time management

January 27, 2017 by AnnaPatrick

The Four-step System For Conquering Your New Year’s Resolution

It’s the 3rd week of January.

How’s that New Year’s Resolution going?

New Year’s Resolutions have a poor reputation for being successful, but it’s rarely because of the goals set themselves. Your goals are important. You do want to achieve them. Sometimes people are quick to dismiss the value of New Year’s Resolutions and even stop setting them – after all, what’s the point, if you’re not going to follow through? But if you set a resolution – or a goal – that matters to you, maybe the solution lies not in giving up but shoring up your chance to be successful.

What you need is a proper framework.

A framework is a way of thinking and doing things that you can count on to help you succeed. Without a framework, you’re left to your own unreliable devices. Will power. Trying really hard. Both strategies that fail when your motivation wanes.

It’s better to tackle your goals with a framework you can follow that will lead you through the hard times and help you stay motivated for the long term.

So how to you go from “trying really hard” to actually achieving your 2017 goals? Try this framework: problem, project, plan, and process.

Problem. Define the problem. We make changes when something is wrong and we want it to better. So what’s wrong? What’s the problem you’re trying to solve?

Project. Once you’ve identified the problem, make solving it your new project. Aside from setting the goal (“Drop 10 pounds.” “Increase revenue 10%.” “Hire new team.”), take the time to sit down and map out how you will achieve it.

Plan. Once you know how you want to tackle this project, put pen to paper and make the plan. What will you do, and when? What’s your timeline? What are the milestones? What are the steps?

Process. A plan is only as good as the paper it’s written on until you implement it, so the last step is to put a process into place. Decide when you will revisit the plan, and how often. Set about a regular routine of identifying the next immediate step; taking that step; evaluating the outcome; and revisiting the plan for the new next step. If you do this, achieving your goals is no harder than a walk through the park. You just take one step after another, until before you know it, you’ve arrived where you wanted to be.

Imagine the difference this could make for you in achieving your goals. Where once you had a feeble resolution (“Get my finances together”) now you have clarity about the problem (“My finances are a mess, and if I’m not careful I’m going to miss the chance to build a strong retirement.”). You have taken it on as a project. (“In the next six months, I am going to focus squarely on getting organized with my finances.”) You developed a plan. (“I know what I am going to do in each month to move from a mess to a strong financial set-up for the long-term.”) And you have a process. (“Monday is now “Money Monday.” Every Monday I look at my financial plan and choose the steps to move forward.”)

When it comes to making your 2017 goals a reality, remember, don’t just get inspired. Get ready, get started, get it done, and get the results!

The previous article appeared on Inc.com as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

September 18, 2015 by sereynolds

3 Steps To Finding Your Universal Timeline

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

Recently I received a call from a business owner who was so stressed by the size of her To Do list that she was practically hyperventilating. Wringing her hands and wrinkling her brows, she worried she would never be able to get it all done, but she couldn’t not get it all done, either. She was completely overwhelmed.

Rather than try to race through all those action items at warp speed (stressful! and not very smart) or cram them all into the little boxes on her calendar (impossible), I suggested we take a different path–one of patient persistence that I call The Universal Timeline.

The universal timeline is the schedule on which everything happens at just the right time, whatever that may be. There are no dates and deadlines. No time pressures. Just milestones. There is a right time for everything. You don’t need to force it.

Obviously, you won’t want to use this strategy when:

You have a hard and fast deadline.
You’re accountable to other people.
Other people are counting on you to stay on a certain schedule.

But when none of those are the case, you can learn to ease up and speed up at the very same time.

That’s what the universal timeline does. It allows you to take advantage of just the right circumstances at just the right time to slip through your tasks with the most beneficial, advantageous timing. Here are three steps to find yours:

Make sure the time is right and in line with your vision. Say, for example, you have a really big project to complete. Once you’ve glimpsed the possibility of completing this project, you’ll be chomping at the bit to get going. On the universal timeline, if the time is right you will get up off your chair and start now.

Know your schedule. On the other hand, maybe now is not the time. Maybe your plate is full, your mind is distracted, or you just don’t have what you need to succeed. That’s okay, too. On the universal timeline, if the time isn’t right you don’t start. Instead, you make a note to do the project (“Start business development plan.” “Hire fitness trainer.” “Write memoir.”) and put it somewhere you will see it every day until the time is right.

