It’s a paradox that people who need adaptability training the most don’t actually apply. Or if they do, they don’t do the homework (a set of 3-10 min practice per day to strengthen the skill).
The most common reason:
“I don’t have time.”
Where’s the paradox?
Adaptability training program, when done properly, actually allows you to:
- see the work challenges from a new angle;
- move through them more effectively;
- and navigate through a packed schedule with less stress.
But you have to free the space and time to make it happen.
How?
I’ll share 8 hidden ways to free more space and time in your busy schedule that I have practiced myself and that have proven themselves to work.
The context:
It is proven that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to actually get the same level of focus after an unrelated interruption of your work. (Source)
That, in the longer term, results in
‘higher levels of stress, frustration, mental effort, feeling of time pressure and mental workload’.
So, if you eliminate interruptions from your work day, you’ll get the space you need for adaptability training – or any other activities you’d choose for your wellbeing.
What are the ways?
1. Turn off the notifications.
One of the easiest steps – turn off the notifications for Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and other apps that are unrelated to your work.
These are the most common ‘pings’ that, as we know now, cost you a lot. The ‘pings’ distract you from your everyday work tasks, and that snowballs in higher levels of stress and mental workload.
So open your app settings and do it now.
2. Use apps to limit your access to social networks.
Sometimes it’s not enough to turn off the notifications – you’d catch yourself checking Facebook anyway.
Social networks are designed to make us return there again and again.
And, therefore, distract us from other things, like work. Like, your growth.
As I learned from my healthy lifestyle journey: the simplest way not to eat the cookie is not to have the cookie in the house.
It’s the same with the apps on our phones.
Not always it’s practical to delete the app, but you can always limit the access to them.
I personally use the Stayfocusd app, but feel free to explore alternatives.
How do these apps work?
You can block the apps for a specific time frame (I, for example, have blocked Messenger from 9am to 6 pm on workdays), or limit the time per day for the specific app (for example, 30 minutes per day).
3. Reply to email 2 times per day.
“Emails take so little time and are so efficient”
– said no one.
Shortening the time you spend on emails is for sure the safest way to free a LOT of time and mental energy in your day.
I learned this technique from Tim Ferriss 5-6 years ago, and return to it whenever the schedule gets too busy.
The main principle is: you decide about specific times during the day when you’ll reply to emails.
Let’s say, 10 am and 4pm.
Then notify your boss, colleagues or clients about the new schedule, if needed, to manage the expectations.
Feel free to explore a specific template here, from the Tim Ferriss blog.
The main points of such email, in short:
- explain how giving your main focus on other tasks will help the whole company (or the most important project of the team/client).
- give an alternative way of reaching you if the person truly needs immediate response (your phone number);
- if you think it will be a huge challenge, say in the email that you’re testing it for 6 weeks, and update everyone after the 6 weeks.
Keep in mind though that giving your phone number can create new problems. For example, now instead of emails, certain colleagues or clients are simply calling you often.
If so, then the next step is necessary.
4. Say no (to anything that is not important – even if it’s adaptability training).
The simplest yet hardest thing to do, right?
I know it took some time for me to realise that I’m actually hurting:
- the quality of my work,
- the relationships,
- and sometimes even the reputation
when I’m saying “Yes” to everyone.
Too much help is not actually helping anyone.
A couple of practical ways how to say ‘no’ in work:
- Simply ask how high of the priority is the task that your manager or client asks you to do. Sometimes it turns out it’s something to do ‘when you have time’, whereas without asking you’d think it’s urgent and important and therefore spend your energy on it immediately, delaying truly important tasks;
- If your manager says it’s urgent, explain shortly how it would affect the project you’re working on now, and ask if that’s ok;
- If you see that the same problem or question arises again and again – create a video, a blog, or other automated way to solve it, and send it to the person that is asking you the question;
- If the person is bombing you with ‘urgent’ calls that you learn with time are not so urgent – don’t pick up the phone and turn the sound off. Finish the task you’re working on and then call back.
So, if you see that you priorities don’t include the adaptability training – it’s completely fine. I myself have decided not to continue with a training, only to return to it when I truly was ready and if I saw it’s for me.
At the same time, sometimes it’s hard to say no because you actually don’t know your priorities. If that’s the case, then –
5. Set clear priorities.
It’s useful to ask yourself:
What are 1-3 most crucial tasks that would lead you to the results in the most efficient way?
Make them your priority.
Google ‘Pareto pinciple’ to explore this more.
A simple example.
I used to spend a LOT of time creating content for social networks, when what actually moved the needle for me was – interacting with people.
So I found easy ways to interact with people without posting on social.
(OK, it was NOT so easy, because it was totally outside my comfort zone – maybe I’ll make another blog about it)
I cannot tell you how much joy, peace and satisfaction it brought to my life.
I started working 80% less, and, yes, I also received 20% less income for a while.
But was it worth it?
In my case, yes, because:
- I gained a lot of time for my personal life, health and wellbeing.
- I gained a clearer mind that allowed me to do my work in higher quality.
- I gained respect because I started working in higher quality.
- That allowed me to ask more for the same work.
- That later allowed me to earn the same by doing less.
Now, I cannot promise it will happen for you. However, I can encourage you that it’s worth exploring.
Do less, and do it better – that’s what adaptability training is aiming for as well. At least, in the way that I design it, it may differ from a practitioner to a practitioner.
So set the priorities!
6. Create physical symbols that you’re busy.
If you’re working from the office, it’s so easy for people to come to you for ‘a quick question’.
Unfortunately, it creates ‘a 23-minute-loss of focus’, as we learned before. If that’s the case for you, create some physical signs that you’re busy, and inform your team about them.
For example, ask them not to disturb if you:
- have headphones on
- have a specific, fun symbol on a table (a specific “do not disturb” coffee cup, let’s say)
- are in a conference room with a laptop, alone.
If others create similar signs for them, respect them as well, and be patient, it will take time to get used to the ‘new rules’.
7. Make yourself unavailable.
Remember this?
‘The simplest way not to eat the cookie is not to have the cookie in the house.’
It’s also true if the cookie is your attention, and your colleagues are the ‘eaters’.
Sometimes the cookie has to take care of herself.
If the previous step doesn’t work, see if you can work remotely one day a week to do the tasks that need 100% focus.
Sometimes even a half day can help you move the needle so much faster.
Talk to your management about it – especially if you have some data to back your idea up from the pandemic (“Working from home, this task took me (..) time and the results were (…), and now from the office it’s (…)”).
This is especially crucial for introverts.
8. Notice that you slipped into old habits? Stop, and return to the new ones.
If you’ll start to do any of the previous steps, you’ll notice that at some point you may have returned to the old habits.
Stop and return to the new ones at the moment you notice it!
It’s a step that most people forget.
Doing something as the new ‘default’ requires practice.
So practice.
It will be worth it.
So, what’s your takeaway? Share in the comments!
P.S. Ready to jump in the adaptability training?
Schedule the first Meet&Greet call here.
It’s a program that trains the soft skills you need to step outside the comfort zone and become a true innovatore, especially when business changes unexpectedly.
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