Are You Living in Your Right Brain or Your Left Brain? Piles or Files?
May 21, 2008 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Where are you most comfortable living… in your left brain or your right brain?
Left brainers, elbies, are more comfortable linear thinking, number crunching, logical, facts, details, math, science, rules, thinking, reality based and safe.
Right brainers, arbies, are more creative, free flowing, mind mapping, artsy, musical, big picture, visionary, risk taking, feelings, imagination and fantasy.
I recently was directed to this website from an Australian newspaper that has a graphic of a dancer. Whether you see her spinning clockwise or counterclockwise can tell you which side of your brain you’re living in at that very moment.
Check it out: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html
I found I could only see her spinning in one direction. I couldn’t for the life of me visualize how she she could be seen spinning in the other direction…. until I started reading the words that represented the other side of the brain. When I read those words, I could then see her spinning in the other direction automatically and immediately. How weird is that??!!
That’s how fast you can switch from using one side of your brain to the other. From all these kinds of tests over the years, I’ve found I sit right in the middle on the fence and can easily swing from one side to the other depending on the situation.
To help you access and integrate easier for problem solving, creative thinking or number crunching; try throwing something between your hands or juggling. Throwing something back and forth helps you integrate. Growing dendrites on both sides of your brain can also be accomplished by little activities such as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, eating with the other hand or European style, crossword puzzles, Soduko or other memory games.
Elbies and Arbies also store things differently. To be most efficient, figure out which side is more comfortable for you to live in. Elbies tend to store things vertically behind closed doors such as file cabinets, closets, drawers, hangers etc. These are the neat desk people.
Arbies tend to store things horizontally and within plain view – these are called piles. Right brainers need the visual stimulation to remind them to do something. If it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. They prefer hooks to hangers and shelving to drawers.
The rest of us in the middle are the anal retentive creative types – horizontal stacking in-boxes that are labeled. A mixture of both styles.
Figure out your style and your preference, then organize your space around your style to feel most at ease, to find things more easily and then know how to access your other side of your brain and call in the reinforcements when you need them.
Time Management vs. Self Management
April 19, 2008 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
After reading and ruminating on the book The 4-Hour Workweek for a few months; I’ve been keenly aware of how I spend my time. Time, unlike money, once spent can never be recovered and so I guard my time more fiercely than ever these days and really watch my boundaries. Putting boundaries on my time and allowing people, things and stuff to enter the forcefield is more of a conscious decision at this point in my life.
We really cannot manage time, we can only manage ourselves in the space of our time. That means getting very clear on what to do and what to drop and what to outsource and what is important and what is urgent and what doesn’t really matter that much at all. My business partner often says, “If you don’t have enough time, you don’t have enough team.” I also think if you don’t have enough time, re-think the things you’re stuffing into that time and make hard choices.
To help manage myself in my time, I use a color coding system in my hard-copy Daytimer. I also use a Google Calendar so my virtual assistants can see my schedule and when I need time, I just block it out on the schedules so nobody else can grab that time slot. I use a paper method as well as digital because I’ve had many computer gremlins and I need to know I have a back-up system in case the computer or internet goes down. Select colors that represent personal, professional, deadlines, obligations etc. If one color is dominating your schedule – analyze why that is and make changes.
Since moving to the beach, I’ve decided that I won’t take any incoming calls or work until after 9am. A purposeful choice that this is the time zone in which I live and just because the East Coast is up and running, doesn’t mean I need to be at my desk by 5am so they can call me at their convenience. I’ve also adopted the motto – no more rushing. I’ve rushed to catch planes, make deadlines, be available to everybody’s emails and calls for over 20 years and I needed a break, hence no postings for a couple months while I decompressed after I moved out to California. I realized it was me allowing all those other things to take my time and it was only me who had the power to take back my time. It’s our choice.