Then wait. If you are patient and you maintain that priority, you will be walking along the universal timeline. When the time is right, you will know. Just as a big green sign appears on the edge of the highway telling you THIS IS YOUR EXIT, the “signs” will also arrive to tell you when the time is right to do this task. Either the phone will ring or the calendar will clear or the right person will say the right thing to jar you into action, and you’ll know. It’s time.

To get on the universal timeline, you give up expectations about how long things take to get done. You commit to doing them as fast as possible, but let go of how fast that has to be. Instead you wait for the perfect opportunity to act and take advantage of that perfect timing to let them happen in a snap.

The universal timeline isn’t about procrastination. You’re not putting off the things you want to do. You’re waiting for the conditions to be ideal. Certain activities require certain frames of mind, and you will get in those frames of mind naturally if you are patient. And you will be much, much more effective than you would be if you forced every project to take place on your own schedule.

What could you use the Universal Timeline for? Is there something you are hoping will happen but you don’t know when? Something you want to get to but somehow never do? Write it down, post it up, throw off the pressure of goals and deadlines, and trust that it will get done in its own time.

August 19, 2015 by sereynolds

5 Ways To Take A Virtual Vacation, No Matter How Much Time You Have

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

Summer is swiftly coming to an end, and the question remains–have you taken your vacation yet?

When one client I’m coaching, we’ll call him Stephen, told me he hadn’t made time for one yet, I told him to take a “virtual vacation.”

Stephen walked along the sunny path with his spaniel Sporty panting by his side, the two of them trotting along cheerfully downhill toward the lake. At last, free from the pressures of the office…free from the demands of the clients…free from the deadlines and the numbers…Stephen was finally on vacation. He parked himself on a rock at the edge of the beach and laid back to take in the view. Sitting in the sun in his shorts and hiking boots, he allowed his mind to empty completely.

Stephen breathed deeply and closed his eyes. He lay there, breathing, smiling, resting, he didn’t know how long. At ease. At peace. Alone. He dozed. When his nap was over, he stretched long and grinned. What a feeling! And the best part was, he could come back here anytime he wanted. It was only a moment away.

Stephen opened his eyes, took his feet off his desk, and turned back to the computer. Just 15 minutes of rest and an imagined trip to the mountains, and he felt completely renewed.

Do you need to get away? Whether it’s a 15 minute vacation-in-your-office like Stephen’s or a real vacation for rest and restoration, a little time off can help you stop feeling like you’re a little off. Try one of these five ways to take your “virtual” vacation now:

The instant escape. Meditation is an art form practiced around the world for finding inner quietude. It can reduce stress, calm your mind, and clear your thoughts wherever you are–walking, driving, or sitting right where you are. In its simplest form, the entire process is: Close your eyes. Breathe. Clear your mind.

That’s it. Try it now. Breathe in deeply and slowly, breathe out deeply and slowly, feel your body relaxing, and gently release any thought that comes to mind. Close your eyes and try it for two more long, slow breaths. Notice the difference. You can meditate for just a few minutes, or keep practicing for longer and longer.

When you’re going top speed, slowing down in the middle of the day can sometimes seem like the hardest thing to do. But you carry within you the peace you need, and you can find it anytime.

The 10-minute escape. Stephen’s virtual vacation, as you saw above, is really just a form of meditation with a twist. As you do in meditation, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and release all thoughts. Then fill your mind with images, thoughts, or even music. If you’re worried about falling asleep, set an alarm and tell yourself that if you do fall asleep, you’ll awake feeling refreshed and energized.

The hour-long escape. You can combine the techniques of meditation and imagination with exercise to really come away revived and restored. Yoga, walking, running, biking and swimming have a rhythmic solitude that are especially well suited to resting the mind, but you can also get away from stress and frustration with any kind of sport.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be exercise. A bath, a hot shower, an hour in the tub, some quiet time on the couch can all bring the rest you need if you’re able to detach from the pressure and stress. Whatever you choose, be sure it engages your mind, either by helping you escape into a meditative state or getting you so involved in something else that you forget about work for awhile.

The full day retreat. How often do you take a day off? Really off, not to get stuff done but to get reconnected with yourself? If you plan a day off for yourself, even that one day can feel like a vacation. Think of it as a retreat; you are retreating from the world of work for a day to clear your head and gather your energy. Then make sure that’s really what it is.

Be by yourself. Go to the beach. Get outdoors. Get away.

If you really want to make the most of this retreat, turn it into a weekend. You’ll return with a new outlook on life.

