Are You Working Too Much?

From the HBR. Link to original article here.

Your performance dips after an amount of time, no matter who you are. I have clients who work no longer than three hours without a half-hour break whilst I have met others who claim to go through ten hours without a gap. I wouldn’t want to be their last patient of the day.

In the same way that we can arrive at our motorway junction without being aware of passing the last three, auto-pilot does exist in every walk of life. In my full on NHS days when I was desperate for income I often reached the end of the day and only knew that I had seen some of the patients because my notes told me so. (I was always relatively good at writing notes, thanks to my house job habits). Frequently I would fall asleep doing paperwork at the end of the day or drive home and kip in the car in my drive just like the man in the photo. But I always took holidays, there was never a time after my son was born that there wasn’t at least one, usually two holidays in the book.

Now time management is one of the big things that I work on with my clients, there’s no point in being successful with no time to enjoy the benefits of success.

As an older dentist once said to me, “nobody lies on their death bed wishing they had spent more time drilling teeth”.

This article caught my eye. Especially the questions.

  • We all need to shift into high gear from time to time, but how can you tell if you are pushing yourself too hard?
  • Watch out for some of these telltale signs. When was the last time you took some time away from work?
  • Consistently putting off vacations, working over major holidays, or regularly working weekends are all signals that you’re burning the candle from both ends.
  • Another sign is deprioritizing personal relationships.
  • If your social invitations have dried up because your friends assume you’re not available, you are probably too focused on work.
  • Also, be aware of your behavior when you do take time to be with people outside of work. Are you fully present?
  • While it’s normal to think about work periodically, it becomes a problem when you’re not able to manage your urge to check your phone or respond to emails and texts right away.
  • If you see any of these signs, take some time to reflect on whether you have enough balance in your life.
  • After all, being too wrapped up in work isn’t good for you or your performance.

The Monday Morning Quote #592

“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers”

Seth Godin

The Monday Morning Quote #591

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view

…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”

Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird“

Tempus Fugit. The Clock of Life by Robert H Smith

The Clock of Life by Robert H Smith

The clock of life is wound but once
And no man has the power
To tell just where the hands will stop,
At late or early hour.

To lose one’s wealth is sad indeed,
To lose one’s health is more.
To lose one’s soul is such a loss
As no man can restore.

The present only is our own.
Live, love, toil with a will.
Place no faith in ‘tomorrow’
For the clock may then be still.

5 Harsh Truths

I read many blogs, articles and books. Often I come across an idea, principle or thought that I know I have read somewhere else but the writer claims is original. I’m not talking about stealing secrets or blatant plagiarism – if you steal from one person it’s plagiarism, steal from many it’s research. I do try to acknowledge my sources, often when I post here I’ll provide a link to the original if I am able to remember it.

Today is no exception, this comes from Daniel Priestly’s blog. written in 2016. It applies to many people I meet who seem to think that success is an overnight phenomenon. 

Daniel Priestley’s Harsh Truths: 

  1. It’s hard and it get’s harder. You’re taking on peoples problems. You are taking on problems for your customers, for your staff, for your family and ultimately yourself.
  2. No one is coming to save you. Removing the hope that someone is coming to save you leaves you with the realisation that this business is in your hands.
  3. There’s no big wins only incremental progress. The good news is that soon as you accept that progress is all that’s needed you can keep moving forward and stop getting distracted.
  4. In order to do the work you love, you have to win the work. As soon as you accept this idea, winning business becomes fun.
  5. No one thing will work. There’s no fool proof system, there’s no magic bullet and there’s no people who just work hard without leadership. Every system will need to be refined, every cutting edge strategy will become common place, every hot product will cool off, every ace team member will need training.

“The main thing that makes business miserable is false expectations. If you want it to be easy, it gets damn hard. Paradoxically, If you embrace the struggle, it’s loads of fun.”

 

 

 

The Monday Morning Quote #590

“The Past is in Your Head”

The Future is in Your Hands”

Padraig O’Driscoll, Seanchaí

 

Stop Hiding. Wisdom from Carl Richards.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I hold Carl Richards in high esteem. His simple messages supported by drawings are always worth a look and a thought. This one is especially good. I seem to attract procrastinators (or perhaps they attract me), Carl’s words on the subject are most appropriate and I am happy to share.

You can find out more about Carl and sign up to his newsletter HERE

“There’s something you want to do. Maybe even something you need to do. And you’re not doing it.

The reason you’re not doing it is because you’re hiding.

The reason you’re hiding is because there is work to be done, and that work is either scary, or hard, or boring, or all of the above.

So instead, you’re reading your eighteenth book of the year on time management, tweeting about the economy, and Instagramming motivational pictures.

(Actually, you’re reading your emails. Don’t ask me how I know.)

Might I make a suggestion?

Just stop.

All of those are places to hide.

I repeat: There’s something you want to do. Maybe even something you need to do. And you’re not doing it.

Stop procrastinating. Stop looking for a new trick, a new #hack.

Take all that time and put it into just getting the work done.

It’s that simple.”

-Carl

 

First. Know your potential customers/clients

If I was to employ someone to assist me with my marketing I would like them to know and understand what I do. Not in depth, of course, that would come after an initial call but I would like to think that they would bother to find out a little bit more about me.

The person who does help me did and continues to reflect what I do, the services I provide and so on – they are a professional and apply their knowledge, experience and skills for the benefit of their clients.

It seems that many Linkedin users who sell marketing services put the words, “dentist or dentistry” into a search and then send an invitation to connect so that they can sell me their services.

A recent typical message was, “Hey Alun, we’d like to send you 15-30 new clients in and around your area who are looking for a dental practice, do you have capacity for more clients right now?” My answer was, “Those individuals would be patients were I looking and I’m not. I wish you well.”

And somebody please save me from the host of individuals who want to help me find more Invisalign leads, especially in the “Greater New York” area…

As a client said to me recently, “SOME marketing people are the 21st century equivalent of Yellow Pages salespeople” – and I suppose in some ways they are.

 

…and I thought self control was always a good thing.

Sometimes you have to admit that everything you thought was wrong was (possibly) right. Could it be that all those good habits, all that resisting temptation and weeks of denial were for nothing?

Is it possible that beating myself up after the third chocolate digestive and saying “no” to things that would have been fun but would have distracted me from my goals may well have done me more good than harm?

I now find out that there is a “Dark Side” to self control. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Kokoris and Stavrova point out the downsides of resisting temptation.

It is true that people with strong self control have better health, relationships, finances and careers and fewer problems with overeating, overspending, procrastination and unethical behaviour.

However there is a downside:

Self control:

  • Can restrict emotional experiences.

  • May lead to long term regret.

  • Can lead to increased workload.

  • Can be used for ill.

  • Isn’t for everyone.

  • Can lead to long term bias.

Before being full on about “self control” perhaps we should practice some “self compassion”, learn to know and like ourselves, perhaps cut ourselves a little slack and be more realistic.

Read the full paper HERE

I’ll have another marshmallow now please.

The Monday Morning Quote #589

“Any idiot can face a crisis — it’s day to day living that wears you out”

Anton Chekov

via John Naughton