March   2008   

Picture it. You've planned to take a day off. You are going to do something special with your family or friends. You've said you would do it.

But there you are the night before, running through your to-do's thinking, "I can't possibly take the day off, I've got way too much work to do!"

Do you:

A) Reschedule the day until you are less busy at work

B) Stay up all night working, or stressing about not working, and show up bleary eyed and torn for your special day

C) Take a deep breath, hold to your commitment, and enjoy

I faced this situation last week - so I know that it isn't an easy choice.

I had made plans to take my kids for a ski day. Then I was invited by Microsoft to give Energy Management talks in Seattle and Toronto one after the other. Our ski day was my only full work day between the two trips. It felt impossible. 

Here's why I took the day off. (See if this sounds like you.)

Family is a top priority for me. Following through on my commitments to them makes me feel good, and joy in our home has a lasting, positive impact that I can carry forward into my work.

If I felt I had let my kids down, I wouldn't be fully engaged with my work. So what would be the benefit of disappointing them, disappointing myself and seeing disappointing results at the end of the day? Frustration and disappointment make lousy fuel. 

So what happened? 

The ski day engaged me physically and spiritually. I got a much needed mental and emotional rest. I enjoyed the sunniest day in February at the top of a mountain with my kids, their friends and other Dads. Ahhhh.

I got up the next day, and flew to Toronto. I fully engaged with, and enjoyed Microsoft Canada's Human Resources Team. And I felt great about the quality of energy that I was able to share with this inspired bunch of people.

There's always going to be work that you could/should be doing. If you use that as your excuse to let everything else slide, that's a recipe for disappointment. You can choose to add positive fuels to your fire by investing and resting in all areas of your life. How do you make that choice? Listen to your little voice that knows what's really important. (Listen before the voice gets so little you can't hear it anymore.)

 Chris 604.209.4988

Who are you at your best? What do you need to do to be that person more often.

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MANAGE YOUR PEOPLE: Work at your peak

One of your goals as a manager is to get everyone on your team, including yourself, performing at the highest possible level.

But when to-dos start piling up, the goal of just getting everything done often supersedes all else.

The key to getting everything done, while encouraging peak performance, is to never confuse prioritizing with scheduling.

“X has to get done today. I'll do Y next week”. That’s scheduling.

"Y is a priority project for me, Jane is qualified to take over X so I'm making that her priority now." That's prioritizing.

To keep yourself and your team motivated and engaged, you need to think beyond time management. Great managers focus on ability and energy.

Try this. Go through your to do list. Using the following criteria, attach an A, B or C to each task. (If you have worked with me, you'll remember this is something we covered early on.)

A – You and only you can get this done
(one-on-ones with your people and planning at the highest level - the stuff you get paid the big bucks to do)

B – You and a select few on your team could handle this
(running meetings, project planning, project reviews and reports)

C – Anybody, and I do mean anybody, could do this
(running to the printer, coordinating Joe’s retirement party, filing)

Believe it or not, the majority of managers spend as much as 80% of their time and energy on B and C level tasks. 

Why? Because no one is nipping at your heels everyday, asking you to do something about the As.

You need to carve out time for your A work. To do that, you need to hand off some of your Bs and Cs to employees who are able to take them on.

The result of prioritizing for ability:

• you are working on your As. 
• your B and C jobs become your employees’ As.
• everyone is working at their highest level.

FYI: The key is that when you hand off work, you give it to employees because they have the ability – not just time – to get the job done.  If the right person is too busy (your best people usually are) don’t give the project to someone with an empty desk. Ask your 1st choice employee what Bs and Cs they could delegate to other team members.

The moment of truth:

What A level project has been lingering on your to do list? What C level projects were you planning to tick off your list today? Tick marks feel good, but the satisfaction of managing a peak performance team is better.

I challenge you to choose someone on your team to donate your C level tick marks to. Give them the satisfaction of taking on and completing a new task. Give yourself the satisfaction of prioritizing your ability.

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 If You Feel It Say It 

"Chris exemplifies what it means to Fully Engage by Managing Your Energy.

As a facilitator, his passion is contagious.

  He speaks from his heart and, with great humor, helps his listeners to understand the error of their ways.

Chris, and the topic of Energy for Performance, were the highlight our recent leadership development workshops.

Many leaders struggle with the issue of how to avoid burn out, while expanding their careers and maintaining balance in their lives.

Since the Energy for Performance workshop, our leaders have talked about the profound impact Chris' sessions had on them, both personally and professionally.

We at Microsoft highly recommend Chris to other organizations."

Shannon Wallis
Director,
Microsoft Worldwide Leadership Programs

Who Is This Guy?

MANAGE YOUR ENERGY: Invest and Rest 

We are oscillatory beings. We live in waves.

Our heart rate goes up and down. Our brain waves go up and down. We breathe in. We breathe out. And if any of those patterns flat line, we're in trouble.

At the most basic physical level, human life is a constant back and forth between stress and recovery; invest and rest.

Every time you reach for something, you strain.  When you attain it, you can relax. That's how you grow.

Did you know that physical muscle growth happens when your body is resting, not while it is straining? Similarly, the lessons learned from an emotional upheaval, are better appreciated during the recovery, than during crisis. You see how the formula works?

The stress and recovery formula is how you grow stronger physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. In every facet of our life, we have to invest, and then rest, to recover and grow.

Most of us have a daybook full of stress activities. How much recovery time do you have scheduled?

Take Time to Recover

Sleep is whole-self recovery. But your 6 - 8 hours a night can't be your only down time. If you don't rest during your day, you reduce your body's natural ability to recover at night.

2 weeks in Baja isn't enough. Vacations are great but if you stress yourself daily, you have to recover daily.

Think clearly. Oscillating between stressing and resting your mind will actually help you think better during the day and in the evening. Your mind is responsible for more than thinking. It sends response information to every nerve and muscle in your body. If you stress your mind for 8 or 10 hours straight, by the end of the day you will experience significant mental and physical fatigue - otherwise known as burn out. You know what that feels like right?

Taking breaks to laugh with a friend, meditate, or play a quick game of hoops at lunch, gives your mind a chance to rest, while investing in your emotional, spiritual and physical self. Who knows what gem you'll think up once your mind has had a chance to quietly recover and process?

Rest isn't wasted time. It is revitalizing time. (Revitalizing: meaning new life, new growth.) 

So many people plow through their days - their lives - thinking that if they stop for a moment, someone will notice, or something bad will happen.

If you don't rest and recover from physical, mental, emotional and spiritual strain - I'll tell you what will happen - you'll flat line. And that, people notice.

Energy Management is about becoming aware of when you need to invest and when you need to rest - and it's about doing it.

Reflecting on the ski day with my kids, I realize how important that day was for me to recharge my batteries and reconnect with some of my deepest held values: family, health and happiness.  It would have been easy to fill the day with catch-up or prep activities. But I'm so glad that I didn't. The benefits of that day stayed with me all week and helped my energy levels and outlook. As medicinal as the experience was, it sure wasn't hard medicine to take.

Related articles in the archive:

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