3 Ways to Improve Personal Effectiveness

Why is it that some people seem to be able to squeeze much more into their lives than others? Afterall there are 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week for all of us, but when you reflect on the achievements of people like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Gandhi and Winston Churchill, you have to wonder how on earth they managed to squeeze so much in? I am not sure if there is a common theme amongst luminaries such as these, but in thinking about business leaders I have worked with, three key principles appear to apply:

1. Make Time for themselves

2. Effective delegation

3. Laser-like Focus

It may seem paradoxical but many of those that achieve so much actually work fewer hours than the rest of us. This is because creative thought should not be exercised as a marathon but rather as a series of sprints with some downtime in between. In Alex Soojung-Kim Pang’s book “Rest” (“Why you get more done when you work less”), he presents a number of such examples such as Winston Churchill who “regarded his midday naps as essential for maintaining his mental balance, renewing his energy, and reviving his spirits”. The reason why having breaks is so beneficial may have something to do with the fact that when you allow your conscious self to take a break, your subconscious continues to work on the problem. So, when you are focused on a particular activity for a significant amount of time, the answer does not occur during this period but instead pops up out of the blue when you are doing something else.

Ever heard a boss say: “if you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself”? Whilst it may indeed appear to be quicker and easier for a more experienced person to do it themselves, by not delegating to a staff member a boss is missing out on an opportunity to create more time in their (work) life. In addition, not only is he or she depriving the employee of a chance to increase their own skills, they are also not taking advantage of a golden opportunity to demonstrate their trust in that person to do the job. I am not suggesting that everything should be delegated away, but there is a general rule of thumb that states ‘if someone can do something 70% as well as you, they should probably be doing it’. Ironically a key reason that many bosses do not invest the time to delegate effectively is that they are simply ‘too busy’ and so of course, the cycle continues.

I love the following quote:

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment” – Buddha

So often we can get stuck and blame ourselves for failures of the past when in reality there is probably little that can be done about it. The most important thing here is that we learn from our mistakes so as to avoid making them again next time round. This is neatly captured within Professor Carol Dweck’s view of a ‘growth mindset’ as described in her book “Mindset”. In a similar vein, how often do you hear people say something like “everything will be fine when…..” (the principle of “jam tomorrow” as espoused by a former of boss of mine) and hence get caught up in thinking about what might happen down the line instead of focusing on what can be done today. In reality, there is no future, it all depends upon how we act in the present so better to focus on this and make the most of it!

Ian Ash ACC, AInstIB
Managing Director