Intermittent persistence

Working long and hard and burning out is too common a situation. In our quest to achieve we try to over achieve. (I wrote about this in ‘ish: The problem with our pursuit for perfection and the life changing practice of good enough’.)

If we are driven to work and achieve, how do we stop?

Unfortunately we can tend to adopt a type of relentless persistence where we just don’t give up! Persistence is a great characteristic but there are times when it’s dangerous to continue. We see it in working long and late hours, not taking a pause or break, all for productivity.

Equally damaging to our progress and well-being is resistance, to reject or obstruct and get in the way of getting things done. We block progress by putting up barriers. Or we may hear a mentor or coach suggest we need to ‘get out of our own way’. This is resistance.

Where is there progress, productivity ...and wellbeing? It’s in sprint and rest or ‘intermittent persistence’. It’s being ‘on’, really on. And then to be off, to rest and recover, reflect and consolidate. And then to go again and be ‘on’.

Persistence is good.

Intermittent is better. 

How do leaders adapt

Adaptability isn’t just a switch we flick. It’s an integrated set of thinking, learning and practical behaviors that help us change. It’s a skill and capability. We can break it down and learn it.

To support leaders and their teams, we need to provide them with this capability of adaptability.

12 capabilities of adaptability are:

1. Sensemaking
2. Listening
3. Learning
4. Collaborating
5. Facilitation
6. Visualization
7. Experimentation
8. Improvisation
9. Ingenuity
10. Empathy
11. Creativity
12. Curiosity

These are the more contemporary and impactful ways of thinking and being in today’s world of work.

I’m pleased to offer my new Leadership Adaptability Program: for leadership teams in business, community, not for profit and government.

Take one capability and then take them all. Integrate them into your existing organizational development schedule to refresh and update it. Or let’s launch a new initiative together that delivers leaders the skills, techniques and practices for the new ways of work.

Adaptability is the capability. 

It may not be pretty but it may just work

When we make up a solution, put together a near enough or good enough fix for something, it may not be pretty. And it may not be perfect.

For some of us who like our precision, accuracy, completeness and alignment, we might also prefer things to be ‘just so’, working well and of the highest quality. But in times when we are finding and needing hacks and short cuts to make things work, it’s worth allowing some leeway.

If we can allow things to be a bit clunky, imperfect, basic and rudimentary, it will relieve the pressure on those who are doing their best.

Human ingenuity is at work and while it’s clever, it might not have the highest fidelity on the first pass. Better will come over time. 

Work ... and then release

Put yourself under some pressure, focus on the thing to be done ... work.

Focus so you have no other distractions.

Focus because it’s not forever. (You will get a break.)

Focus because it’s so effective in getting the thing done.

Better than advancing on six different tasks, inching forward on each one, our mind switching erratically, losing time to get back up to speed. It’s such a waste to persist with this old way of thinking and working. Is it connected with the beliefs, ‘If I work hard and long: - I’ll get the results - I’ll look busy, be seen as indispensable - I’ll be seen as dedicated?

But what about the outcome? What is being achieved? How long is it taking? And do you know?

Try pressure (focus) ... and then release (break). Set a time to focus on a task and only that task. This is the pressure or constraint. Then work. . . . And then release. Walk, stretch, get a drink, move yourself, do something else. Avoid the ‘mixing-it-all-up-into-one-big-day-of-endless-work.’

Pressure. And release. You’ll feel better, work better and do better. 

Taming distraction

Not every plan goes to plan. Inspiration may not show up when we’d like it to. Getting into a ‘flow’ with our work can be impossible at times.

Distractions are everywhere.

⏺ Internal distractions happen when our day-dreaming, mind-wandering brain looks for a release of pressure.

⏺ External distractions are bright shiny anythings promising rewards: people, screens, programs, food, random tasks.

One of the best ways to deal with distractions - internal and external - is to trick ourselves by following a system or process to keep us on track.

A hack for our mind.

Whether it’s a timebox, a task sliced from a bigger piece of work, a creative constraint or a gamed activity - we now know there are things we can do to make work easier, more focused and more productive for us ... even when times are tough.

Thinking a to do list will still do is an old way of thinking and working.

To do lists have evolved - and no, not just to a tech version in an app! How we prepare to do the work has changed. There are new and better ways of thinking and working available to us.

These ways are used by some, unknown to many yet available to us all. We are in an era where how we work is ripe for the hacking.