I’m reminded of the demonstration I saw about time management in a workshop – by having sand represent all the little schnitzy things you need to do and having ping pong balls represent the things that matter in your life. If you fill a vase with sand and then try to put in the ping pong balls, they won’t fit. But by putting in the ping pong balls first – putting the things that matter most to you first in your life, then pouring the sand into the vase; the sand fills in the empty spaces and everything will fit in the vase. It fits snugly, but it fits and anything that doesn’t fit is only the sniggly things that don’t matter so much anyway.
So how are you managing yourself inside your time zone? My friend Kathie makes phone dates to catch up with friends – she uses her beach walking time to talk on her cell with good friends so she can exercise while talking. My friend Beth uses her treadmill time to chat. A realtor buddy takes no incoming calls before 11 – he reserves the morning for himself. I’m working on only taking calls and appointments Tuesday – Thursday so I can have Mondays and Fridays completely to myself. I’m not totally there yet, it’s a work in progress, but I’m conscious of it. If I need to do things on these days, then I’m blocking out time during the week to do as I choose.
I will not get to only working 4 hours per week- I don’t thing I would even like to choose that. I truly enjoy what I do and it keeps me energized. Often people ask me if I work “full time”. Full time and part time are mindsets of the W2 working world. As an Entrepreneur, I just do my life. I have several companies and I just do some more than others as things dictate. Sometimes I focus on my work 60 hours in one week and sometimes 3 hours in one week – it all depends on what is happening in my life at the time – go with the flow. Entrepreneurs don’t do rules very well.
So how do you set your personal boundaries, your time boundaries and how do you manage yourself within the time you have? What is your time zone? Are you in the zone in the mornings or evenings? When are you brain dead and when are you most sharp and creative? Work your stuff around your bio-rhythms and when you are most productive and be very conscious of who and what you allow inside your boundaries in order to keep your energy for the things that really matter most.
London Times Features Fun at Work – Good Times Lead to Good Business
September 17, 2007 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
I’m thrilled to announce an interview I did for a recent article in the London Times on the business of fun at work. We’re ready to get the British energized and pumped up for some play in the workplace. People all over the world are finally getting it that work made fun gets done and good times lead to good business.Check out the full article below or click on the link.
The Rest of the Story: Banner the Guide Dog, Larry & Southwest Airlines
July 25, 2007 | Posted in Leading Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
With the help of my speaking buddies, Beth Terry, Steve Tyra, Terry Brock and of course the star attractions, Larry Colbert and Banner the wonder dog. Here’s the rest of the story in their own words about what happened that Friday the 13th with Larry, Banner and the Southwest Employees who showed their true colors in a life or death situation.
Check out the happy ending to this heart-warming story about compassion, teamwork, humanitarian and heroic efforts and doing the right thing on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YZ17L8j6bsY
Truly inspirational efforts on everybody’s part to come through in a difficult situation.
Even the canine community pulled together. Here’s the card my Madison sent to Banner as well as a photo of Banner enjoying medical leave lounging by the pool in his colorful bandages. If you want to send a card to Banner, click here:
Big Picture or Little Picture View of the World
April 12, 2007 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Do you have a big picture or a little picture view of the world? Are you stressing over the administrivia or are you focused on the big picture of your life and your career? Take a look at what types of things stress you out – are they the small details, the perfectionism, the imperfect people, the gray areas on the outskirts of the black and white? Sometimes we make our own stresses and create our own energy drains by focusing on things that have less impact than the power we are giving them.
It’s tax season and focusing on numbers is something we all need to do, but getting crazed if your account is 94 cents off isn’t such a big deal in the scheme of things. Of course waiting until the bitter end and not leaving yourself wiggle room can also make you crazed. Step back from some of the situations you find yourself in and see if you’re stressing out because you’re focusing on little picture stuff. Perhaps you need to take a look at the big picture and if the stressors that are affecting you now will really matter in the scheme of things a few weeks, months, or years from now.
