Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics
Speaker 1: used by the world's most successful people to get so
Speaker 1: much out of their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imber.
Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium,
Speaker 1: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my work. Date.
Speaker 1: Before we get into today's show, I wanted to do
Speaker 1: a little plug for another podcast that I have very
Speaker 1: recently launched called how to Date. This is a podcast
Speaker 1: that started off as a little passion project with my
Speaker 1: closest girlfriend, Monique. We are both kind of new ishy single,
Speaker 1: being about a year out of our marriages, and we
Speaker 1: are immersed in the world of dating, and we thought
Speaker 1: wouldn't it be great to learn how to get better
Speaker 1: at dating? So we started a podcast called how to
Speaker 1: Date where we interview experts to help us get better
Speaker 1: at dating. We speak to all sorts of people, from
Speaker 1: psychologists to incites, people at bumble, to professors that specialize
Speaker 1: in dating, through to sex workers, and we get all
Speaker 1: sorts of interesting advice. So, if you are single, or
Speaker 1: maybe you know someone that is and could do with
Speaker 1: some advice, or maybe you're just curious about the wonderful
Speaker 1: world of dating. Then search for how to Date wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and there's also a link to
Speaker 1: it in the show notes. And if you do have
Speaker 1: a listen, I'd love to know what you think. Drop
Speaker 1: me a note. It's a project that I'm very excited
Speaker 1: about putting out into the world. Okay, let's get on
Speaker 1: with today's show, which is a special recording of something
Speaker 1: I did at the end of July, which was an
Speaker 1: ask Me Anything webinar which I recorded with my he made,
Speaker 1: Charlotte Rush at Inventium. So it's it wasn't asked Me
Speaker 1: Anything event that we put on for free at the
Speaker 1: end of July when Melbourne was heading into very harsh
Speaker 1: Stage four lockdowns and we just kind of wanted to
Speaker 1: do our bit to help and answer questions that people
Speaker 1: had on their mind. So, even though it was recorded
Speaker 1: a couple of months ago, I still think that there's
Speaker 1: so much relevant stuff in here. It was recorded live,
Speaker 1: so the sound quality is a little more rough than
Speaker 1: I normally have on how I work. And as I said,
Speaker 1: I was interviewed for this by Charlotte Rush, who was
Speaker 1: an organizational psychologist and a wonderful member of my team
Speaker 1: at Inventium, someone that I worked with for about four years.
Speaker 1: So we had hundreds of people email in questions and
Speaker 1: we cover a bunch of different topics and this ask
Speaker 1: me anything from productivity to well being, to motivation, innovation, creativity, energy,
Speaker 1: all sorts of things. And also, if you want to
Speaker 1: be notified of future ask Me anythings that I do,
Speaker 1: go to the Inventium website that's inventium dot com dot
Speaker 1: are you and just sign up to receive our newsletter
Speaker 1: and you'll be notified about future ask Me Anything.
Speaker 2: So on that.
Speaker 1: Note, let's head over to be Ask Me Anything event
Speaker 1: with me.
Speaker 3: All right, so everyone, welcome along. So we've got you
Speaker 3: for the next hour. And essentially what's happening is that
Speaker 3: you have submitted hundreds of questions. We've gone through those
Speaker 3: questions and tried to pick the questions where we're seeing
Speaker 3: the most common themes. We've broken those questions down into
Speaker 3: a few different areas and we'll be going through those questions.
Speaker 3: So I will be asking your questions to Amantha. So
Speaker 3: I will ask you first a question, Amantha. I just
Speaker 3: would love to get you to share, like how you
Speaker 3: are and how you're finding is two point zero in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: I'm finding it not too bad or things considered, like,
Speaker 1: I do love working from home and I've also got
Speaker 1: my daughter Frankie with me half the time, so that's
Speaker 1: really fun.
Speaker 2: Homeschooling not as fun.
Speaker 1: But for those that are homeschooling in Melbourne, I can
Speaker 1: empathize because it's bloody nightmare, let's face it. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think that I'm missing most is just
Speaker 1: like having friends around, Like it'll be really exciting when
Speaker 1: they just ease that particular guideline of having been able
Speaker 1: to visit friends and stuff and all the playdates.
Speaker 2: But otherwise, all things considered, I'm not too bad.
