The cost of distraction

Checking your phone during a meeting is a productivity, focus and attention killer.

We think we can be present in the meeting AND scroll, check and read … but no.

Our IQ drops and we develop ‘attentional blindness’.

We lose the ability to judge what information is valuable or important. It’s probably why we think some speakers deliver boring segments, meetings have boring parts or workshops have boring sections. But shock, horror… it may not be boring it all!

It’s possible our ability to make sense has been interrupted. What others deem important ...we don’t. Then it switches over; they check their phone and get distracted, and we’re paying attention. We notice the important things; they don’t.

Whenever you’re trying to get ‘alignment’ or make sure everyone is ‘on the same page’, make a point of having mobile devices out of sight.

Focus, attention, IQ and cognition will be better, stronger and the work will be achieved quicker.

If you're going to check anything, check who’s distracted and who’s focused on the work at hand. 

ISH: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’

It’s natural to want to do well - at work, in study, in life, to do our best But what happens when striving for the best becomes more; the pursuit of perfection?

Perfectionism is on the rise and has dire consequences for how we think and feel about ourselves and others, how we think, live, and work. It's causes over-thinking, over-working, burnout, sleeplessness and mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

We can’t keep going like this!

But what’s the alternative? In 2019 I released ‘ISH: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’. It uncovers how to think, work and achieve in clever ways adapted from the worlds of software development, and improvisation. How do they get things done? What can we learn from them?

In ‘ISH’, I explain:

🔅The problem with chasing perfection and why we seek it

🔅The mental loop that traps us into thinking perfection is the answer

🔅The idea of ‘ISH’ which means somewhat, near enough

🔅9 ways to think and work that provide a healthy and productive alternative to perfectionism.

Excellence, quality and continuous improvement are important. But the pursuit of perfection … not so much.

Q: Do you 'ish'?

Agile, Agility and Business Agility

Agile, it’s 'a vast global movement transforming the world of work. And spreading rapidly. So said Steve Denning in Forbes, 'Explaining Agile' article.

While agile was born in software development, other industries, projects and teams the world over are seeing the productivity, customer value and engagement benefits to having an agile mindset.

After years working with a number of agile teams, I wrote 'Agile-ish: How to create a culture of agility' in 2017.

If you’re embarking on an agile journey, you need to start with yourself, your mindset and how you think. As with all journeys, a change to agile and newer ways of working takes time, and might not go as perfectly as you imagine it will. So how you respond to that is what also makes for an agile mindset!

My book 'Agile-ish' acknowledges that:

🌕 experimentation and imperfection are incredible learning experiences;

🌕 getting into action and momentum outweighs time spent over-planning; and

🌕 delivering value to customers sooner is what's making many of today's businesses more successful.

I recently shared these ideas keynote speaking at CPA Congress across Australia. Yes finance/accounting folks are getting agile too!

Q:How about you? 

Try something else - EXPERIMENTS

Experimenting helps us refine, edit and alter our offers, services, designs and ideas. It's rare for a product or service we use to not be shaped by experiments. It's about seeing what works as well as what goes wrong.

Working with a global manufacturer over a number of years, I would often walk past a room labeled ‘Test Kitchen’. It was where clients, customers and users of their products were brought in and let loose!

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is big on experimenting. He said, ‘If you double the number of experiments you do per year, you're going to double your inventiveness.’

So get your ideas out there so people can have a taste of some of it sooner, rather than waiting and giving them the whole finished thing later ... which they may not like the taste of. Imagine all that time working on something that wasn't to their taste. Put something out there, reflect on it, adjust it, put out another version of it, testing that… and onward.

Q: Are you much of an experimenter? Let me know in the comments below.

Like Surprises

I'm posting this week on Working in Uncertainty. Once you’ve started before you’re ready and in motion, exciting things will happen. There will be unexpected, unknown and uncertain. Yes more uncertain.

You may think starting wasn’t a good idea, but you're in motion and have momentum - that's going to make you more able to respond than being at a standstill.

Welcome spontaneity into your world instead of being all control-freak on things. Spontaneity is a natural tendency or impulse of being unconstrained and unplanned. Our daily actions can't follow a script. A guide or to-do list or a structure, yes, but we can't know totally what someone else is going to say, how they'll react and what will happen when all these differences collide.

We need the capability to improvise and the first thing is to welcome surprises, unexpected things. Stay open and wondering. You'll be easier to work with, more open about what to do next, and able to find other possibilities and solutions.

Q : So, are you a bit of a control freak or willing to welcome surprises? Let me know below.