The big picture sometimes can pull us through the little picture stuff when things get tough – keeping our eye on why we are doing what we are doing can keep us going. Are you focused on big picture stuff or little picture stuff most of the time? Are you drowning in details or do you have paralysis by analysis? Is it taking your eye off the main goal and draining your energy? You may want to hire out your little picture stuff and have someobody else who loves doing it do what they love and allow you to keep your energy focused on your big picture. It can sure help your sanity – especially at tax time. We can all use a little energy boost at this time of year.
Last Words on Creating an Unmotivating Work Environment
September 8, 2006 | Posted in Leading Hartfully, Living Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Here you go, the final installment of how to torment your team members. Be sure you read this in the mirror so you know that if you do everything backwards that this article says, then you should be successful at creating a motivating and meaningful environment for yourself and your team.
41. Have all the answers ready for them so they don’t waste their time and brain power figuring it out themselves. They can be more efficient if they aren’t testing new solutions and just do it the way you said it should be done and trust that your answer is the only right answer.
42. Don’t compliment their work. It can only lead to over-inflated egos and you certainly don’t want another peacock strutting around fluffing their feathers thinking they’re better than anybody else. That’s why you’re there- to show them that none of them are heads above the rest.
43. Take care of your own career and reputation before those of your colleagues. Be the one to kiss up to all those above you, emulate them and talk trash about your teammates so you look better in the eyes of your boss.
44. Act more privileged than your employees, after all, you’re a manager that is above them- you’ve earned it. Come in late, leave early and take your fair share of longer lunch breaks. Show them your importance by letting them know you’ve got other things to do and people to see.
45. Let it be known just how busy you are by constantly checking your cell phone or Blackberry during meetings, interviews or over lunch. Show others that you can multi-task with the best of them- there’s no need to lose productivity by focusing on just one person at a time.
46. Hire insecure people so you can easily manage by intimidation and through your tone of voice and snide comments. They will just be grateful to have a job at all- remind them that their paycheck is their reward.
47. Just for fun, use all the industry acronyms you can think of during the first days of orientation. Play practical jokes on the new hire for your version of disorientation just to see how their sense of humor will fare in your work environment.
48. Proceed to tell the new recruits the background stories, gossip and history of everybody on your team to get them up to speed on their co-workers. You will save them the hassle of getting to know people and making their own informed decisions.
49. If you need to discipline a co-worker, do it in front of the whole team. That way, it will give everybody an idea of what you don’t want and will save you the effort of disciplining others who may have been thinking of doing the same thing. Getting everything in the open shows a sense of family.
50. Have a suggestion box, use comment cards, solicit input and feedback, then do nothing to carry out the comments and pay no attention to complaints.
51. Employ the one strike and you’re out mentality. It lets them know you mean business. No second chances for first impressions. Do it right the first time or don’t do it at all. No sense in encouraging experimentation, we’ve been doing it one way for years and it hasn’t been half bad.
So there you have it: fifty-one ways to ditch your X (or your Y) generations in the workplace. Fifty-one because you should always give a little more than expected and over-deliver what you promised you would provide. If you implement these fiftyone items, you will certainly be dubbed a tormentor who infects the workplace rather than a mentor who affects the workplace.
Being mindful of how not to manage can be just as affective as being aware of how to manage. If you should hear the words “micromanager” being uttered as you walk by, know that it is not a term of endearment and take heed. Read through this list again and see if any of these nifty fifty (one) items sound familiar. Then do what you must to turn it around, or else you will watch your new recruits turn around and head out the door. One last sobering thought, if you think you can just replace those who do walk… it costs one to three times an average salary to replace an employee, not to mention the downtime, stress and team development curve. Pay attention to your people and it will pay off.
To Your FUNominal Success!
Gail
How to Drive Your Team Out the Door
September 7, 2006 | Posted in Leading Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
Here you go, yet another installment of how to irritae, aggitate and finally drive mad, or at least drive away your Generation X and Y employees. Heck, this behavior may even drive away the Baby Boomers or the Traditionalists to boot. Employ these tactics and don’t be shocked if you have no employees after a while.
