Three Tips for Getting Unstuck
Most of us have found ourselves in the following situation: you’ve got tons to do, the pressure is on and you want to crawl into bed and hide. Whether it’s in your work life or personal life, it’s easy to get stuck and hard to get out of it.
When I see clients or see myself, for that matter, stuck with something I go immediately into discovery mode to figure out how to get moving. What’s interesting with this type of problem solving is you already know what the problem is but the why and how are often unclear. And we like to keep it that way, because staying stuck can be comfortable!
Sometimes, simply working through this mental routine will be enough to get unstuck, sometimes external resources are needed. In either case, these tips will help get you into the mode of forward momentum.
Seek to Understand: The key to getting unstuck is figuring out why you’re stuck in the first place. This is all about self-examination. Are you being lazy? Are you out of your depth? Are you afraid? The next dimension here is to ask yourself whether this is a recurring or one-time issue. The resolutions could be very different depending on that answer. For example, do you always have trouble building PowerPoint presentations, or are you struggling with a specific one? Understanding the why will propel you into figuring out how to get unstuck.
One caution, self-examination can expand quickly, so be sure to stay focused on the immediate problem. If you suddenly find yourself questioning your career choices or your feelings for your boss, take a breath and refocus on the matter at hand. Those larger questions are probably best dealt with through a conversation with a mentor, trusted advisor or therapist.
Plot Your Course: Now that you know why you’re stuck, the solutioning can move very rapidly. You’ve figured out you don’t have PowerPoint skills? Take a class, delegate, or hire a freelancer! You need content for your specific presentation? Go to a subject matter expert for input! Unlocking the underlying concern – the why – will drive you toward the appropriate and tangible solutions. The answers can be very simple and obvious but action without understanding is a recipe for getting stuck again down the road.
Be sure not to over-solution. Having too many fixes in front of you can be paralyzing. Find ones that are easily executable and aligned with your deadlines. The point is to move forward, not bombard yourself with so many options you wind up stuck for different reasons. If that does happen, keep running this routine with some refinement to your solutioning.
Celebrate Yourself: When we’re stuck getting through a problem or a task it’s easy to get down and be our own worst critics. It’s important to look back at past successes or past moments of forward progress to remind ourselves that we CAN get ourselves unstuck. We can do it! If you’ve gotten unstuck before, chances are you can and will do it again. The more we repeat the process the better we will be at it. The more we train ourselves to understand what’s holding us back there’s no telling how far we will go.
Do you have another approach for getting unstuck? Let’s discuss!
What I Learned from My Kid’s Zoom School
As a working parent it’s been difficult for me to be completely tuned in to my son’s school experience. Before COVID19, we outsourced homework and tutoring as much as financially possible and we relied on school as a babysitter of sorts. Obviously that all went out the window with Stay at Home orders and social distancing. Now I juggle the demands of consulting along with the demands of Zoom school, which has been both fun and frustrating.
What I’ve realized is that there’s a lot we working parents can learn a lot from our kids’ virtual school experience. While eavesdropping on middle school classes I found three principles consistently at play in the classroom that should always translate to the conference room.
Eliminate Distractions – my son’s Zoom classes followed these ground rules: no eating, no pets, no toys, no devices. How many meetings do we sit through where colleagues are half paying attention while they scroll on their phones or answer emails on their laptops? This type of multitasking was a no-no in the virtual classroom. Meetings would be much more effective, and faster, if we take away distraction.
Everyone’s Ideas Count – do you remember the kid who always had his or her hand raised in the classroom? Their son or daughter are doing the same thing! In the classes I overheard the teachers made a point of seeking input from the quieter kids. It was important that all voices be heard and that there was a diversity in perspectives and points of view. Next time you run a meeting, try engaging the introverts.
Emotional Intelligence is Essential – I was blown away with the empathy and patience displayed by my son’s teachers. No matter how many times the students asked the same question that had already been answered, the teachers kept their cool. It was a brilliant reminder of how we should treat our coworkers. The way we field questions lobbed at us in our meetings can influence the way our teams interoperate and succeed.
