People at Work

How it can feel when change happens too fast

October 22, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

You never bothered to ask me if I approved of the move
Originally uploaded by jcgr

Here’s an example of change that’s happening too fast.

Zorro, one of two cats, was being moved to Oregon, much to his dismay.

He shows his consternation about the too-much, too-fast change that was underway…and about which he had no vote.

When was the last time you felt this way – dismayed and wanting to run away if you could – about great change that was underway?

What did you do in response?

Did that make it easier?

If not, what might have worked better?

And by the way, Zorro and his feline friend, Queso, adjusted very well and quite rapidly to their new Eugene, Oregon home.

Filed Under: Images, Leadership, People at Work, Serendipity

Find the rate of change that works best for you

October 19, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

Change is inevitable.

And because it is, the better you learn to accept and work with change, the better it will work for you.

One way is to find your best rate of change.

Then find ways to modulate or speed up future change so that it happens (or seems to happen) at the rate that works best for you.

Here are a few steps you can use to do that:

1. Recall past times of change.

Remember circumstances when you:

- Felt fully alive, very engaged and interested in what was going on around you.

- Felt overwhelmed.

- Were bored, and felt that life might never, ever change.

2. Remember what was happening in each case.

- What was the circumstance?

- Was change occurring in that situation?

- Was it happening fast, at a nearly perfect speed, or far too slowly (or perhaps, not at all)?

- Were the changes ones you sought, or changes that happened to you?

3. Recall how you responded each time.

- How did you feel about the changes that were underway?

- What did you do to handle each circumstance – speeding it up or slowing it down?

- Was each approach effective? In other words, were you able to do your best work in each circumstance, despite how you felt about the situation?

4. Knowing what you know now, plan ahead for how you can handle future times of change.

- How could you have improved the way you handled difficult circumstances of change, particularly feelings of a) great overwhelm and b) great boredom?

- What were your best ways of handling difficult circumstances, such as when change seemed to be happening too fast, and when it was unfolding too slowly?

By noticing and reinforcing your skills of adapting to undesirable rates of change, you’ll increase your ability to manage and adapt well when such circumstances happen again.

For like it or not, change often happens at its own too-fast or too-slow rate.

Learn how to manage yourself best in each case so you can work well with it.

And as you consider these experiences of change and how you handled them, consider these thoughts:

When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take – choose the bolder.
William Joseph Slim

Perhaps the greatest gifts to creativity are time, problems and deadlines.
David Baird

Filed Under: Knowledge Management, Leadership, People at Work, Process Management

Imagine a good outcome for two

August 15, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

Farmers Market Negotiations
Originally uploaded by jcgr

Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.
Florence Scovel Shinn

The buyer in this farmer’s market scene clearly sees herself going home with a bundle of beautiful, fresh peppers.

The seller sees himself making a beautiful, healthy profit.

Whether she goes home pepper-fulfilled and he goes home profit-fulfilled depends on whether they can find a meeting point between their individual visions visions of success.

The same thing happens in any negotiation, and many different types of interactions.

Think back on a time when you found a good solution between what may have been two very different original visions of success.

Let that experience guide you to fresh success with a negotiating challenge ahead.

Filed Under: Business Results, Customer Focus, Images, People at Work, Quotes

What’s your ideal life and to-do list?

August 12, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

“What’s my ideal to-do list? Is she KIDDING?!” you may be thinking to yourself as you read those words.

No, really…what is it?

Perhaps you dream of a life in which:

– You spend the day – every day – on the beach with nothing to worry about, other than making sure that the beverage of your choice is delivered whenever you want it, and that you have a comfortable spot in the sand so that you can read great book after great book – at least until you fall asleep in the warm sunshine.

– You do something risky, adventurous, like rock climbing as much as you want.

– You spend your life shopping until you’re all shopped out…while your bank account, somehow, remains endless.

– You enjoy a steady stream of great restaurants and great delicacies without damage to your cholesterol or waistline.

Whatever it is, a no-stress, no-consequences life is perhaps what you are imagining, in some way.

Wait a minute, though.

Is that really the to-do list, and life, of your dreams?

Imagine the reality of that:

Neverending fun, however you define it, could become boring…very, very quickly.

Seriously.

Your talents would go to waste for want of a big goal, a positive target, a place where you can learn and test and express your best as you grow and change.

And every day in this blandly ideal life might be largely the same as every other day.

Now, let’s shift direction for a moment.

What’s your dream of what you want to become? (Yes, consider that even in a challenging economy – no matter what commitments you’ve already made to a direction that’s different from the one you dream of).

How different do you need to be for that dream to become a reality, at least to some degree, even if you don’t completely fulfill it?

How different do your activities, habits, and choices need to be for that dream can be created in real life in some way?

In light of the growth and achievement you want to experience in life, consider what your ideal to-do list looks like now:

1. What do you want to learn?

2. How do you want to grow?

3. How do you want to change?

4. What achievements do you want to create and experience?

5. How can you add some of that new experience – even a bit, for that’s often how good things begin – to your life, and your daily, weekly, or monthly to-do list?

6. What you want to quit, let go of, or give away to make the time and space for what you want, even more?

Give your dream a chance to take shape.

Give yourself a new and better to-do list, adding actions that lead to your dreams, even in the smallest way.

Filed Under: Business Results, Musings, People at Work

Do you need to remodel…your self-image?

July 6, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

When you’re making significant change of any type, you typically find many barriers along the road.

For many people, though, a major barrier to change is the person’s now-out-of-date self-image.

Your expectation of your ability to change has a lot to do with how hard change will be for you, and if you can sustain it.

If you don’t update your self-image as you make progress through life, like it or not, you’re more likely to slip back into old ways – almost like snapping back to a picture or pattern you’re trying hard to fit that you’ve long ago outgrown.