The working vacation. If what you need isn’t a day off but a day in, with all the time you need to get stuff done, give yourself a working vacation, or as I call it, “A Vacation in Your Office.” You can also take a Vacation in your House. It’s when you take a day to hold call calls (or better yet, turn off the phone), take no visitors, answer no questions, pretend you’re on vacation and just blast through your To Do list. When you need to get to the bottom of those piles of paper, whittle down your To Do list, put away the holiday decorations, or just catch up on life, a working vacation can eliminate the tasks and the stress they cause.

With all of that said, one of my favorite time rules is to always have a vacation in Sight. No matter where you work or what you do for a living, you get to take a vacation. The simple fact that vacations are a requirement of every legal working contract acknowledges the fact that as people, we need to get away.

And it’s not just a benefit for you. Good ideas need space, and they can’t get it in a crowded mind. You need time off from work to think clearly and be your best. There are lots of ways you can clear your mind, from a thirty-second meditation to a yoga class to a real vacation. Below follow some suggestions to get it.

August 13, 2015 by sereynolds

The Post-It Note Approach to Time Management

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

In addition to the shortcuts I discussed in my last column, I want to introduce a new strategy that you can start putting into place at any time. This is a strategy I learned from coach Kevin Lawrence, and it has helped many leaders establish a new relationship with time.

The 5 D’s are: “Do it, delete it, delegate it, decide on it, and date it.”

The “it” in these cases usually refers to some small task or action item–every time you have to get through a stack of email, voice mail messages, or a stack of paperwork, the 5 D’s are crucial. You will drastically cut the time you need to get through the stack.

To elaborate, here are the 5 D’s and how you can use them to maximize your time:

Do it means do it now. Use this for any task that takes fifteen minutes or less.

Delete it means there are some things that do not require your response. Just because someone sent you the message/document/suggestion doesn’t mean you have to reply. If an item doesn’t advance a relationship or achieve an important goal, get rid of it.

Delegate it means pass it on to someone else who can handle the job. They don’t have to do it better than you; they don’t even have to do it as well or as fast. They probably won’t. But unless it’s a top priority or specific result that you and only you can deliver, you’re not the right person. Pass it on. Don’t abdicate the responsibility; you still need to be sure the task gets done. This is not a game of hot potato. It’s a way of reorganizing work so the right people do the appropriate jobs for maximum efficiency and results.

Decide on it means no more moving items from one stack to another, telling yourself, “I’ll get back to that.” Will you attend the meeting or won’t you? Will you agree to that request or won’t you? Make a decision. Move on.

Date it means that you get to choose when you will give big-ticket items your undivided time and attention. Figure out how much time you need and block it out in your schedule. You can forget about it until then.

To put this into practice, trying writing a mini-version of the 5 Ds on a sticky note and put it near a stack of papers, projects, emails or administrative tasks. Set aside some time to tackle the tasks using the 5 Ds. Notice how they cut down the time it takes to finish the tasks. Set aside some time to tackle the tasks using the 5 Ds. Notice how the 5s cut down the time it takes to finish the tasks.

August 6, 2015 by sereynolds

7 Foolproof Practices For Maximizing Your Time

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

We need to think differently about time. It’s not as if we haven’t been trying. Time-management courses have been around for decades, and work/life balance has become a clich. Some question whether work/life balance is even possible.

Others argue we shouldn’t be talking about balance at all, but time or life choices. Many people feel they don’t even have a choice about their time in a fast-paced, high-pressure world, which makes the whole about which vocabulary to use entirely moot.

The fact is, you will never have control of your time unless you take control of your time. That means stopping long enough to get a handle on what’s happening, reflecting on whether it’s working, and learning new ways to maximize the time you’ve got.

Here are a few shortcut strategies for maximizing your time that I teach my executives and entrepreneurs–they’re simple and you can do them in your head or on a piece of paper:

Modeling. Modeling your time means figuring out what the ideal schedule would look like. You sit down with a pencil and a sheet of paper and sketch the way you’d like the next stretch of time to look. In just a few minutes you can design your ideal week, or even day, month or year. It will take time to turn the model into reality, but now you know what’s possible.

Define your time. This means figuring out what “types” of days you need, just as you have different kinds of clothing (professional acquaintances, neighbors, college buddies), you can also have different kinds of days.

