Changes

by Michael Diettrich-Chastain

  It’s always advantageous to evaluate the fit between someone’s particular strengths and their work. Companies use this process to improve productivity. One way to do this is to assess the individual’s personality and examine the characteristics needed in the position they are in and compare the two. It makes sense that when we align an employee’s values, motivations, and personality with a job that benefits from these characteristics, everyone wins. The employee is happier because the work comes more naturally and the company sees more productivity.

  You know this intuitively. Think of a time when you’ve felt lost in a task. You looked up and hours had gone by. This lost sense of time, sometimes referred to as “flow,” often derives from a match between skill, interest, and task requirement. We are productive when we are engaged. Conversely, the more of a disconnect there is between skills/values and the task at hand, the harder it will be to enhance productivity.

  I once worked with a manufacturing company looking for a new salesperson. The company thought the position required a particular profile. Through our discussion about the position and the person in mind, we determined which values, motivators, and communication style the position demanded. When we finished our work together, the company also had a more robust understanding of how to motivate the person in the position. They could see a few potential challenges with the candidate, strengths the candidate had, and how the company could optimize those strengths.

  There are certainly other factors that will affect productivity. There are also an endless amount of resources available to us that promise to improve it. While I have not found a definitive “best way” to improve productivity in my search, I do believe that some ways are better than others. Optimizing productivity is always dependent on the individual. You will find the way best for you by experimenting with a wide range of techniques and practices.

  A good first step toward increased productivity may require eliminating a negative instead of adding a positive. Find ways to address your tendencies toward laziness, distraction, or inefficiency. To repeat, the most effective way to improve productivity will be the one that is most closely connected to you. That new life hack you read or heard about might be useful to you, but only if it taps into something personal. As you frantically search Google for the latest “best” tips, consider what might be the best fit for you. Yes, this may take some action and experimentation to uncover what works best.

  Self-exploration calls for testing out different strategies and seeing what sticks. See what works for you. When looking to identify which kinds of practices to experiment with, a good place to start might be online lists such as a post on one of London’s leading tech blogs titled “Boosting Personal Productivity in Real Life,” which offers helpful tips and strategies.27

  Experimentation followed by practice is where the rubber hits the road. Using strategies that are most closely connected to you will yield the best results.

  There are certainly some exercises and strategies that are more about self-exploration than others. Below I have included a concise list of strategies that may help to improve productivity. More importantly, though, this list offers the opportunity to explore what’s holding you back. Without exploration of who we are at our core (values, beliefs, habits, reactions, etc.), our ability to improve our own productivity will be limited.

  Personal Development and Productivity

  BATCH YOUR WORK

  There is a common misconception among us worker bees. When we feel overwhelmed with all there is to do it is usually because we are having a tough time prioritizing. And so, foolishly, we try to tackle everything at once. Sometimes this isn’t even our intention but our to-do lists, work pressures, and personal obligations often put us in a frenzy to finish everything all at the same time. When we tackle things systematically, however, we are often more productive. Batching our work is essentially designating a specific amount of time for a particular task. For instance, limiting your email to one hour a day or your sales calls to Thursday mornings. It doesn’t matter what the task is, the idea is that you set specific times for specific tasks. Batching your work is a great experiment if you haven’t attempted it before. It not only improves productivity but also keeps us prioritized and even reduces stress. For example, try responding to emails only two times per day, at two specific times (9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., for example) for a two-week period. For the rest of the day, let it go. You might be surprised how this boosts efficiency and quells the internal urge to “always be available.”

  CREATE A DAILY PRACTICE

  Sound familiar? Yes, I’ve already brought this up. I bring it up again as a reminder of how important it is! Among successful people, one thing is consistent: they maintain some sort of regular practice that helps them focus.28 Having a daily practice helps to boost mindfulness, discipline, and stability—all things that improve productivity.

  PRACTICE DISCIPLINE EVERYDAY

  Similar to the daily practice, practicing discipline can help you build routine and productivity in many areas in your life. Discipline can be practiced in several ways: through fitness, healthy eating, work duties, behavior in relationships, self-reflection, etc. The practice of discipline may be just as important in itself as the goal related to it. (More about discipline in Chapter 14.)

  GET UP AND MOVE

  You may have heard the commentary about sitting being the new smoking.29 There is substantial research to back up the idea that a sedentary lifestyle poses significant risks to health, well-being, and productivity. Exploring ways that can help you enjoy regular daily movement will make these little light-exercise breaks easier to commit to and more likely to stick. For instance, you may need more motivation to hit the gym than the prospect of running on a treadmill. Activities such as racquetball, kickboxing, yoga, spin class, pilates, trail running, team sports or even ping pong, may get your blood moving and also hold your interest.

