Ending Time Poverty

Executives that don’t jump into working with me say that they are too busy or have no time for “one more thing on their plate”. I get it. I can relate. Today we are all busy, overwhelmed, barley keeping up with our commitments, or have a sneaking feeling that something is falling through the cracks.

After a few months into the Sherpa Program, they tell me they feel on top of things, they have lost that low-level anxiety, and when they are not at work, they are NOT AT WORK.

Studies going back to the 40s have shown that often doing less yields more results! This is a productivity paradox.

How can this be?

To combat time poverty (not feeling like we are getting enough done), we try to do more, but that provokes mental exhaustion, thus we get less done.

FACTS:

In an informal experiment, a group working 30-hour work weeks vas pitted against a group working 60-hour work weeks.
The 60-hour group got more done, but only by 13%.

In the absence of a balance of various types of restorative attention, it takes longer to do things, cognitive exhaustion sets in, and a leaders #1 job - making great decisions - becomes harder.

I worked with the VP of the global drug development pipeline at one of the world’s biggest pharmaceuticals companies. After implementing solutions similar to those listed below, she went from working 80-hour work weeks to 40 or 50-hour weeks, and after working together she got the biggest bonus of her career.

When we climb a big mountain like Mt. Everest, the #1 skill is not the perfect ice axe swing, but managing our mental and physical resources.

SOLUTIONS:

Don’t go with your hunch or be swayed by the urgent, use an Attention Budget. Live and die by it.

Prioritize rest, even it if is just short brain breaks.

Our brains works best when we are optimally managing our cognitive energy.

Peak Performers are the leaders that invest energy to organizing their bandwidth, managing their energy, and asses implementation via metrics. At least an hour a week!