For example, types of days can be: meeting days (when you are available to meet with others), work days (you keep to yourself to do your own work), flex days (a flexible day to provide a cushion for spillover activities), admin days (catching up on paperwork), or days off (for rest and renewal). You can also go by half days or even two-hour blocks if a full day is too long.

Defining your time allows you to get into one mind-set for a particular type of activity and stay there, so you can find your rhythm.

Make appointments with yourself. It’s a strategy so simple I’m always amazed more people don’t use it more often–set a meeting with a specific purpose and be there to get the job done. Some tasks might include: e-mail catch up, coaching appointment, read up on industry news, review financials, or strategic planning. For example, you might set aside the first Monday of every month to review financials.

Breaking time rules. You can escape the rules of time, like that you must work 8-10 hours per day or that you must be available by phone and e-mail at all times. You might start defining the length of your workday by the result you achieve instead of the hours you’ve worked. Time rules don’t necessarily mean working less, but they do mean working with more freedom and choice.

Making time rules. For efficiency and quality of life, you can apply your own rules to how you’ll use your time. Here are a few examples from other leaders and entrepreneurs I have worked with:

Never open e-mail before planning the day.
Never schedule a meeting before 9 or after 4.
Turn off my computer after 7pm.
Spend no more than one evening away from home per week for a work event.

Time rules, even small ones, have the advantage of being concrete and explicit, making it easier to hold yourself accountable.

Replace multitasking with “unitasking.” Mutlitasking is a fact of life in a high-speed world, but many studies have shown that it actually cuts productivity. The strategy behind “unitasking” is to do one thing at a time, even for a short time. This will improve concentration, calm you down, and allow you to get more done in less time.

Considering that on average only about three minutes out of every hour are used with maximum focus, you can improve your rate of concentration with just five minutes at a time. Then fifteen. Then twenty. You don’t have to unitask all the time, just when it counts.

Power down. This means turning off technology. Free yourself the excess–just because you can take your laptop with you in the car and perch it on the passenger seat doesn’t mean you should. Not only does misuse of technology undermine the quality of your work, it also can strip away your gains. So just take the occasional step to power down when you can, turn off the technology, and do what will bring you progress and fulfillment.

The goal here isn’t to stock you up on more complicated notions of how to manage time. Instead, these strategies are meant to take what you already know about time and twist it–just a little bit–so you see powerful new possibilities. These shortcuts for maximizing your time are your exit off the fast track. You can do things much more quickly, easily, and enjoyably than the rest of the world by taking a different route–one of your own design!

March 31, 2015 by sereynolds

Separators, Integrators and Cyclers: 3 Ways to Balance Your Life

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

“I don’t believe in work-life balance.” Speaking with business leaders about how they think about their time, I’ve heard that same sentence three times in the last week.

At first I was tempted to debate with them. I do believe in work-life balance. Regardless of how you frame it–some people prefer to call it “work-life choices” or simply “life”–I believe you have the opportunity to live a life where you have plenty of time to do the things you need to do in the office or at home.

Apparently, that’s arguable. Questions I’ve seen in media headlines on the topic challenge the concept.

“Is work-life balance possible?”

“Does an expectation of balance put undue pressure on people?”

“Shouldn’t we all just learn to integrate our lives in this 24/7 world?”

A healthy debate like this can help us see different angles on this challenge we all face. Yet, sometimes the debate over how we “should” organize our time spirals into a more negative version–the “I’m right/you’re wrong” kind of confrontation that leaves everyone feeling attacked.

The real problem isn’t that we have different perspectives on work-life balance. The problem arises when we try to impose our views on others.

A client of mine recently complained when his boss overloaded him with extra projects that would stretch him past capacity. When my client dared to point out the obvious–that with so much work at once, he couldn’t possibly do a quality job–his boss snapped at him for “not pulling his weight.” For the record, this client was one of the highest-performing leaders in the division, and not one who could fairly be seen as a slacker. The underlying problem was that his boss thought working 24/7 was acceptable at any cost. My client did not.

In another interaction I witnessed, one manager berated another for “working so hard you never see your kids.” Again, this was an unfair judgment. I knew both managers to be extremely family oriented and perfectly healthy time managers. The problem arose because they simply worked differently–and judging each other only caused animosity.

Frustrated by the pattern I was witnessing, I wanted to find a way to help people out of the struggle and into a more productive point of view.

Then I met Ellen Kossek, who offered a solution.