31. Only approve in-house professional development if absolutely necessary. Choose all courses for them. No need to worry them about all those choices. Don’t bother them with the hassles of packing and traveling to training or conferences in desirable locations.
32. Develop a serious all-business work environment. There’s no room at work for a sense of humor or fun when people are trying to be productive.
33. Ensure employees work in isolation with very little personal contact. Working as a team creates too much trust, open communication and understanding. After all, they may discuss what’s really going on in your organization and gang up on you with quality suggestions after a collaboration session.
34. Avoid getting personal with colleagues at all costs. Draw a thick line between personal and professional and don’t allow anybody to cross that delicate line.
35. Demonstrate strictness and strong disciplinarian tendencies. Avoid any pretense of being relaxed, approachable, casual and people-oriented.
36. Keep employees in the dark about how they contribute and make a difference. They needn’t be bothered with such distracting details.
37. Offer only one benefit plan for all staff regardless of their personal situations. A menu of options can be too time consuming and confusing.
38. Only promote externally to keep new blood flowing into the system with a continuous flow of new ideas and methodologies. Demonstrate to your team that if they want to move up, they’ve got to move out.
39. Don’t tell your team what you expect from them. Keep them on their toes by keeping them guessing. They will be exercising their imaginations and creative thinking by trying to figure out what is expected of them.
40. Eliminate anybody who isn’t 100% behind you. Show them you reward blind loyalty by not even entertaining a hint of conflict or confrontation with your ideas. They will enjoy only needing to learn one company policy: “My way or the highway.” They needn’t jumble their minds with ambiguity…..
To be continued with the last segment of 50 Ways to Ditch Your X (and Y) Employees by being a tormentor rather than a mentor to them.
What are you doing to create a meaningful workplace filled with empowered employees?
Gail
Surefire Ways to Chase Employees Away
September 6, 2006 | Posted in Leading Hartfully | By Gaia Hart
In our continuing series of how to ditch your X (and Y) generation team members, here’s your next installment of how to be a tormentor rather than a mentor. These are surefire ways to chase away your top talent….even your middle of the road talent.
21. There’s nothing like the use of hype to capture their attention. They’ve been exposed to over-inflated marketing claims all their lives from all media outlets. Why stop over-promising and under-delivering now?
22. Keep up the pretentious attitudes. After all, you’re older and have been there and done that. Never mind that they’ve virtually done that and been many other there’s through cyberspace.
23. Keep changing your incentive programs. After all, you’ve heard that these new generations are adept at handling change. They would probably like a flavor-of-the-month program to keep them guessing.
24. Say one thing and then demonstrate the exact opposite with your behaviors. Throw that role model notion out the window.
25. Be extremely judgmental about the new generations in the workforce. Keep a closed mind about how and why they do things differently than you.
26. Don’t worry about handing out rewards and forget the phrase “What gets rewarded gets repeated.” A paycheck is all they need.
27. Invent new policies often to cover behavior demonstrated by one person. Give inconsistent treatment or ignore inappropriate behavior by one person. Either end of this continuum will cement your role as tormentor.
28. Enforce inflexibility in the work schedule and demand all employees report to work at one time and leave on schedule without any interference from life outside work.
29. Arrange to be flexible about quitting time only when it benefits the organization and overtime hours are needed to finish a project, but for heaven’s sake, don’t compensate them for putting in the extra effort and missing a personal appointment. Chalk it up to paying their dues and being a team player.
30. Ignore personal development for your staff- they can get that on their own time.
If you want more ideas on better ways to really motivate your team – check out some of the articles on my resource page at http://www.funcilitators.com/resources.htm or subscribe to Live Wire ezine while you’re there for regular infusions of fun and effectiveness at work.
Until next time…..remember that mentors affect teams positively and tormentors infect teams with negativity. What are you doing to be a mentor or a tormentor?
To Your FUNominal Success!
Gail