Taking Responsibility for Your Environment

Time Management

Taking Responsibility for Your Environment
by Jeff Davidson



Many people blame others for their feelings of time pressure and anxiousness. This article explains that most of the time, we create the situations we are in. It gives advice for conditioning your environment in order to manage interruptions, anxiety, and other situations that result in a feeling of being overwhelmed.

In his book, The Path of Least Resistance, Robert Fritz says that when you are feeling overwhelmed or time-stressed, ask yourself: "Who created this situation?" The answer is usually you. You created the situation--and if you go through life blaming others, you move the locus of power away from yourself.

Of course, there are times when the boss may lay a bombshell on your desk, and in some instances you're asked to do more than usual. It is still your responsibility: you need to invest in resources that will equip you to handle tasks that come your way--whether that means buying new software, learning a new language, or acquiring more training.

By any view, the question, "Who created this situation?" will come back to you--it can't go anywhere else. Once you accept responsibility for your condition, opportunities and possibilities will begin to appear in abundance.

Interruption Management

A few years ago, author Alvin Toffler told me that the workplace is not a place to get things done these days. With the distractions in your office, it's often better to work at the library, in the conference room, or on a park bench. This is especially true when you're doing conceptual or breakthrough thinking--when you need to have a quiet place.

I was once consulting for a supervisor in Minnesota with six employees who wanted to use his time more efficiently. He reported his employees came to him with questions every couple of hours. That seemed harmless enough, but look at how it built up: If one employee asked a question every two hours, he asked an average of four questions each day.

With six employees, that meant 24 questions a day, or 120 interruptions each week, resulting in disruptions of the manager's work 3 times each hour in a 40-hour week! I devised a system to help him cope with the interruptions and gain control of his time, and called it the "J-4 System" (The "J" was for Jeff; use your own initial).

I had the supervisor put frequently asked or potential questions into four categories of manageability. The first distraction, J-1, was already answered in print and did not need a personal reply from the supervisor (it was in the company policy manual). The supervisor was then able to tell his employees, "Please don't bother me with J-1 distractions."

The second distraction, J-2, was a question that a peer or bookkeeper could answer; the supervisor did not need to be bothered with this type of question.

Distraction J-3 needed only a short answer of yes or no. These questions required interaction with the supervisor, but not much--a quick phone call or buzz on the intercom.

The final category was the J-4 distraction. It was a question that required the supervisor's input--one that the supervisor had, and desired, to answer.

How many questions were of the J-4 level of importance? Assuming each person asked two J-4 questions per day--adding up to 60 interruptions each week--the total number of interruptions was cut in half! By conditioning his environment, the supervisor was able to better use his time and reduce his level of stress.

Once you classify the types of interruptions you receive, you can cut them down and better cope with them. As you do, you'll gain greater control over your work, you'll find more time, and feel more relaxed as that knot in your stomach begins to unravel. You'll even be able to do breakthrough creative thinking at your own desk.

The number of distractions--the things competing for your time and attention--is infinite. You're only going to have more distractions in the future, not less. It's important that you learn to cope with distractions in ways that you've never employed before to regain control over your life.

The Pull of Anxiety

In her dissertation, Work Spirit, Dr. Sheri Connelly defined anxiety as the attempted unification of opposing forces. Anytime you are anxious, stop and figure out what opposing forces you're attempting to unite. Are you working on some low-level task when there's something far more important for you to give your attention to? You feel anxious. All the clues are in.

Your anxiety stems from your attempt to work on a low-level project (force #1) when you know there's something else that's more appropriate for you to be working on (force #2).

If you've been multi-tasking for a long time, and suddenly attempt to make the switch to working on one thing at a time, guess what happens? You may feel anxiety related to working on only one thing at a time. Like someone addicted to a chemical stimulant who knows she wants to get off--knows she'll be better for it--but as she attempts to proceed without the stimulant in her life, doesn't feel so good.

The natural inclination is to add the stimulant back into the mix.

It is the same with multi-tasking. If you've been doing it for ages, and all of a sudden you attempt to give it up, the cold turkey attempt to do one thing at a time may backfire. You may become so uncomfortable that you look for additional stimuli to add to the mix.


-----------------
Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC, is a popular conference speaker and author of 28 books, including Breathing Space (Feb 2000). For books, videos, cassettes, or presentations, visit http://www.BreathingSpace.com, FAX (919) 932-9982, or call (919) 932-1996.