Protecting your Einstein Window!

Credit: Dr. Todd Dewett

Managing your time

There are a couple of phrases that make my inner man cringe when I use them. They are, number 1: “To be perfectly honest” and number 2, “I didn’t have time to do it because…” fill in the blank. The former implies that everything I said before that statement could possibly have been a lie. The latter implies that I’m the only one sooo important and soooo busy that I couldn’t possibly get my task done. But the truth is we all have the same amount of time.

I think I have a decent solution for my use of “To be perfectly honest”. I don’t use it nearly as much. I have replaced it with “to be candid” which expresses my transparency in the moment.

But I have to tell you I still struggle with my time excuses. I always want to come up with some reason why I couldn’t get something done. I guess a lot of people do because there is a whole industry built around time management. So when I visited Lynda.com recently to see what new thing I can learn (awesome site by the way), I came across yet another time management tid bit that intrigued me.

In his video, Finding your Einstein window Dr. Todd Dewett, PhD gave me 3 rules that would help me eliminate my time excuse.

Rule #1: Remember the 80/20 Rule.

Not all your daily work should be created equal. Dr. Dewett suggests that 80% of our day is “busy” work and the other 20% is the work that propels us or a project forward. He suggests we get in the habit of asking yourself “Is this work that is essential, interesting and important enough to help me move this project or team forward? Or is this just busy work?”. If you are spending more than ½ your time on busy work he suggests you do one of the following:

• Automate - Use some software of system that will help you decrease your time spent doing busy work. Innovate.
• Delegate - Maybe someone else on your team can help you.
• Outsource - Find a service or team that does this kind of work as their core competency.

Rule #2: Find your “Einstein window”.

Your Einstein window is that point in your day that you operate at peak performance. You fire on all 8 cylinders. You function at your highest level. For some people it is early in the morning. I’ve found that I really like doing work later in the evening.

Rule #3: Protect your Einstein Window.

Are you saying yes to every request whenever it is requested of you? Many of us do because we want to be helpful. We want to be a team player.  Dr. Dewett suggests that this is detrimental to your productivity. Protecting your Einstein window may mean you have to shut the door to office. You might have to busy out your phone and send the calls directly to voicemail for a few moments. You may even have to, dare I say it, shut off your cell phone! Mitigating all these distractions will help you maximize your Einstein window.

I know what you’re saying; “Uh, Kris… I don’t have an office door to shut and my job is to put out fires when they come up”. I know how true that is. I think all Dr. Dewett may be getting at is it is ok to qualify requests because what you do IS important and how you execute what you do may determine if you do it well.

What does protecting your Einstein window look like? Let’s say you are in your Einstein window. The fog of war is lifted, you can see clearly, thoughts come easy and you are making great progress on that task that has plagued you for a week. Someone knocks on your door and says they need your help. Dr. Dewett suggests one simple question: “Is this something that needs my immediate attention or can it wait until later in the day?”. If it can’t wait, you do what you can immediately. If the situation can wait, you might say “Tell you what, let’s meet at 10am and we’ll hammer this out then”. With this you’ve come up with a thoughtful way to protect your productive time without putting someone off in the process.

Now that this article is finally done… I think I’ll open my door now.

Published: September 14, 2015

Life is more like a jar of jalapenos!

Remember this great quote? 

In John C. Maxwell’s book, How Successful People Grow, the author disagrees stating: “... life is not like a box of chocolates. It’s more like a jar of jalapenos. What we do today might burn our butts tomorrow!”

Recently I received a bad report from a customer, which was addressed directly to my boss. Much to my dismay it was a scathing e-mail addressing my incompetence and stating how she never wants to work with me again. ME… Can you believe it? … MR. “WONDERFUL”!

And therein lays the problem! “Humility is the one virtue that disappears immediately as soon as you realize you have it”. Somewhere I allowed myself to lose my way and forgot how important it was to exercise humility when dealing with this customer.

Although extremely difficult to read, I realized that this e-mail was exactly what I needed. What was intended to be a curse was actually a personal blessing in disguise. It caused me to once again evaluate my attitude and motives when working with customers.

There’s a great section in Maxwell’s book that I wish I had reviewed BEFORE I ticked off this customer. He reminds us that we are all just one step away from stupid!

Here’s how to keep from taking that last step:

1.     Remember the big picture - John F. Kennedy kept a plaque on his wall in the White house with the inscription: “Oh God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” Keep a proper perspective of yourself and any situation you are in. 

2.     Recognize that everyone has weaknesses and remain humble.
How do you remain humble?

·        Admit your weaknesses – get help from someone on your team.

·        Have patience with other people’s weaknesses - make it a practice to exercise grace to others (My #1 issue with the customer I mentioned earlier).

·        Be open to correction - it’s a good idea to never assume you won’t mess up, too.

3.     Be teachable - your default mode should be to think of yourself as an apprentice and not an expert. This will result in a humble teachable posture. This posture results in a thirst for knowledge: ask questions and listen in order to master.

4.      Be willing to serve others – putting others first sizes our egos and perspective.

5.     Be grateful - If we’re really honest with ourselves, we may come to realize that every accomplishment, every milestone, we’ve ever achieved happened, in part, because of the efforts of others.