The Den of Denial...

Oh dear, what have we here? I think we're looking at is a classic piling system.

I work from home, and, as you can see I've got myself in a bit of a mess. Among my immediate family I have the reputation for my stacks of stuff. I've tucked all this behind a curtain; out of sight out of mind - it's a kind of denial den!

So what am I to do. My advisor, Trish, has suggested that I tackle a bit of this at a time. I mentioned that my wife and oldest daughter are really good at organising and filing. If they have the skills and they can teach me, then I'll be able to maintain a sustainable information retrieval system.

As we begin to create order I will upload some pictures to chart the transformation to tidiness.

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SMART Steps Poem*

It takes twenty one days to change a habit;
to make a difference -
so go on, grab it!

In twenty one days a lot gets done
when our steps are SMART
and our work's made fun

It takes twenty one days to change a habit;
to make a difference -
so go on, grab it!

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*Dedicated to Trish - thanks for helping me help myself

Wellbeing and Work

© Lifehack

Today, I attended a very interesting conference in Norwich called 'Five Ways to Wellbeing', which, in my opinion, links up with a lot of things I've learned during the Indigo Project. Here are the five 'ways' they suggest (and here I'm picking out excerpts):

1. Connect... with the people around you. Invest time in developing relationships with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day


2. Be Active... exercising makes you feel good and is good for cognitive function. Discover a physical activity you enjoy and one that suits your level of mobility and fitness


3. Take notice... actively extend your curiosity. Catch site of the beautiful. Savour the moment. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling.


4. Keep learning... try something new. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun and/or fulfilling


5. Give... indulge in random acts of kindness - share a smile, help someone. Do it because it helps you feel better about yourself. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, as being linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you

I suppose, really, it's about whole person development; the kind of development which encourages achievement and contentment. Ultimately, if more of us are to flourish - and we have some catching up to do with, say, Denmark! -, then we need to be active participants in changing our work culture. For instance, in 2003 I was gravely ill, and upon returning to work I decided to experiment a bit. Thus, I started to buy flowers and leave them in the communal space used by my work colleagues. When a colleague did something which impressed me, I told them there and then. I also made sure that I made time to step outside several times a day, and savoured some wide sky and 'the moment' I was in. For more ideas click on the live link ('Five Ways to Wellbeing') at the start of this post.

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Buying Time - Introducing Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch was a remarkable man. He gave this lecture when he knew that he was dying from a terminal illness. When a man whose time is running out gives advice on time management, it might be time to listen.




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Putting it off - Getting Started!

Thinking about ways to end up in a better space...

Because I have had lots of bad experiences getting in a muddle, I seem to have developed a habit of putting things off until the last possible moment.

I've just dipped into a book called 'Organise Yourself!' (Eisenberg, R; Kelly, K, 1997, London, Piatkus). In a chapter entitled, 'Procrastination', there is an interesting list of 27 approaches to overcoming the dither and denial tendency. I thought I'd share some of the more interesting points with you here:

• "A more realistic sense of time will help you get things done. Procrastinators often have an unrealistic sense of time; you may have the feeling that a project will take for ever or that you have ' plenty of time'. The more realistic you become, the less likely [it is that] you'll be to procrastinate. To get a better sense of time, start keeping a log of how long various projects take."
  
• "Work within the time available to you. Sometimes people estimate that a project will take, say, 10 or 12 hours, so they keep waiting for a day when they can devote that amount of time to it. Of course, that day never comes. Break the project down into small manageable parts. List each step you need to take in order to complete the task.


• "Remember that even five minutes is enough time to get something done."


• "You don't always have to start at the beginning. If the first step seems the hardest, start with another part of the project instead."


• "Some people like to do the the worst first. If they accomplish what they dislike most, the rest of the project seems to proceed more smoothly."


• "Tell someone else what your deadline is. Often you will be motivated by not wanting to admit to them that you did not meet the deadline."


• "Try tricking yourself: 'If I don't finish writing this proposal by 5pm I will have to cancel my plans for tonight.' Working against that sort of deadline can be quite effective."


• Reverse Psychology: "Do nothing! Try sitting with the project in front of you for 15 minutes without touching it. You will probably become so frustrated that you'll dive into the project well before the 15 minutes are up."


• "Make sure you use your leisure time for leisure. Most procrastinators ruin much of their free time because they are worrying about whether 'tomorrow' is really enough time to get something done. Learning to do things in advance provides the opportunity for worry-free leisure."


• "Expect problems. [...] If you anticipate that you won't actually have 'all of next week' to work on something, then you may be motivated to start a little earlier."


• "After each small deadline, promise yourself a reward."

So there you are. A few handy tips to get you started.

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