Not that you’re keeping track, but I haven’t posted this week. With the blizzard that hit Denver a few days before Christmas, and the one we’re in the midst of right now, the city has been a forced to slow down. It’s been a blissful few days of purposeful non-productivity. Most people (who weren’t stuck in the airport) unexpectedly spent several days holed up with their families, which can be great for life balance. I built every Bionicle, Lego, and Exoforce kit my sons got for Christmas—real quality time doing activities they love. Hmmm…I also spent time purging my files and pulling out tax documents for 2006…so I guess it wasn’t all non-productive.
Some businesses, not blizzards, also purposefully cause a slowdown during the holidyas. This article "We’re not as productive at work during the holidays" discusses how businesses often shut down during the holidays, thereby forcing some life balance into their lives. Our office was technically open Wednesday-Friday of this week, but the people my sales director calls are on vacation and definitely not interested in hiring a speaker this week. It’s a natural lull in our business, and I don’t expect her call volume to be as high as usual. The article failed to mention, however, that some industries are actually busier during this season: my clients in retail, shipping, accounting come to mind immediately. (By the way, what other businesses are you in that actually experience speeding up vs. slowing down during the holidays?)
If you do have to go back to work right away, don’t get bored or frustrated until things pick up in mid-January! Take the time to start those projects you’ve had on the backburner that "you never have time to get to" during the regular season. Learn a new software package. Organize your files. Give away books you’re not going to read again. Toss users manuals for software and gadgets you no longer own. Plan your vacations and block them off your 2007 calendar. Get out your 2007 calendar. Get a jump start on your taxes.
Bottom line: You can have purposeful non-productive time or productive non-purposeful time.
A reporter asked an interesting question today: How do you know if you’re spending too much time surfing eBay? While I’m all for saving time on Internet shopping and having things delivered, instead of driving around town to ten places trying to find the same item, you don’t want to cross the line into an addiction. An addiction? That’s right. How many hours a day would you have to devote to something before it would be labeled an addiction? Television watching? Gambling? Drinking? eBay surfing? As with anything, it can get out of hand. So I told the reporter I’d have her readers ask themselves these questions:
·Do you spend more time on the computer surfing eBay listings than you do with your significant other and children?
·How would you feel if your spouse could see the listings you’re viewing?
·Are you purchasing items in private or on a separate credit card, so no one knows what you’re buying?Are buying things you are embarrassed to tell your spouse about or that are causing financial strain?
·You don’t leave the house any more to go shopping, because you can find anything you need on eBay?
·Can you spend an evening with your partner without thinking about whether someone has responded to your eBay seller inquiry?
·Does your heart beat faster when you see a message waiting for you in your inbox from a certain eBay stores?
Tell your partner you’re sorry you’ve been so unavailable, and make steps to change. Don’t let the anonymity of technology let you cross boundaries you wouldn’t in person. Force yourself to buy things in cash, so your credit card purchases don’t become unmanageable. Make a list of things you need to buy, and get out and about to meet real people in real situations.The delivery costs can add up quickly, so only buy unique items you can’t find anywhere else, only when there is a legitimate occasion.
I am rid of spam! YES, it’s true! Just in the last few months, as many of you have experienced, the volume of spam I was receiving was increasing drastically. I was getting 200+ spam email messages a day, and it was killing my productivity and frustrating me to no end. Just scanning the subject lines and deleting was costing me precious time, and some spam messages were causing my Treo handheld to reset upon email retrieval. I’ve tried several end-user anti-spam filters, and nothing was doing the trick. Add to that multiple domains, email addresses, and aliases, and the problem was compounding daily.
ENTER Mail Foundry. My webmaster, Lance Gibb, installed the appliance on his server, routed my mail (all addresses, domains, aliases) through it, and TA-DA! No more spam. No kidding! 99% is gone. At the end of each day, I receive a quarantine digest of all messages MailFoundry grabbed, and I have the option of releasing them back to my in-box and tagging them as not spam. I have only had one or two messages with false positives. I can also report messages I receive in error that are actually spam and should be grabbed next time.
You could even do it yourself, if you own your own domain, have total control of your domain, and know all the technical details of how to route your mail. But it’s just as easy to contact your webmaster and recommend MailFoundry. The best part yet? It’s FREE! I highly recommend it.
Merry Christmas! No spam is my best business present to myself!