Speaker 3: I think it's interesting you always want that next thing,
Speaker 3: do you, because in Sydney we're still allowed to have
Speaker 3: friends over. But now I know I'm missing the actual
Speaker 3: events that I could go. Do not have that many
Speaker 3: events birthday parties, for example. I think that people plan
Speaker 3: which norm wants to plan through.
Speaker 2: COVID, Oh my god, events.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember what events feel like, and I
Speaker 1: don't even remember what an airport feels like. I was
Speaker 1: saying this to someone else like a couple of days ago,
Speaker 1: who also travels a lot.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I haven't been in an airport for five months.
Speaker 2: It used to be in them every week. It's really
Speaker 2: really weird.
Speaker 3: Alright, awesome, And so I guess I wanted to check
Speaker 3: in with you in terms of what you would love
Speaker 3: for people to walk away from today with. I mean,
Speaker 3: what is what's your intention for this session?
Speaker 1: Look, we're going to cover quite a lot of different
Speaker 1: ground in this session, So Sharon, I look through all
Speaker 1: the questions and thank you so much to everyone that
Speaker 1: took the time to send in a question or two
Speaker 1: or three. I've tried to pick ones where I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I see like I can add some value back.
Speaker 2: Like my hope would be everyone walks away with.
Speaker 1: At least just one thing, if not several things that
Speaker 1: they can try to do differently and maybe pass on
Speaker 1: to other people in their lives that might be struggling
Speaker 1: with stuff as well.
Speaker 3: Awesome, Okay, cool. So I want to share with you
Speaker 3: just a quick summary of those things that we're going
Speaker 3: to be covering off. So we've got a few different things.
Speaker 3: We're going to talk about motivation and so thinking about
Speaker 3: energy levels, and you know, I think that there's been
Speaker 3: this sense of groundhog day where it feels like every
Speaker 3: day feels the same, and so how do you maintain
Speaker 3: a sense of motivation around general life but also work.
Speaker 3: Then we're going to talk about collaboration, meetings and communication.
Speaker 3: We'll also talk about managing stress and anxiety, and so
Speaker 3: obviously going into ISO two point zero from Melbourne and
Speaker 3: as well maintaining everything that's been happening for the last
Speaker 3: few months with COVID around Australia in general. You know
Speaker 3: that stress is really starting to build and so how
Speaker 3: do we deal with that. We are also going to
Speaker 3: talk about innovation and creativity and productivity and distractions, so
Speaker 3: two areas that we really help a lot of clients
Speaker 3: and organizations with, so we're going to jump into that
Speaker 3: and then finally a little bit of managing energy. So
Speaker 3: it's just a little bit of a summary if you
Speaker 3: are wondering where we're headed. We're going to be covering
Speaker 3: off a range of questions in those sorts of areas.
Speaker 3: So let's get start with motivation. And so the first
Speaker 3: question that I've got to ask you, Omantha is this
Speaker 3: is a pretty broad question, but there were lots of
Speaker 3: questions about this. How do you keep motivated during lockdown
Speaker 3: and how do you motivate yourself to get out of
Speaker 3: bed on a chilly winter morning?
Speaker 2: Great questions is so many about motivation.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite theories in psychology is self determination theory,
Speaker 1: and Shara and I have actually been doing a lot
Speaker 1: of work and research around this theory for a project
Speaker 1: that we're working on at the moment. And one way
Speaker 1: of thinking about this is that they're based on this theory.
Speaker 2: There are three ingredients.
Speaker 1: To feeling like really driven and excited to start your
Speaker 1: work day. So the first thing is autonomy. So I know,
Speaker 1: for me and my role, because Inventing is the business
Speaker 1: that I started, I don't have a boss and haven't
Speaker 1: had a boss for fourteen years, so obviously I've got
Speaker 1: a lot of autonomy. But it's something that I really
Speaker 1: do think about with the team, and I know Mish,
Speaker 1: our CEO, thinks about a lot just in terms of
Speaker 1: how we structure things, Like we run a holocracy in Inventing,
Speaker 1: which means there no one's got a formal manager, so
Speaker 1: everyone has a great deal of autonomy. Everyone sees the
Speaker 1: company goals, and then everyone takes responsibility for setting their
Speaker 1: own individual goals.
Speaker 2: So if you are a leader, thinking about how can
Speaker 2: you give.
