Big Mind, Big Heart

Just yesterday, as I was heading to the office, I made an effort to be aware and conscious of the voices in the 'chatter box' (as Susan Jeffers calls it in her books), or the voices of advice/criticism/fear/etc inside our heads.
Making the effort allowed me to see that it was expressing fear and anxiety, for what I had to face that day at work, the ammount of tasks, an underperforming business, a team still storming and forming...
Having realized this, I acknowledged it. I said to myself that I recognized this feeling. And just this fact, just recognizing and aknowledging it, made such an impact! The voice basically almost disappeared - as if the voice was previously shouting to be heard, as it was in fact heard, the need to shoud disapeared.

I know it may sound strange, but it's hard to put into words. It clearly reminded me of a conference I attended (there's a post on it) - Big Mind, Big Heart. Here's what I wrote:
'Recently though I have been to a workshop called Big Mind Big Heart. It's a process, based on meditation but very practical. It's more like a game where you recognize all the 'players' or voices inside you and you acknowledge them and thank them for doing their job. You hear the damaged self and understand him, he´s there to take the hits and suffering that life will always throw at you and the only thing he wants is... to be recognized and thanked for his work, that he does so well and always will. But most of us, what we do is... try to protect him! To keep him from doing his job. And there is the Controler or the Critic or Fear or the Ego... each with their job.
And if we all recognize them, we mature and get closer to full awareness and enlightment. What was great was that we spend a couple of hours seeing all these 'voices or players' and as you spend time listening to them and acknowledging them they mature and become less restless. And you get closer to your true self, to enlightment, to your Heart or whatever you want to call it. And in the end of the process we realize that we are one with universe. These voices represent everything that exists in the universe. and everybody and everything has them. And we are one with the universe.'

Approaching new year: time to reflect and plan

We're quickly approaching new year, after a nice Christmas.
Economic ambiance is depressed, strange and ficicult to predict. It's now not only a finantial crisis but also an economic one and the outlook is pretty dim. Most reputed analists say 09 and 2010 will be tough years.
Though, if you go out to the streets these days, most people are taking advantage of sales and heaviliy shopping! Hardly the picture you'd expect to see in times of deep crisis. People still have money on their pockets and have a job...
What's going to happen?
Will we go through a couple of difficult years, with companies tightening their belts and stock markets further correcting with recovery in 2011?
Or will it be really serious with more layoffs, unemployment and 5-7 years economic depression?

As the end of 2008 approaches, I'm taking a few days off. These days are great to just stop for a bit, look back and look forward.
Look back to see what I have done and achieved, what I'm proud of, in which ways and where I have evolved. You gain a lot from doing this, as most times in day to day you just press ahead focusing on what you want, never congratulating yourselve on what you've achieved. End of the year is a great time to look back and write your balance sheet! Write down how you feel about the year ending.

This will help you understand what you really want for 2009. Write it down as well. Write clear smart goals, that you fully want from the bottom of your heart and being. Objectives help you act smarter and more effective/efficient. They will be my guiding light throughout the year.

This period between 08 and 09 is a great time to do it, personally. As Christmas is gone and the mood is good, I'm off work and it's easier to truly listen to my heart. I'm more relaxed and it's a good time to reflect.

Meditation

I'm back to meditating again, by the end of the day I put in a few minutes.
The effects are visible. I become much more aware of my thoughts, and through this I become aware of some really unrealistic negative thinking that I can then stop, as I clearly can see and rate it as unrealistic.
And by stopping some negative thinking, I start to get into better moods and have much better days, more efficient and productive.

The importance of sleep

Been quite tired in the last couple of months. Pressure at work is high, as the business is having a rough year and more job cuts are widely expected (and will happen).

In the last few weeks, as the clock nears 5 or 6pm I find myself really tired! Even if I still have quite a lot of things to do, I don't seem to find the energy to keep at it and tackle them.

For 1 day last week and also yesterday, I get home, grab something to eat and after I lay down in bed at around 8pm just to read a few quick lines on some book I... doze off! And after waking up a couple of hours later, I just change and go into bed for the rest of the night. The following day, I find that I really get a lot more done, have a much more positive atitude and find problems much easier to deal with - the solution just pops up a lot quicker!

Sleep is hugely important. In the daily stress and pressure, so many times we fail to listen to our body, ignoring that it needs the downtime to recharge. And even if we push ourselves on that day to get more done, it won't be effective as the following day we will be less energized and won't be able to get as much done.

Also, it is important to switch off when you get home. But that is another topic. And I confess it is not one that I am any good at, but definitely one that I need to improve on!!!

Effects of economic downturn... II

I had a chat with HR, it is now confirmed that my team will need to loose a 1 person. It's tough but on the positive side, I already have 1 person who wants to move, as there is an expatriation opportunity for the partner. It's a good solution as it makes it a lot easier to manage it, no dramas or issues or impact on team morale.

The times are difficult. My recipe for such times will be to focus. What are the 3 or 4 key things we need to achieve? What are the key projects we need to deliver on time and in full? Come heaven or hell, we will get them done and delivered.
Focus.

I'll take these difficult times as an opportunity to get my team even closer and working hard together towards common goals. We'll bond and together we will win.

Inspirational

I want to live many years full of life... rather than a life full of years.

Effects of economic downturn...