Ellen Kossek is a Professor of Management at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management, Research Director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, and author of CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age. She has a theory about approaches to work-life balance and, along with her colleagues, has developed a work-life assessment to help individuals understand their styles. She calls the three types of approaches separators, integrators and cyclers.

Rather than continue to wrestle with the issues of work-life balance (and whether it’s even possible) you might consider which of these approaches work best for you.

Separators. Separators compartmentalize. During the weekdays and the workday, separators focus on their work and the task at hand. When the weekend hits, the separators put the phone down, reclaim their freedom and enjoy their down time.

An example of a separator is a client of mine who is a CEO of a start up firm. She has several children, and between her family and her job, she could easily choose to work all day, everyday. Instead, she consciously chose specific hours for work and specific hours for home, and she made an agreement with both her firm and her family to adhere to the schedule. She made sure everyone was taken care of–including herself–and from them on, she felt free. Both her clients and her family knew what to expect, and everyone became accustomed to her schedule. She knew that separating was the way she worked best.

Integrators. Integrators blend the different parts of their lives all together.

An example of a great integrator I know is a small business owner. Dramatically successful and with a fast rise into seven figures, she loves to work. She also loves her life. This entrepreneur chooses to work wherever she is, whenever she wants to–or not. She has her phone, laptop and car at her disposal at all times. She does what she wants to do and goes where she has to go and gets it all handled along the way. She can be found taking a business call on the treadmill or sitting with her kids in the office conference room having coloring time. She might leave work at three in the afternoon to pick up her kids, but then after everyone is situated at home she’ll sit at the kitchen table with her laptop and join an evening conference call.

Integrators allow work and home life to blend together. As long as they make sure they have time for themselves and their work, and as long as everyone’s needs are met, it all seems to come together and everything gets accomplished.

Cyclers. Cyclers follow what might be seen as a more traditional model: work hard and play hard, each in their own time.

If you’re a cycler, you go through phases that are all about the work. Your hours might be long, and you work really hard, allowing yourself to stay focused and reach important milestones and outcomes.

Then you go on vacation. You completely unplug. You sleep and swim and play. You feel restored and happy, and when the vacation’s over, you put away your beach towel and head back to work.

This model seems to work well for a lot of people. Parents, especially, seem to benefit from aligning their work schedule to their kids’ school calendars, which tend to operate with this “cycling” approach. They can work while the kids are in school and then take off the breaks that their children get, whether it’s two weeks at the holidays, a long weekend here and there, or even those long summer vacations. Entrepreneurs, executives, and inventors I’ve known have all appreciated the ability to immerse themselves in their work for awhile, and then reward themselves with some good, quality time off.

Let’s revisit the scenarios I posed earlier in this article. The manager who wanted my client to work 24/7 was a cycler; his style bumped up against the values of his direct report, who was a separator. The manager who scoffed another manager’s workaholic-seeming style was a separator also; but she misread and misinterpreted her colleagues’ integrator way of life. With Kossek’s lens on work-life balance, none of these people were “wrong” in their way to managing their time. But they were wrong to judge other people for managing their time differently. Many different styles can accomplish the same goal. The real way to judge the effectiveness is to gauge whether the work gets done in a way that supports a healthy quality of life–however you define it.

As you consider these three models, ask yourself a few questions.

What model appeals to you most?
What model are you living with now?
Is there any way to bring the two closer together?

Once you choose your way of making your life work, you can more easily accept other’s choices and go about focusing on your own.

February 17, 2015 by sereynolds

How To Save Your Struggling Business With Personal Leadership Practices

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

The mark of a company able to adapt to a changing environment and to seize opportunities are leaders that lead the business, lead others, and most importantly lead themselves. Leaders perform best when aligned to a vision that inspires and motivates them to act.

Successful companies that maximize the talents of their leaders build personal leadership into their cultures, focusing intently on developing and communicating a meaningful vision and strategy; aligning the motivations of individual leaders to the direction of the firm; and effectively strengthening leaders’ skills and abilities to prioritize and make decisions that deliver the intended results–both for themselves and those they lead.

Entrepreneurs can build a culture of personal leadership by emphasizing the vision and strategy of the firm, and helping leaders to identify their personal goals and objectives.

Ask yourself:

What counts as success for your firm? How, and how consistently, is that message conveyed?
What do individual leaders care about that will motivate them to achieve success for your firm, for clients, and for themselves?
What do leaders need in terms of support for effectively prioritizing activities, developing action plans and managing their time?