Speaker 1: People more autonomy and also for yourself, what can you
Speaker 1: do in your situation, whether you have a boss or not,
Speaker 1: to think about how can you find or create more
Speaker 1: autonomy and freedom to work on the things that you
Speaker 1: want to work on, or.
Speaker 2: Alternatively or can currently decide.
Speaker 1: How you approach the tasks and projects that you're working on.
Speaker 1: So it's the first thing. Second thing is mastery. So
Speaker 1: having a role where you can learn and feel yourself
Speaker 1: getting better, acquiring new skills, becoming a master at those skills,
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff is super important. So I know,
Speaker 1: for example, for Shara and I, we happen to be
Speaker 1: working a lot together at the moment quite intensively on
Speaker 1: one particularly being project, but also one up and coming project.
Speaker 2: And I know for me and I don't know like
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 1: Sha, like I'm getting that motivation through that project, Like
Speaker 1: we're both learning so much about all this new research
Speaker 1: and creating new frameworks and IP and I'm finding that
Speaker 1: super exciting. You know, it's distinct from like working with
Speaker 1: old ipeak, which we also do a lot as well.
Speaker 1: I'm imagining Shaw you're probably getting the same buzz that
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: From that, yes, agree, yeah, yeah, to.
Speaker 3: Have those moments where you're really getting deep into something
Speaker 3: and feeling that sense of developing over time as opposed
Speaker 3: to just rehashing things. It just kind of puts you
Speaker 3: in this sense where you're actually looking for those new
Speaker 3: opportunities because you're learning so much, and so then you're
Speaker 3: looking for those ways to apply those learnings as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, so autonomy, mastery, and the final one is connection.
Speaker 1: So the other thing that is really important to motivation
Speaker 1: is feeling that human connection and feeling like you're in
Speaker 1: a team in a workplace where you belong super important,
Speaker 1: but also, like you know, if you're struggling to find
Speaker 1: the connection with your team, it might also be looking
Speaker 1: for points of connection outside of your team or even
Speaker 1: your organization. So for me, I feel very connected with
Speaker 1: my team, and I think almost every day, if not
Speaker 1: every day, I would have one on one chats or
Speaker 1: group meetings with people in my team. But what I'm
Speaker 1: also mindful of is also having that connection outside of work.
Speaker 2: So I will plan.
Speaker 1: Even just mini breaks where I'll go for a walk obviously.
Speaker 2: Wearing a mask now, and I will like plan that.
Speaker 1: Time to check in with friends, like particularly my closest girlfriends,
Speaker 1: and we speak every day, if not multiple times a day.
Speaker 1: So it's just really nice having that connection points. So
Speaker 1: they're the three key ingredients to think about with motivation.
Speaker 1: If any one of those is missing, not great. If
Speaker 1: all three of those are missing, you're probably really struggling.
Speaker 2: To get out of bed right now.
Speaker 1: So think about how can you create one of at
Speaker 1: least one of those three aspects.
Speaker 3: I think it's a really good way to look at
Speaker 3: it in terms of self diagnosing and asking yourself what
Speaker 3: am I missing today or what did I not have yesterday,
Speaker 3: which is influencing how easy or not it is for
Speaker 3: me to get out of bed this morning, because it's
Speaker 3: not like you go to bed and it just resets.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, and yeah it doesn't like and these are
Speaker 1: things that are sustained over time as well. It's not like, oh,
Speaker 1: today I might try to just get some connection in
Speaker 1: my life. It's like, no, how can you try to
Speaker 1: get this in a sustained way for the next few
Speaker 1: months at least?
Speaker 3: All Right, So the next question is related to this
Speaker 3: in the sense of working from home full time, and
Speaker 3: the novelty is definitely something to wear off. It's getting
Speaker 3: harder and harder to motivate myself some days because my
Speaker 3: couch and heater looks so inviting, and I feel like
Speaker 3: I'm more reactive rather than proactive. What are your tips
Speaker 3: to shake this off?
