her what value or benefit it might have for her, the department, the organization. SHUT UP and LISTEN. Then ASK for her ideas about what it might take to make that shift. You may have the answers, but give her a chance. You know many bosses like to think it is their idea!
Delegate: Are there tasks you could delegate? Or share with someone for whom they seem easy? If you aren’t delegating, can you see how staying in control could be costing you your Yippee? See if you can let go of some of those so-called necessary tasks.
Find a Mentor: Are there colleagues or bosses who seem to be able to say Yippee about most of their tasks? How did they get there? Do they know some short cuts?
In the next 7 days follow through on one (or more!) of these ideas and tell me about it. Can’t wait to hear!!
See you next time,
Elizabeth
very nice website. I’m signing up!