What does your schedule look like? Does it have space in it for time to just think, play and to get plenty of sleep? Or do you have a full schedule that is packed already as you are trying to figure out how to get even more done?
In our high achievement culture where busyness is often seen as a badge of honor, taking time out for thinking or playing seems like a frivolous luxury. But ironically, it is these very activities that are critical to determining what is truly essential in our life, so we can stop cramming so many non-essential things into our schedule.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the mindset of an Essentialist, based on Greg McKeown’s book “Essentialism” (see: How To Be More Effective By Doing Less: 3 Powerful Tips). Once you have adopted this mindset, the next step is to explore what is essential in your life and work. McKeown outlines 5 different practices for exploring what is essential:
1. Escape
In order to create space in your life, the first step is to schedule regular time to think and read.
How much time, you ask?
CEO Bill Gates takes a week off from his daily duties twice a year for “Think Week”, during which he secludes himself to read articles, books, study technology and think about the big picture.
CEO of LinkedIn Jeff Weiner schedules up to two hours of blank space on his calendar in 30 minute increments every day to think about essential questions, e.g. about what his company will look like in 3-5 years, how to improve a product or meet a customer need and how to widen a competitive advantage.
Whether it’s 2 weeks a year, 2 hours a day or a few hours a week, the key is to make regular space in your busy life to think.
2. Look
Train yourself to look for trends and larger issues that really matter.
I order to practice noticing trends, McKeown suggests daily journaling. To get in the habit, don’t try to write a lot – even just spending 5 minutes writing down whatever comes to your mind is helpful. Then make time to regularly review what you have written. Look for trends and patterns.
3. Play
Play allows us to come up with new ideas and helps us stay more engaged. It helps us see possibilities and connections that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen. It is also an antidote to stress. And it has a positive effect on the executive function of the brain, like planning, prioritizing, analyzing, and deciding.
What activities do you enjoy that feel like play? I love to dance, but I know others who love to craft or sing, take improv classes, or do sports. You can do something as simple as doodle, color, play a board game, or play with your kid or pet (we enjoy playing hide and seek with our doggie Rafa 🙂 ).
4. Sleep
One of the most common ways in which we do not take care of ourselves is by not getting enough sleep. Sleep is not a luxury. It is essential for being able to be at our best.
It may seem that by sleeping less you can get more done, but one more hour of sleep equals several more hours of higher productivity.
I used to cut down on sleep in order to get more done at work, but if I hadn’t been so sleep deprived and had actually taken regular time to think about the big picture, I might have been able to reduce my workload to the essential, rather than trying to get everything done.
Setting a regular bedtime is a great first step – most adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep at night.
5. Select
Derek Sivers has a great technique for how to become more selective in the choices you make. In his TED Talk: “No More Yes. It’s either HELL YEAH! Or No.” he explains that if the answer isn’t a definitive yes then it should be a no.
Another example McKeown describes is the 90% rule: As you evaluate an option, think about the most important criterion for that decision and give it a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it any lower than 90%, simply reject it.
Yes, applying highly selective criteria is a trade-off. Sometimes you will have to turn down a seemingly very good option and have faith that a much better option will soon come along. But you it keeps you from committing yourself to too many options.
A little bit less drastic process you can use to make decisions involves 3 steps:
- Write down the opportunity
- Write down a list of 3 minimum criteria the options would need to pass to be considered.
- Write down a list of 3 ideal or extreme criteria the option would need to pass to be considered.
If the opportunity does not pass the 3 minimum and 2 out of 3 of the extreme criteria, the answer is no.
I challenge you to try this out for yourself and choose one of the 5 practices to make time for exploration to help you achieve more. Which practice appeals to you?
Manuela is helping professionals who feel stuck or unhappy discover a career they love! You can visit Manuela’s Website for Career Happiness Coaching