While all of these points are common sense, they are easy to forget when we’re working and operating in the unknown. Lucky for us we have the next generation to remind us of the basics.
What have you observed in the virtual classroom, let’s discuss!
Busy or Bored? Three Tips for Whichever Mode You’re In
In these unprecedented times businesses and employees are challenged with new ways of interoperating, revenue and cash flow instability, personal and world health concerns, job loss, furlough, the list goes on. When I speak to colleagues and friends, with whom I’m checking in more than ever, they seem to fall into two camps – busy or bored. Those in the busy camp are working more than ever, killing themselves to stay necessary/employed and are secretly envious of those in the bored camp. Those on the bored front are struggling to stay productive, desperately wanting to be engaged in something and are tired of hearing the busy people complain about how much work they have on their hands.
While these two groups are stuck at opposite ends of the spectrum they can leverage the same tools and tricks to cope and thrive in their current work environment.
Stay Organized – use whichever tool appeals most to you. I’m a fan of handwritten To Do Lists. I get a lot of satisfaction out of crossing things off. I categorize mine by Work, Personal, Family so I can cover the actual work I do to get paid, the things I want to do for myself and the things I need to do to keep our household running. There’s no shortage of task management apps out there if you’re not a paper person. I’m a fan of Asana and the notes app on my phone.
Prioritize – as someone who lives in the efficiency and productivity space, prioritization is the most basic of concepts but it’s also one that many people struggle with. If you’re among the bored you may want to do everything from finding a job to redoing your closet to attending online learning courses. Those are all great pursuits, but which one requires your immediate attention? The fastest and easiest way to prioritize is to tie your to do’s to your goals and needs and work from there.
Master Your Attitude – when things are not going as expected it’s natural to get negative. Staying in a negative headspace will inevitably take you off track whether your goal is to hold on to your job or pick up your next gig. Doses of positivity and optimism can go a long way to help keep you going through the chaos and the unknown. Even if you naturally skew more on the pessimistic side of things, fake it. Even the slightest lean into the positive can be a key to unlocking what’s next for you.
Questions on incorporating these tips into your day-to-day? Contact me!
Why Hire a Consultant?
Many employers struggle with the idea of hiring a consultant. Especially when a business is in cost cutting mode or looking secure assets to fund growth. Why pay an outside consultant when you are already paying your employees to meet the company’s goals?
As a former corporate employee, I understand the team angst brought on by the arrival of a consultant. “Why does so and so get $200 an hour when I only get $100 for the same job?” “Why does he get to make his own hours and I don’t?” “Oh, THEY’RE the expert? I thought I was the expert?” Those are the collective thoughts that can crop up when a consultant is brought into the mix. Once the consultant – employee relationship is forged, however, it’s hard not to admire the consultant’s fluidity, his or her ability to not care about politics, and what appears to be the genuine enjoyment of the work. A lot of us doing the same kind of work each day or those trying to find a way up the corporate ladder don’t have the luxury of that experience.
I see two main advantages of hiring a consultant:
Efficiency: a consultant is there to do a job, not to schmooze, not to climb. Get in, get out, collect a fee, move on. It’s pure and simple. When an employer is looking to get results quickly a consultant can take them there without the distractions of performance reviews, career development, or training that is required of and expected by full-time employees.
Objectivity: a consultant can take more risk in telling it like it is. Consultants are paid for their expertise. We’re obligated to speak up, make recommendations and find the problems that a full-time employee might be too close to see. We get to do all this without worrying that we’ll commit the dreaded CLM if we say the wrong thing to the wrong person. You hired us to analyze, assess and fix. We’re not afraid to do it.
Putting key initiatives into the hands of someone who is outside your work family can be daunting. There is a degree of letting go and trust that has to be present when hiring consultants. More often than not however, consultants can give you a perspective you can't get on your own. In today's business environment, why not have that advantage?