For example, perhaps you think of yourself as the quiet kid you once were when you felt buried in an older sibling’s shadow.

Yet perhaps others would be surprised if they knew that image you held of you.

That’s because they see a confident, outgoing person who’s easy to talk to, comfortable in the company of anyone they meet, and in any social situation.

You see the point. You may be carrying around a very out-of-date sense of yourself, and it can definitely hold you back.

Take some time at least once a year to catch up with yourself.

Here are a few ways you can do this:

1. Check in.

Take some quiet time to check in with yourself.

Find a place and time when you can really listen to the quiet voice inside, and get your honest answers to such questions as these:

- How you feel about how things are going?
- What challenges have you overcome recently?
- What are you most thankful for at this point in your life?
- What are you proudest of now?
- What are the main things ahead in your life? How do yo feel about them?
- Are there ways you can add simple things to look forward to, if you don’t see a lot of them ahead?

2. Look at.

Take a picture of yourself, or have a friend take one for you. Or choose a recent photo of yourself that you like.

Include the photo with some of these other things you’re thinking about, jotting down, or gathering to help you get a current sense of who you are now.

3. Look out.

Notice who’s in your life now.

- What relationships do you cherish most now?

Are the relationships you miss?

What relationships would you like to create, or let into your life now?

5. Listen.

Ask a few people who are very important to you what you do that means the most to them.

Then exchange the favor. Share your thoughts and feelings about the impact they have in your life.

6. Refresh your dreams.

Look at your dreams of things you’d like to have, do or become.

- What dreams have you already achieved?

- What dreams do you want to hold onto?

- What dreams do you want to refresh?

- What dreams are you ready to let go of because they really no longer fit?

7. Record.

Capture a few thoughts, ideas, pictures, drawings, doodles or symbols of this time in your life that you want to save.

Save them in a scrapbook, notebook, or memory box if that’s were you keep special things.

Someday the self-image you’re remodeling now will be out of date again.

Who knows how you’ll change by the next time you do a “self-image refresh?”

8. Celebrate you.

Now, take the time to celebrate you, as you are now.

Do something that you really love, but rarely do, whatever it is that seems like an appropriate and current celebration of who you are now, on your way to becoming the person you will be, the next time you do a self-image refresh.

Accept and celebrate the best. Accept the parts you want to change, as well, and above all, be patient with yourself.

Enjoy the journey!

Filed Under: Musings, People at Work

Thinking spot

July 5, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

Thinking spot
Originally uploaded by jcgr

You’ve probably heard the brainstorming exercise where you imagine being in one of your favorite places in the world to get great new ideas.

Well, whether it’s real or virtual, the beach in Carmel is one of the places I go for good thinking time.

A little beautiful blue scenery, the sounds and fragrance of the ocean, a little sand between my toes, finding a pretty shell or two…for me, it’s a spot of heaven on earth.

On this day, I’d taken a sandwich, coffee, and a book I’m in the final stages of writing so I could do a little work oceanside.

Somehow, it always works.

Where’s your favorite, accessible, it-always-works-somehow thinking spot?

Filed Under: Images, People at Work, Serendipity

How to keep your focus in the face of daily distractions

July 4, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

Are you trying to improve your long-term focus in the face of a steady flow of possible distractions?

If so, begin the day with five quiet minutes.

Those five little minutes can go a long way toward helping you keep the activities of the day focused and leading you to long-term goals, instead of finding at some point you’ve inexplicably been led away from them.

In this preview of the day, look at your anticipated activities in light of your long-term vision, dreams and goals.

Ask yourself these two questions:

- What’s the main business of my work today?

- What’s the most important thing for me to do, even if it means I don’t complete anything else?

Then use the answers that emerge to help you keep your eyes on the prize of that day in the context of the dreams for your life.

Otherwise?

It’s easy to be pulled into urgencies, short-term dilemmas and would-be dramas.

And so, with your long-term vision and goals in mind, here are other things you can ask yourself, imagining a successful day, as you do:

- What can I do today that takes me closer to my vision?

- What challenges am I likely to face? Knowing what I know now, how can I most easily handle them?

- What distractions might I face, and what will I do when I encounter them?

- What opportunities might I experience, and how can I make good use of them?

- What work is on the list that I don’t want to do, but must? (Imagine yourself doing these things easily, effortlessly – just getting them done and crossing them off the list rather than carrying them around with you to continue to weight down the to-do list).

Keep your eye on the prize, and make today’s actions count toward your long-term vision.

If you don’t have one, here’s one way to create the big-picture plan you can use to frame five-minute preview of each day:

1. Know what your dream or long-term vision is, or make the time sometime soon to let it become clear.

2. Make your vision tangible. Imagine having achieved it, and notice what you see, hear, feel, think in that situation.

3. Find a symbol that represents your dream or vision. Keep that symbol around you to regularly remind you of it.

4. Set interim goals and do the work that lead you to your long-term goal.

5. Pay attention to the progress you make so that you reinforce and build on it.

6. Create rewards and give them to yourself for reaching your interim goals.

7. Move things out, let go, to make space for new things in your life.

8. Create a simple storyboard to capture the story of your progress as it builds, helping you to see the growing flow of change.

Filed Under: Business Results, People at Work

The power of a fresh perspective

July 4, 2010 By Jan Richards Leave a Comment

Bokeh Bokeh
Originally uploaded by Matt-Richards

Sometimes all it takes is a slight shift in perspective to see the beauty of the moment, a new idea, or have a fresh appreciation of what you have before it goes away.

Here the lights of the gathering night reflect off a windshield and sparkle in the distance of the waning day.

What fresh perspective could help you see something in a new and, perhaps, better way?

Filed Under: Images, Musings, People at Work, Serendipity