Questions like these can help leaders align their efforts both to the firm and to their personal motivations, leading to a greater ability to leverage existing talent and sustain performance over time.

If the firm has decided to place its bets on its talent and make that its competitive advantage, then it’s got to do better. How do you do that? You get very clear about the vision, make sure everyone is aligned to it, clarify the strategy for the firm, and teach individual leaders to make their own personal and uniquely-motivating visions and goals for themselves. Then empower them to deliver on those visions and goals with skills related to action planning, prioritization, time management, and so on. The idea is that the individual leaders are so excited and energized by what’s in it for them personally that they align all their efforts to that achievement, and that achievement rolls up into the vision of the firm.

The image is one of, let’s say, a subway station. People are milling about, on their cell phones, individually getting things done but in no particular direction. One could stand on the balcony and say, “Look at all those busy people! So focused on their work… Everybody getting stuff done in their conversations and on their laptops even as they wait for the train…”

But compare that to a pack of marathon runners–all lined up and running the same direction at the same time toward the same finish line. They need to put their efforts into making sure everyone was running the same direction, for the same reason, and doing their best to stay focused on the same finish line. Then they could focus on minimizing the distractions that come from a lack of focus (such as poor decision making skills, poor prioritization, poor time management) and building up the leaders to do even more, better, faster (through coaching and mentoring).

Personal leadership assumes that leaders perform best when they are at their best, personally as well as professionally. So in addition to getting organized around vision, strategy and goals, it’s important to foster a strong appreciation for what it means to be a high performer and what it takes to sustain that level of success.

If your firm wants to capitalize on the investment its making in its leaders, it would recognize that to get the best results out of these kind of talented individuals, it needs to help them not just achieve but find a sense of personal motivation and fulfillment that will inspire and motivate them to over deliver not just for the firm, but also for themselves. That way, everyone wins.

February 10, 2015 by sereynolds

6 Signs You Need a Coach

If you’re a person who is highly engaged, excited about your work and reaching your goals, hopefully that keeps you inspired and on track on a daily basis. But, a number of forces compete with our well-being that can chip away at our motivation over time.

See if any of these symptoms sound familiar: you’re overwhelmed, discouraged, exhausted, and you feel disengaged. When you feel your motivation starting to wane, you need to get your groove back, pick yourself up and get back to a place where you feel strong, energized and positive again. The bad news is that this can be a challenge. The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone.

This is where executive coaching can be your most invaluable asset.

Executive coaching is a particular type of leadership development, customized and tailored to you, totally focused on your success and achievement. As a coach, it’s my job to care as much about your success and achievement as you do. When you have a coach, it almost feels like there are two of you.

If you often think that it would take two of you to pull off everything you’re trying to do in your work and life, you may need a coach. Here are five other emotional signs to watch out for:

Overwhelm. If you’re feeling lost in your to-do list, unable to focus, and challenged in making a plan of attack on how to get things done, a coach can help you sort priorities and get focused, allowing you to feel more in control.

Discouraged. It can be enormously frustrating to want success and quality of life and somehow not be able to attain it. A coach can help you reconnect to your internal motivation for doing things, and reconnect with the things that you love and want to do. Doing what you want to do will help lift your spirits.

Frenzy. With so much to do, respond do, pay attention to, and think about, you can start to feel buried. The demands are steady, the e-mails keep coming, and you have a thousand places to be. You fly through things as fast as you can just to stay afloat. A coach helps you listen to your quieter voice of inner wisdom that will settle you down.

Sacrifice. When you separate success from quality of life, you face a dilemma. You end up making decisions you don’t want to make: to work or stay home, to take a promotion or preserve your sanity, to follow your heart or stick to the security of a so-so job. Coaches help organize your time so you’re not missing the vacations and time you need to maintain your mental health.

Mediocrity. When you lose sight of the grander vision of your life and leadership, you end up tinkering in the minutiae instead of increasing your value. You forget about high expectations. You’re just shooting for “good enough” and “done.” A coach helps you set standards for yourself so you’re not just puttering along, looking for the lowest common denominator. A coach helps you raise the bar for yourself in a way that’s invigorating.

Dissatisfaction. When you aren’t able to pinpoint your contribution and live a life of meaning, your achievements can feel hollow. You might feel disconnected, bored, isolated, unmotivated, stagnant, or burned-out. You might even start to wonder what it’s all for.

