All Work and All Play? - Breathing Space Blog

This massive New York Times article from years back illuminates the state of work and play in contemporary society, and is well worth your perusal.

Leave the Office on Time - Breathing Space Blog

Decide that one day of the week, say Tuesday, will be a normal eight or nine hour workday and nothing more. As such, you will automatically begin to be more focused about what you want to get done on Tuesdays. Almost imperceptibly you begin to parcel out your time during the day more judiciously. So, at midday stop and assess what you've done and what else you'd like to get done.

Near the end of the day assess what more you realistically can get done and what's best to leave for subsequent days.

Recruit Others: Once you've solidly made the decision to leave on time, say on Tuesdays, every cell in your body works in unison to help you accomplish your proclamation. A natural, internal alignment starts in motion. Your internal cylinders fire in harmony with what it takes for you to have a buoyant, productive work day on Tuesday and leave on time. To ensure that you get out on time, let others know about your plans.

Strike a bargain with yourself. Suppose it's 2:45 p.m. and there are three more items you'd like to accomplish before the day is over. Ask yourself: "What would it take for me to feel good about ending work on time today?" This phrase gives you the freedom to feel good about leaving the office on time because you struck a bargain with yourself wherein you said exactly what you needed to accomplish in order to leave on time and feel good about it.

Re-strike the Bargain. Suppose you have three items on your plate that you want to finish so that you can feel good about leaving on time. Then the boss drops a bomb on your desk late in the day. Strike a new bargain with yourself, given the prevailing circumstances. Your new bargain may include simply making sufficient headway on the project that's been dropped in your lap, or accomplishing two of your previous tasks and X percent of this new project.

Managing the Beforehand - Breathing Space Blog

During the closing days of my senior year of high school, I rounded up some of the items on the bulletin board that I thought would make great memento. I had a roster of all the letter winners who were invited to the awards dinner last week. I also had the daily absentee list of the senior class, several of the school's monthly news letters, and various other announcements and memos.

Over the years, moving from Connecticut to Washington, DC to North Carolina, these items remained in a slim folder of other school items such as report cards, progress reports, and college acceptance letters.

For many reasons, my high school class did not have a five or ten of fifteen year reunion. They had one eighteen year reunion which I heard about afterwards and then another at thirty which, thankfully, I did learn about in time to attend. In preparation for attending the thirtieth reunion, I carefully copied all my artifacts from my high school days, left the copies at home, and brought the originals with me.

When I dispensed them to the class secretary and other officers, it blew them away. They made announcements during the evening of the artifacts I had so carefully preserved over the last thirty years.

One of my friends, Greg, thought I was nuts. Actually, what I had been doing was practicing the art of managing the beforehand, long before I even had defined it. It just occurred to me that someday what represented every day kinds of documents in way back when would be highly noteworthy 30 years later.

Brave New World is Here - Breathing Space Blog

"People never are alone now... We make them hate solitude, and we arrange their lives so that it's almost impossible for them ever to have it." --Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932

To Capture Your Great Ideas - Breathing Space Blog

The late author, songwriter, and comedian Steve Allen was among the most prolific talent in broadcasting history. He wrote more than 9,000 songs, including "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," which is still often played at New Year's Eve galas. Not bad for someone who played by ear. He wrote TV scripts, gags, jokes. He also managed to write 50 books: first mysteries; then on show business; then self-help topics like presenting, speaking, and humor; and then later on social issues before passing away early this century.

Like many others in TV, Allen's career began in radio where, as a young DJ, he once announced a Harvard vs. William & Mary football score as "Harvard 14, William 10, Mary 7." His interests extended beyond show business as well. A tireless advocate, Allen was instrumental in the airlines' smoking ban.

I met Steve Allen in the 1990s at the American Bookseller's Convention in Los Angeles. It was rumored that he never traveled without a pocket tape recorder and when I asked him if this was true, he took out his pocket tape recorder and showed me. Allen once explained that although he was thought of as extraordinarily productive, he figured he owed his high output to "Not letting good ideas get away." He recalled that even back in the 1950s, when tape recorders were bulky and expensive, he had one in each room of his house, even the bathroom!

You Cannot Control Much - Breathing Space Blog

A reader comments; “I could be more responsible regarding use of my time but certainly there are some things that are out of my control...”

Yes, for one thing your productive work life is finite. You will only be able to work for so many years at such and such a pace. One day that will no longer be possible. The big absolute, of course, is that life is finite and death is guaranteed, so far. If you are in your thirties, you have about 12,000 to 14,000 days and that's it.

Day to day, change is out of your control – it is guaranteed that how you used to do it or what worked yesterday will have less and less value with each passing day. You certainly want some stability in your life particularly in the areas of values and relationships, but don't fear change or close yourself off to it.

Increasing Job Security - Breathing Space Blog

Are you concerned about long term job security? Ever feel like you lack the time and energy to compete? There are many things you can do that don't take too much time and help you to secure and enhance your position:

* Take a few minutes to actually read your organization's annual and quarterly reports, bulletins, press releases, and memos. Read between the lines to determine real needs and what you can do to make a positive difference.

* Look for small tasks that others pass over. Your willingness to help out in little ways, can payoff in big ways.

* If you're good at writing persuasive sales letters or conducting an effective meeting, volunteer for assignments where you can display your talents and play to your strengths.

* Become the resident 'expert' in what the competition is doing, and thus automatically become more valuable to your own organization.

Regardless of where you work, there are always ways to demonstrate to others within the organization, the supreme advantage of retaining your services.