A reader just turned me on to Allan Engelhardt’s October post called "The 3/2 Rule of Productivity." Wonderful. Fascinating research with data showing the more employees your company has, the less productive each person is. Basically, in terms of profit per employee, when you triple the number of employees, you halve their productivity (the 3/2 Rule). Allan supposes the causes could include self-selection, relationship friction, a shared vision, and the ability (or lack thereof) to collaborate. If I could toss in my two cents, from what I hear employees of large corporations complaining to me about, it’s:
* a huge volume of email to deal with and some moron replying to all with a 50-person distribution list and 100 spams each day
* meetings that run on and on with no purpose and no apparent outcome
* interruptions by co-workers who have nothing better to do than waste their time
* waiting…and waiting…and waiting…for an answer from someone who was supposed to deliver it days ago, and now the poor worker has to implement reminder systems just to babysit the lazy butt
* work arounds for IT departments that only allow a laughingly-small amount of storage space for pst files
* several layers of bureaucracy to dig through to get the slightest irregular expenditure approved.
What else? Please add to my list or tell me I’m not on target.
In the December edition of my monthly newsletter, I posed the question "I’d love to hear from the men on this one, but at least in my circle, why does it seem that the woman is the social, family, and child coordinator in the family?" I heard back from three men, who basically agreed with me. Are there any men out there who arrange the kids’ playdates, handle school arrangements, schedule with couple friends, or otherwise act as the family coordinator? Women, does your husband help you with these tasks?
When I introduced my fiancée to my Aunt (34 years ago, we’ve married a long time ago) I mentioned that she was "quiet". My Aunt said, "There is only room for one mouth in a couple, and you are the one that talks, so it’s alright." In your situation, you may be the more social of the two.
But I think you would really enjoy reading what The FLYlady has to say. So, I refer you to www.flylady.com. Ask to read her emails for awhile, and you’ll find a resource for a variety of things.
Keep up the good work.
John Hawley, Montrose,PA
Because that’s your job! I’m kidding but only sort of. Hundreds of years of culture have engrained this "fact". It’s in our DNA. Men go to work and women take care of the home, which includes being responsible for the social arrangements, etc. Another example…who organizes a wedding? The mother of the bride of course. The men just write the checks. Ask anyone who has a daughter. Also, how many times have you heard a husband say "I’ll have to check with the boss?"
If course I’m not saying this is this right. It’s not even just. But that pretty much is the way it is. You even alluded to one of the answers in your column when you stated that it helps if one person is the primary keeper of the schedule. In our house it also works because my wife (a stay at home mom and wife) is the extrovert, I’m the introvert so it comes much more natural for her. She even needs the social interaction more than I do. Although I enjoy our outings and get-togethers, I would probably be just as happy with a good cigar (on the deck since I’m not allowed to smoke them in the house) and a glass of amber liquid. Fortunately, this all works pretty well. We’ve been married for 33 years and have two grandkids to dote over.
Thanks for a great column. Enjoy your holidays.
Michael J Hammel, PMP
Laura:
Your question about why women are the social organizers in families is also interesting; the simple answer is that men and women are different. I once heard it said that if you and your spouse are exactly the same, then one of you is superfluous. Other than this flippant answer, I really do not know, but will be interested in hearing what you find out from your clients.
I wrote recently about an article from the Christian Science Monitor, in which a reporter interviewed me about "Extreme Jobs," people who work 80+ hour workweeks. I received an email from someone who read my post, miffed that I could judge someone, as "I did not know her." Of course I don’t know her and can’t judge her personally…I’m sure she’s a very nice person, gives to the poor, and rescues puppies…and the only thing I (and anyone else for that matter) can observe is behavior. Working seven days a week, 11 hours a day (not including time at home working) is workaholism, pure and simple (heck, even God rested on the seventh day). It’s been studied, researched, and rehashed, and just because it’s been re-titled an “extreme job” doesn’t mean it’s anything new. It’s not my research, but a very well-documented body of facts on the addiction. If you have any doubts as to whether you exhibit workaholic tendencies, a good place to start is reading Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat them“by psychotherapist Bryan Robinson. Workaholism, Robinson says, is “an obsessive-compulsive disorder that manifests itself through self-imposed demands, an inability to regulate work habits, and an over-indulgence in work, to the exclusion of most other life activities.” Just like alcohol consumes the alcoholic, work consumes the workaholic. Robert J. Filewich, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and director for the Center for Behavior Therapy in White Plains, N.Y., puts it this way: “Workaholics get their sense of worth, value, and importance from work. The clearest indication of workaholism, he argues, is simply the inability to turn work off (in this case, being on call 24-hours a day for the rest of your life). The ironic thing is the note I received talked about how successful this person was because she is so *rich* and *successful.