You may not be able to lift yourself out of the doldrums, but with a coach you can transform your perspective and get back to a place where you’re excited about your work and achieving your personal and professional goals.

February 4, 2015 by sereynolds

3 Secrets To Streamline Your Work Day

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

I recently heard a news story on the radio about how chefs organize their kitchen space to be most efficient. As I was listening it occurred to me that managers can use this to organize their own teams.

The strategy the chefs used was one they referred to by the French term, mise-en-place.” The phrase mise en place means “putting into place,” or “setting up.” For chefs, a mise en place refers to gathering and arranging the ingredients and tools they need for cooking in one central location. It helps the cooks coordinate vast amounts of materials in a labor-intensive environment. A chef who abides by this practice, everything in your station is entirely organized to use the minimal amount of time and effort to get something done. Very complex, high stress tasks become streamlined and focused .

If a mise-en-place approach can simplify the very complicated tasks of cooking fine meals at high speed, imagine what it could do for you in your business.

The thinking behind mise-en-place, is to think through an entire system so that the steps and materials are in place for execution, with the highest predictability and the least amount of effort expended. All of the effort goes into the preparation so that the execution can be flawless.

The success of the mise-en-place philosophy is based on self-discipline and focus–two skills that are essential for entrepreneurs and managers. The following steps take the mise-en-place philosophy from the kitchen to your office space:

Take control of your office space. Everyone wants to save a little bit of time here and there, and with the mise-en-place philosophy you can save a lot. You should be able to sit in your chair without standing up and be able to reach everything you need in one place, the way the chefs prepare their cooking stations. You shouldn’t have to get up for anything.

To arrange things most effectively, monitor your actions to show what you need in a day, and organize your office so that those things are immediately within your reach. Can you reach the books, files or binders you need for the day’s work from where you’re sitting?

You can still make this work for you in a small office space by making sure everything is right in front of you. Think of a sushi chef–they don’t need to walk around the kitchen; they have the rice, fish, seaweed, and any other ingredients right in front of them. So if you find that you have to walk across the room to get to the printer, consider getting a tabletop printer instead. If you are constantly running to the supply closet, set up a drawer of the supplies you need most often and stock it so everything you need is right at hand. Be ready ahead of time.

Take stock. Ideally, you shouldn’t run out of anything. Either you, or your assistant or office manager if you have one, make sure that you are stocked with everything you need, like pens, paper, or ink. The same is true on a digital level. Files are neat, organized, never cluttered, and easily accessible at any moment. You have enough disc space on your computer. Your contacts are organized and complete. Make a checklist and keep it in mind.

Prepare your day. Prepare your daily tasks for optimum efficiency. Know what calls you’re going to be on that day, have hardcopies of what you need for any meetings, and take inventory of your to-do list for the tasks ahead. Once you’re prepared, you can press “go” and get started with everything laid out in front of you. You can get right to work, just like a chef at his station.

To fully integrate mise-en-place, remember the secret is all in the preparation. Get prepared; set yourself up; try to think of everything; observe where the system breaks down, and make adjustments until everything runs like clockwork. You’ll look more professional, and feel more productive too!

October 30, 2014 by sereynolds

A Great Leadership Development Strategy: Marathon Training With Your Colleagues

This past week, an editor from the New York Post contacted me to let me know that she was going to run a story on those training for the New York Marathon with their colleagues or bosses. They were interested in how this dynamic might translate to the workplace. As a runner myself, I was happy to lend them some insight.

The truth is that any group activity that involves a specific goal and employs both leadership and teamwork is a great way to form a deeper bond with those you work with – running especially! This is what I told the Post:

This deeper relationship is common, says executive coach Joelle Jay, author of “The Inner Edge.” “Their walls come down when people have the time and opportunity to connect on a personal level with running or walking or on a long car ride,” she says.

Jay adds that marathoners’ contagious attitudes can even inspire their non-running colleagues to take up the sport — like vice president Melissa Sgaglione and senior account executive Max Puro did at their company.

It’s also important to note that there should be a way to include those who didn’t participate in the run. Those not running can still participate in other ways, such as cheering at the finish line, handing out water or holding up encouraging signs at different mile markers along the way, or even making team shirts. A post-marathon briefing, where the experience and stories can be shared, can bring other coworkers up to speed and help them feel in the loop and part of the team.

You can read the full article from the New York Post here.

You can also connect with Joelle on Twitter and Facebook, she’d love to hear from you!