  Again, this is about personally exploring what works for you. You don’t have time in your super-busy, really important day? Consider getting a standing desk. Or, if you’re really a go-getter, a treadmill desk. Yes, they really do exist. Some people find them to be major productivity enhancers.

  EXPLORE YOUR PASSIONS AND PURPOSE

  We are often more productive if we are doing something we really care about. Yes, I understand that our passions only extend so far, that bills need to be paid, meetings need to be attended, conflicts need to be resolved, and toilets need to be cleaned. But remember, these things are connected. Understanding where our passions lie and what we find meaning in can often help to motivate us through some of the more challenging periods of our daily lives. If you aren’t sure, that’s okay, start experimenting. Start with a few questions in this chapter’s activity.

  TIME ANALYSIS

  Every time I have done this activity or worked with a client who was doing it, I have seen positive results. The exercise is simple. Bear with me, though, as it might sound a bit daunting at first. The basic idea is to track every 15-minute increment of your day to assess how you really spend your time. This doesn’t mean you need to be writing down reflections every 15 minutes, but at the end of the day you should be able to account for every 15 minutes. An easy way to do this is by creating a simple spreadsheet and filling in cells that designate each 15-minute increment of the day. At the end of the day, all your time needs to be accounted for, from the time you wake in the morning to the time you drift off to sleep at night. Now this requires some serious honesty, so don’t cheat. If it turns out you spent three and a half hours watching Game of Thrones on a Monday, then this is the reality. After doing this analysis for a couple of weeks, you’ll learn lots about how you’re spending your time and how to improve your productivity.

  TAKE A VACATION

  This may seem counterintuitive since on the surface taking a vacation does not seem like the most productive of activities. But letting go of some of life’s demands and distancing yourself from the hustle, even if only for a few
days, can sharpen your vision and help you identify what is truly important when you return. After some mental rest, you may also experience a boost of energy.

  CHAPTER 9 ACTIVITY

  The first step in boosting productivity is taking an assessment of what has worked in the past and exploring what’s available to you. When you evaluate, be creative. Don’t just consider the activities themselves, but all aspects pertaining to the activities. Use your responses to get you started on your way to increased productivity.

  1) List five activities so engaging that you lose track of time when you do them. After you have completed your list, what themes emerge? Based on the themes, can you draw any conclusions that will keep you productive?

  2) On days you are particularly productive, what circumstances stand out? For example, did you modify your activities, eating, or sleep routines, location, etc.? Write down everything that is unique about those super-productive days.

  3) Think of five people you know who are highly productive. Interview these people about their routines, practices, and daily habits. See if you can identify patterns or themes that stand out about these people.

  4) Based on what you have learned in this chapter, choose three actions and commit to them.

  SECTION FOUR: NOURISHMENT

  “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”

  —Friedrich Nietzsche

  What we put in our bodies, how we choose to move, and the amount of rest we allow ourselves all influence our ability to thrive. All the aspects of self-nourishment have implications on how we function. Our nourishment impacts our relationships, reactivity, ability to create the change we seek, and stress management.

  A simple change in diet, level of activity, or amount of sleep can create opportunity or wreak havoc on our ability to manage the pressures of daily life. Your ability to manage stress in your professional and personal life will impact your ability to create change. In this section, we’ll explore the connection between the mind and the body and strategies on how to optimize this connection for your success.

  10

  The Mind-Body Connection

  I look back on my experience in graduate school fondly. One of the tracks of study I took while there was called Body Centered Therapy. It is described as “A program designed to prepare students with an understanding of creative and expressive processes within the context of the mind-body connection.” The study of mind and body connectivity continues to evolve. Since it includes so many points of discussion, consider this chapter a brief introduction. I include this chapter because I have seen striking instances of clients utilizing the mind-body connection to create the change they want.

  Making the mind-body connection is not only valuable, it is necessary. I once worked with a young client who could only really communicate well when he was in motion. For the purposes of this story, let’s call him “Ryan.” In his childhood, he had bounced from the care of various family members to foster homes to group homes.

  In my career, I have worked with a number of group homes in a variety of ways, from managing teams of caseworkers and therapists to providing case support and therapy to clients. Primarily, I was there to help clients manage their behavior by reducing stress and building communication skills. Some of the stories I heard from the clients at these homes were truly heartbreaking. The recurring themes of violence, neglect, and abandonment defy description. But what was even more astonishing was the resilience of these kids. It was another great lesson, reminding me that people are capable of coming back from just about anything.