* To recover from workaholism, you have to challenge the social acceptance – even society’s encouragement – of these common phrases: “Look how productive you’re being. You are accomplishing great things.” “You need to earn a living, after all, to clothe your children.” “The economy is bad, and it sure isn’t easy in competitive times like these.” “After all, you possess that strong work ethic your father instilled in you. Hard work is good for you, and you’re not about to become a slacker.” “You just love your work; it is your hobby, in fact, and you’re doing great things for people. You’re having so much fun that it just doesn’t feel like work.” Yeah, yeah, the rationalizations abound. Is there incongruence in these words or simply denial? This workaholic syndrome is socially sanctioned, and in many cases, it’s revered and rewarded. Robinson calls workaholism “the best-dressed problem of the 20th century.” Tony Schwartz, author of What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America (Bantam Books, 1995), said, “Any culture inevitably pulls people toward its norms. Ours elevates those who work relentlessly and disdains those who are more laid-back. Those who embrace long hours and devotion to the workplace not only earn a special place in the ranks of the company, but they also frequently earn more money, which translates into even more approval in our culture.” Here are a few of the common workaholic traits from research: Perfectionism: one who never feels like the work is “good enough,” and labors long and hard to create optimal results. Time commitment: the amount of time one devotes to work; workaholics are so time-committed to their jobs that they tend to put less effort into spouse and family, friend, and leisure activities. Job involvement: one who devotes himself or herself wholeheartedly to productive projects and prefers to make constructive uses of time; may even define job-unrelated tasks as working activities because workaholics often blur the distinction between business and pleasure. Stress: workaholics experience higher levels of stress than other individuals and can experience (but successfully ignore) continual physical effects of stress on their bodies. Unfortunately, workaholism has severe consequences; to name just a few: When studying the children of self-described workaholics, researchers found significantly higher rates of depression and anxiety for these children than those of non-workaholic parents. A survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers cited preoccupation with work as one of the top four causes of divorce. Workaholics evidence more destructive behavior: more alcohol abuse, more extramarital affairs, and more stress-related illnesses. Start by admitting you have a problem and join a local chapter of Workaholics Anonymous. WA is “a fellowship of individuals who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problems and recover from workaholism.” To find a support group in your area, contact Workaholics Anonymous, World Service Organization, P.O. Box 289, Menlo Park, CA 94026-0289 or call (510) 273-9253. But hey, the positive news is if you need an emergency gift basket for a client at 3:00 a.m., just call LeGourmet Gift Baskets in Castle Rock, CO, because they answer the phone 24 hours a day and will take your call.
So I’m quoted in an article today by the Christian Science Monitor called "‘Extreme’ jobs on the rise," which cites a study by the Harvard Business Review called "Extreme Jobs: The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek" (there is no free version of this article; they make you purchase a copy for $7.00). Read the fascinating quotes from the CEO of a gift basket company who works 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day, including weekends. She essentially says she works those long hours because she has passion for her work. So what? I have passion for my work, too, and you don’t find me working that long. This is workaholism, pure and simple. I feel sorry for her husband. She doesn’t go outside the house, gave up golf, and installed a home theater in her house to make up for the lack of time to see movies in regular theaters. If she’s the CEO of a company, that tells me she doesn’t trust anyone in her company enough to run thing for her. Or she’s not delegating properly. Or she hasn’t hired enough people. Or she’s a perfectionist or has horrible time management skills. Or her business model is broken if she has to regularly work 77 hours a week to keep it afloat. Don’t get me wrong: it’s perfectly normal to work long hours when first starting up a company. It’s perfectly normal to occasionally work an 80-hour week when you have an important project deadline. Then things should go back to normal. But if that becomes a habit, now you have a problem. I get tired of people telling me the long hours is "just the way it is," as if they are not participating in that reality to some degree. For people who are employed, what happens when you kill yourself all those years and then get the pink slip? What’s left? Do you think your company has some sort of loyalty to you now? Overwork is in the top four reasons marriages end in divorce. When you come out of this self-induced 80 hour week, what shape will your relationships be in? Will you have any friends left? What about when you have those health problems from a severe lack of taking care of yourself. I am severly unimpressed by people who brag about the long hours they put in each week. It says to me that you are not managing your time well. You have to figure out how to get the results your job require but do it in less time, leave the office earlier, and get home to a life. Oh yeah, you might not *have* a life. Maybe that’s the problem. Are you going to work to escape your life? It might be time, as we approach 2007, to take a hard look at the reality you’ve created for yourself and decide to make some changes.
