March 5, 2007 by Kara.

I used to consider myself a good multi-tasker.  Then, several months ago, I started to feel drained - constantly.  I would be pushing things around - doing little bits of three or four projects at a time - without the opportunity to finish one, get that since of accomplishment, and move on to the next.  For a week, I tried to do a good job of only doing one thing at a time - no multi-tasking.  Since I keep a pretty detailed journal of the tasks I complete on a daily basis, I realized I was getting as much done doing one thing at a time as I was trying to work on three or four things at the same time. 

In my opinion, multi-tasking came about when email and our first rounds with internet connection came online.  Early internet connections were slow - hence we would load a web page, wait while it loaded, and then could go back to it once it loaded.  In essence, multi-tasking came about because we needed to fill that time while the page loaded.  (I once had a dial up connection so slow I could make breakfast while the page loaded).  As faster connection speeds has come about our need to fill that void while pages load has ceased, but our urgency to try to do multiple tasks at one time has not.  We still think of ourselves as multi-taskers and so we try diligently to live up to the expectation of doing multiple things at the same time.

In this same vein, the amount of information not only to which we have access in order to make decisions, but also the paths that information can take to get to us have increased tenfold in the last five decades.  Crackberries, IMs, emails, multiple email accounts, RSS feeds, cell phones, voice mail, unified messaging, and much more have forced their way into our personal space and we allow them to constantly draw our attention from what’s important (relationships, personal growth, happiness) to what’s urgent (fires to be put out, projects to be completed).  What if we turned off all those items for a day and focused on the really important stuff? 

I’m interested in the studies that say information overload is actually good for us and that it can allow our brains to make more connections between topics and expand our horizons a bit.  While I certainly don’t disagree with that at all, I also believe that we need points of rest and that those points need to occur more often than what they probably do right now.  I often use an analogy that was included in a humourous Internet post about cats and how they are “distracted by shiny things”.  All the information coming into us in all these formats comes as a myriad of shiny things which draw our attention.  However, if I also learned a lesson from my cat, it’s to take frequent rest breaks (my cat takes full on, sleeping on his head he’s so out of it, naps).  Our bodies and our brains need a chance to digest information, think about it, process it, and then determine what we can do with that information that might change the world.

So, while information overload might be good for us, it’s also important to set limits - delete a few emails that aren’t critical for you to read, without reading them.  Say no to a project or an idea - even if just for now.  Spend time with your family, your coworkers, your staff in a supportive environment - rather than just a run, run, run type of world.  Take time for yourself - doing something you truly enjoy.

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February 28, 2007 by Kara.

There is a great post by Penelope Trunk, at Brazen Careerist, on ways to make your life more stable with frequent job changes.  While the change I’m contemplating at the moment isn’t necessarily a full change, as I’m looking to change to a different station and post in the same organization, it’s still important to not get too complacent in any one career path or workplace setting. I love the statement she makes, “companies are under too much pressure to be lean and flexible (read: layoffs, downsizing, reorgs), so workers have to be, too (read: constantly on the alert for new job possibilities).”  I have a few friends who still live with the “work to get the gold watch” mentality.  They rarely take opportunities to develop new skillsets, they don’t work to advance their position within their company, and they don’t attempt to be more valuable than simply what their position description denotes. They work 8 - 5 and nothing else.  In this day and age, that simply doesn’t cut it on a regular basis.  You have to look for every single opportunity to shine. 

I also appreciate the point Trunk makes that “you will experience more personal growth from changing jobs frequently.”  I’m in a position now that has been of extreme value to me.  I can’t tell you how important it was to my personal development and my career development, to take this position.  It has been and will continue to be, if I stay in this post, a valuable learning experience.  However, I’m looking for a new job, not because this isn’t a good job with great benefits, but because this job doesn’t have much more to offer me in the realm of advancing my skill set.  Sure, I’ll continue to polish my presentation skills, hone in on working through politically charged situations, and adapt even more tools to work with varied and diverse groups of people.  However, I just don’t feel I can grow this position much more, simply because of the way it is configured in the organization as a whole and hence there are limited opportunities for my continued growth and development.  (Note - of course if I keep this position, I plan to look at various ways to change its orientation in the organization to allow for more growth, but at this point I’m not sure that is even in the best interest of the organization).

Towards the middle of her post, Trunk points to a true ho-ohana style value, “Key values today are time and relationships. Stability means knowing you can get yourself work that is fun and accommodates those values. The stable people are those who can manage to consistently get work they enjoy that pays their bills.”  Isn’t that true.  You want to live life while working - not wait for retirement - which is about as uncertain as anything these days - to live your life.

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February 13, 2007 by karamonroe.

Buster, over at Mutual Improvement, has posted an interesting question - what is your order for the following list of priorities:
Home
Travel
Creativity & Self-expression
Love & Relationships
Beliefs
Education & Self-improvement
Money
Work & Career
Health

Well, for me, I would reorder as follows:
1. Love & Relationships (where I put family as well)
2. Health
3. Beliefs
4. Creativity & Self-Expression
5. Work & Career
6. Education & Self-Improvement
7. Money
8. Home
9. Travel

Of course, any time you do an exercise like this, the obvious question that comes to mind is - is this how I’m living my life. For me, the honest answer is no. However, my work towards fulfilling my 12 habits and towards examining the reasons why I work and perhaps finding a new job are all important aspects of getting this list back in the right order in reality and not just on paper.

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February 13, 2007 by karamonroe.

Have you ever had that discussion with your parents - you know the one where you are unhappy with your job and you’re looking for a change because of all the stress, chaos, and simply the lack of passion for what you’re doing. And when you do have the discussion, the parent (in my case my father), get’s that glossed over look in his eye and says - you haven’t seen stress until… or you don’t know what work is until… 

Please don’t get me wrong.  He has worked harder in his 65+ years than I probably will work in 90+ years if I’m blessed to live that long.  However, times change dramatically with each generation.  His experience with work was different than his fathers and mine is different than his.  Not only are the contexts and the environments in which we work different, but we are different people.  Not terribly different, but different enough for me to know that I can’t work because it’s a good job with good pay and good benefits if it doesn’t interest me or feed my passion for living. 

I like a posting at StartupSpark on how you’ll know you’re an entrepreneur (You can also find the listing at lifehack.org).  I don’t think you have to necessarily own your own business or jump into a start-up company to be an entreprenuer or at least have an entrepreneurial spirit.  I certainly have held positions where I felt like an entrepreneur.  I loved the work, I loved the people whom I served and whom I worked with, I had a passion for what I was “selling” (and for that matter still do even though I haven’t been in that position for more than three years), I lived my work, I was always looking for new opportunities - both to extend what we were doing and how we were doing it and, most of all from the StartupSpark list, I think that I was always prepared to say, “I don’t know but I’ll figure it out.”  That is the part I’ve lost in my current position.  I can easily say I don’t know, but the I’ll figure it out part - that passion to answer the next question, conquer the next challenge, fill the next void, just isn’t there in this job. 

So dad, for you, please know - I don’t really think I have it bad.  I just want more.

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