Consuming or distilling

As we start a day fresh with optimism of what could be, we also start with fresh capacity to take in information. 

But then it comes, the stream of content, questions, information, presentation, reading, listening. 

So. Much. Information. 

We do expect a lot from this wonderful mind of ours! 

With so much information to take in, as we consume it ... do we also distill it? 

Consuming information is a bottomless pit; there is always more we could attempt to take in. 

So how do we distill? Or do we even? 

To distill is to refine and purify. 

Water. Fuels. Alcohols. Gases. Oils. Essences. Many vital products are achieved via distillation. 

Taking out some bits and keeping them. Discarding or using other bits in other ways. 

What’s our distillery for all of the information? 

How do we refine what we’re hearing, learning, taking in?

We need to get the essence of each meeting, conversation and dump of information. To take control and avoid being swamped or overwhelmed. 

When we distill, it’s easier to share and consume. 

And for others to distill. 

And this is the process. 
Just a sip. 

Ease is an accelerator

How easy do you make things? 
And what do they need you to make easier?

The weekly status meeting is often a summary of “here’s what going on”.  

Rather than going around the table - or the screen - hearing an update about what’s going on, why not find out what they need made easier? 

Leaders who take on the role of a facilitator - today’s leaders of ease - are focused on making things easier for their team. 

That means helping to identify and remove barriers, blocks and obstacles. 

Get to it! Find out where the sticking points are and help free them up. Release the build up, move the blockage out of there and make things easier. 

This is some of the best work a leader can do. It can be one of the most impactful, supportive and memorable things about a leader. 

It reduces friction and frustration and allows the team to build up momentum, speed and flow. 

Go now ... go make something easier. 

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. 

Is there a better way of doing this

When we’re doing something in one way, do we wonder is there a better way? Rather than finding just any old way to do a task or activity, what would make it better... better for you and your situation?

And what is ‘better’ anyway? Better happens when something is more acceptable … to us or perhaps to our customers, clients, family, colleagues or community.

It might be better because:

It’s quicker

It’s less stressful

It’s easier

It’s smoother

It uses less energy

It’s more affordable

It takes less effort

It happens faster

It makes us happier

It protects us

It extends our life

It cares for others

It is kinder, more efficient… and on and on we can go.

It’s a personal thing to identify what would make something better for you. And when focus is directed towards better, we can make decisions, change things and choose ways that will work for us.

For the better. My next book is coming soon ... ‘Better ways of thinking and working: How changing the way you do things, changes what you can do’. 

Is it really a pivot or just catching up

As we adapt to new ways of thinking, working and living, the word ‘pivot’ has gained ’traction’ 😩 cliché alert - urgh!

Is it really a pivot or are we just catching up on what needed to be done some time ago? Did we see the need, test the tech and talk about it, only to have initial hopes swamped by "too hard, too complicated, too busy - don’t have time”?

To pivot is indeed to change, rotate, shift direction.

To catch up is to work quicker, to increase your pace so you are ...at pace.

If it’s a big shift, then it is. If it’s doing what we could have started a while ago, we’re catching up. Nothing wrong with that.

In catching up we learn, experiment, gain insight and feedback. We can accelerate, speed up, adapt rapidly. As Madeline Kahn‘s ‘Eunice’ in the classic film ‘What’s up Doc?’ says, ‘Don’t over-dramatise’. There’s no benefit in making what we’re doing even more dramatic than it already is.

Overwhelm, worry, and ‘I need to do better’ live there and the dangers of perfectionism can become painfully visible. We can still do meaningful, purposeful and impactful work without the added panic that we’re also in a dramatic pivot.