  Ryan did not trust me at first. Considering the traumatic circumstances of his life, I expected no less. When Ryan and I met, I noticed that he would share and engage in conversation the most when we were walking around or playing basketball. So, when we met, I made sure that we were always moving. For reasons I’ll explore in this chapter, the connection between the body and the mind is intricate and runs deep. For Ryan, though, it was simple: movement was safety and comfort. By tapping into what his body needed, he was able to feel safe enough to share some of his story. Even if this truth was not in his conscious awareness, it’s what worked for him. While chatting on the move, Ryan and I were able to make some progress in navigating the challenges that he dealt with. He was able to compose himself in our time together so that he could begin to understand himself and communicate his needs. This is just one of many examples of clients who have drawn value from how the body and mind are connected.

  There are many connections between an individual’s physical experience (the body) and one’s emotional well-being (the mind). For example, the 2015 article in The Guardian, “Is Depression a Kind of Allergic Reaction?” by Caroline Williams, makes the case that there may be a physical component related to the onset of depression.30 This is not a new finding, however. Research has been connecting physical experiences with mental health issues for years. For example, the National Institute of Mental Health reviews published conclusions relating diabetes to depression.31 Often, depression or anxiety results in physical symptoms. A descriptive map of physical experiences brought on by depression was published by Healthline in the 2017 article, “The Effects of Depression in Your Body.”32 For instance, we know anxiety and depression can bring on physical symptoms such as stomach ache, sweating, and/or headache.

  Western practice tends to separate treatment of the body from treatment of the mind, but the notion of treating both together is gaining traction. The more we understand about the connection between experience, thought, behavior, and emotion, the more use practitioners make of a mind-body paradigm. Take depression, for example. Depression is a condition that impacts how we feel, think, and act (all involving the mind). Emotions such as sadness or worthlessness, both found in depression, can bring on real physical symptoms such as pain or nausea. And it goes both ways. There is also evidence to show that chronic illness contributes to depression.33

  In regard to direct causes of mental health issues, there are a whole host of theories, which is to say it’s a very complicated issue. Regardless of the cause, an overwhelming number of people respond well to lifestyle changes such as increased exercise, meditation, better sleep, and improved nutrition. Such positive responses strengthen the argument that to improve mental health one must address the connection between body and mind. And in this respect, I’m not just referring to clinical conditions, but also to the everyday challenges we all face with stress, overwhelm, sadness, frustration, defeatism, etc.

  So, what do you do with all this information about the mind-body connection? You certainly don’t need to be struggling with mental health challenges to see the benefits of adopting a more holistic approach to your life. A broader awareness leads to positive outcomes regardless of what kinds of challenges you may be facing.

  Think about how to actively incorporate this new awareness into your daily life. You can change your perspective by changing how you respond to everyday situations. Try this: the next time you are faced with a stressful experience, stop and consider the impact on your body. Tense shoulders? Stooped posture? Stomach ache? Consider journaling about this experience.

  For example, when feeling irritated by your roommate who keeps putting empty cartons of milk back in the fridge, consider your physical response. When the impatient driver behind you slams on the horn as soon as the light turns green or, on the other hand, when you receive an unexpected compliment from a stranger, take note of how your body feels. Whether positive or negative, your body undergoes an experience. Begin to track what you notice. Developing this mind-body awareness yields countless benefits. Here’s a significant one: it helps to prevent harmful reactions and to facilitate healthy responses. (See The Four R’s in Chapter 1.)

  When you challenge old patterns of thinking about how your mind and body can work in unison instead of one struggling against the other, you begin to internalize and incorporate this new belief into your everyday habits. Soon, you will notice you don’t hav
e to remind yourself to think differently. Considering new or challenging situations from a mind-body perspective gives you the freedom to choose what is best for you without stressing either system.

  Mind-body Intuition

  In Chapter 5, we explored how to cultivate intuition. Often, your body gives you clues about which decisions to make or hunches regarding which direction to take. You just need to learn to listen. Creating disciplined practices will help you develop this sensitivity.

  I have consistently witnessed positive results when individuals and organizations apply a holistic mind-body approach to creating change. It should not be surprising that long-lasting change is achieved by addressing multiple components of the human experience simultaneously.

  I am not alone in this belief. According to a 2009 article in The Journal of Palliative Medicine, a multimodal treatment approach, including mindfulness, meditation, yoga movement, and breathing exercises helped to reduce anxiety and depression in cancer patients.34 Furthermore, in 2011 the Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy published a study that highlighted the efficacy of using yoga as a complementary treatment to psychotherapy in treating people with depression and anxiety.35 In 2013, the journal Stress and Health, referenced a study that found that a mind-body approach was effective in reducing stress in elementary school teachers.36 These are just a few examples of how a mind-body approach can serve as an effective treatment for individuals and systems.