My company is having a poor year... having planned to grow about 3% we're gonna find ourselves declining about 4% or more.
Being a listed company, this has to have impacts, as shareholders want to see changes. So, the pressure is mounting. The MD has already commited to reduce the number of employees.

I am finding the department that I'm in charge of under pressure. I've heard a couple of comments about how we actually might not be here in a few months. I already know for sure that I will have to reduce the headcount. It seems to me we are on the razors edge. We need to show results, concrete objective results quickly and consistently.

I've been doing this for 6 months and am only now really driving things and making things happen. I have a junior team but that works hard, with good attitude and a will to make a difference.
But unfortunately I am also a junior member on the board and there are a few there who are playing their cards well in order to make sure the cuts are coming from other departments rather than their own. Which is obviously only natural.
Most annoying to me is to see the young people in my team toiling hard everyday, working to deliver concrete specific and objective work while in other departments... people are using their energy in influencing games and playing games to ensure others look bad and will therefore be more likely to go than them.

I'm taking it as a learning curve. The part that really hurts me the most is regarding my team. I've been building a good solid career throughout the years and I know that one way or another if I have to go, I will find a good job. But the people in my team are still in the begining of their careers and this can hurt them, scar them a bit. The part that hurts is that they actually are good workers, with good attitude and will to learn.

In the end, I hope that justice happens. I believe that if you work hard and play fair, good things will inevitably come to you. Though you do have to go through rough patches, that will only make you stronger.

Managing people

It's been a great experience managing people. I have managed people in the past, but now taking a team of 5 is a different ball game.
It's been interesting in the last few days with 1 of them. She is roughly the same age as me and as been in the company for the same ammount of time, though not progressing as much.
She is now in charge of a project that is due to be presented to a larger team in a few days.
She is a clever girl and has good experience, but lacks in attitude. She can do some work but when faced with difficulties, just goes negative. And most of the times goes to people for help, so that people do things for her.
As her boss, I have been supportive in the last days but am now finding that I need to take a step back. I am now letting her go negative and start complaining, but letting her on her own. If it goes wrong, it will go wrong and my image will be damaged as well but... she will learn responsability and will learn not to rely so heavily on others - who have been doing a lot of work for her.

I am going to get an image of 'bad guy' with some people for this but... if I keep helping her things will go well but she will not progress professionally, she will not take any responsability and she will not get out of her confort zone. If I play 'bad guy' and make her work and 'suffer' a bit, I will get 'bad press' but definitely make her a better worker.

Definitely going for the 2nd option.

Relations at the top

As mentioned, for the 1st time in my career I am in the board of a company. And it's been quite a learning experience.

Previously I had spend 8 years in a division of the company where the culture was outstanding. Although I have worked across different countries, the culture was pretty much 'work hard, play hard' but with a great sense of team and huge dynamics and speed.

In my new role in a new division I am appaled at the team spirit.
In the board, at least one of my colleagues is more concerned and focused on doing his internal work. On finding other peoples mistakes and exposing them or making his mistakes look like somebody else's... And he's getting away at doing a poor job at what he should really be doing, which is being the sales director.

I am struggling with this. I have been raised in a culture where the team comes first and you support everyone in the team. Together the team would overcome everything. Deal together with all the problems.
Now, I am finding that to survive in the current job, I need to just focus on doing my job so that it is unattackable and not go out of my way to support anyone, as this could backfire.

I can't expect any support from anyone in the board as we're all suspicious of each other and feel we can get stabbed by a colleague very easily.

I can see that this is the way to operate, if I want to survive. But in my mind, this isn't definitely the way to work, we'll never achieve outstanding results like this. We'll never do grand things like this.

I need to figure out a way to deal with this. I don't want to become a cynic like all the others. I want to believe you can work in a cooperative trusting way.

Getting things done

Since I've started working I've managed my tasks either by ordering them in A-B-C priorities or under the S.Covey's 4 quadrants (Urgent-Important / Urgent-Not Important / Not Urgent-Important / Not Urgent-Not Important) and to be honest it has worked just fine.

Now, since I've moved jobs and am managing a team of 5 junior people and am finding myself needing to give them advice and direction on all of their projects as well as my own workload, I've found myself getting more anxious and stressed, as I can't ever seem to be on top of my actions.

Every morning I'm doing my to-do list, that I never manage to complete...

A week or so ago, browsing over the internet, I came across a couple of articles on David Allen's system 'Getting Things Done'... It got me interested and I have now been reading the book for the last few days.
And I must say I'm having a few of those wow moments, almost life changing...!!

It's early as I am still reading and only taking the 1st steps in implementation. But already a few eye openers:
- we keep our minds busy with the tasks that need to be done... building stress and anxiety as we are not doing them. And there's only so much we can keep on our minds. and, as the book says: 'This constant, unproductive preocupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy.'
- so it's key to get everything out, on to an organization system that you can trust and rely on and that you'll visit frequently.
- other key learning is that it is key to define clear next action steps for all the projects/commitments we have. Lots of times we don't progress projects and just worry about them because... we don't know what the next action step is. Adn if only think about the projects as they come up and define the next physical action we can take, then we get it going. And as we do this action, the next one should become clear. And it will quickly progress towards completion.

I'm still reading... I'll share more findings in the next posts, as I progress through the book! But I'm really really impressed!