Speaker 1: Yeah, when I get into bad productivity habits, I can
Speaker 1: definitely relate and I feel that reactivity. And whenever I
Speaker 1: feel like I've had a few days or even a
Speaker 1: week or two of filling my days are more reactive
Speaker 1: than proactive, I feel like I need to do a
Speaker 1: bit of a reset. And I spoke about this on
Speaker 1: how I work actually flip the microphone so to speak,
Speaker 1: and interviewed myself last week on the podcast, and I
Speaker 1: go into a lot of this stuff, but more briefly,
Speaker 1: what I've done lately and what I'm trying is that
Speaker 1: at Inventum, we have a six month rhythm for goal
Speaker 1: setting where we use OKAYRS, objectives and key results. A.
Speaker 2: Intel and Google have.
Speaker 1: A read of what is It It's my bookshelf here
Speaker 1: somewhere Measure What Matters by John Dora. This is like
Speaker 1: the best book on goal setting you'll find at Google
Speaker 1: and Ittel.
Speaker 2: I used to it quarterly.
Speaker 1: We find six monthly works best for us, So then
Speaker 1: we've got our six month okayrs for the first half
Speaker 1: of the financial year. I then break that down into
Speaker 1: where do I need to be at the end of
Speaker 1: the quarter, Where do I need to be at the
Speaker 1: end of the month, Where do I need to be
Speaker 1: at the end of the week.
Speaker 2: Then what I do.
Speaker 1: Is I have a white board that I've set up
Speaker 1: just like a basic can band board, so to do
Speaker 1: doing done basic cam band board, I deliberately make an
Speaker 1: analogue and tag childs. For me, that's really important, and
Speaker 1: I basically every week I think what are the big
Speaker 1: things that I need to achieve this week to stay
Speaker 1: on track with my goals, and for me, that means
Speaker 1: that my week is proactive from the start. I typically
Speaker 1: do planning on Thursday afternoon because we're not working Friday
Speaker 1: as an inventor, but we may or may not get
Speaker 1: into that a little bit later with our four day
Speaker 1: week that we're trialing at the moment, and I find
Speaker 1: that I feel a huge sense of progress from moving
Speaker 1: my post it notes along that can band board, and
Speaker 1: it just means that I know that I'm staying on
Speaker 1: top of things. So that's that's that would be my advice.
Speaker 1: Canban so c A so KA n B A M if.
Speaker 2: You're looking to Google that it's like an agile tool.
Speaker 3: And I think you make that good point in the
Speaker 3: sense that you are obviously someone who has really good habits,
Speaker 3: but those habits can slip, and those habits can change,
Speaker 3: and just sense checking with yourself in terms of when
Speaker 3: those habits slip and when you need to do a
Speaker 3: bit of a reset.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3: All right, let's move into the next category of questions,
Speaker 3: which is all about collaboration and relationships. So this is
Speaker 3: obviously a big topic and there are a few questions
Speaker 3: that were kind of related. So if I just kind
Speaker 3: of go through some of those questions, I'm going to
Speaker 3: give you, like I guess, a mega question to answer. So,
Speaker 3: how can I ignite my team when lockdown two point
Speaker 3: zero happens and everyone is zoomed out already? So team
Speaker 3: building on zoom isn't really that appealing anymore. How do
Speaker 3: we maintain good, strong collaboration and communication in the virtual
Speaker 3: environment when we don't have the water cooler chats? And
Speaker 3: then we've got another person who's just started a new
Speaker 3: role in the last few weeks, which has been bizarre
Speaker 3: whilst working remotely. I'm seeking your advice on how to
Speaker 3: build relationships and learn about a new team and role
Speaker 3: when I'm remote and don't get the benefit of learning biosmosis.
Speaker 1: Yes, some really interesting questions there. My favorite researcher on
Speaker 1: this topic is Professor Jane Batton, who talks about this
Speaker 1: concept called high quality connections. So high quality connections, she
Speaker 1: defines them as been marked by mutual positive regard, trust,
Speaker 1: and active engagement on both sides. So when you have
Speaker 1: that high quality connection with someone, you feel more open,
Speaker 1: you feel more alive, more energize, those sorts of things.
Speaker 1: So I'll give three tips on how to form high
Speaker 1: quality connections. The first, which seems very obvious but it
Speaker 1: really happens these days, is to be present, right, So
Speaker 1: just get rid of distractions, like, for example, if you're
Speaker 1: calling a coworker or on a zoom chat with a
Speaker 1: co worker, like, get rid of your distractions, shout like,
Speaker 1: put your phone upside down, put it on, do not disturb,
Speaker 1: close your emails, so Jane Dutton shak and type your
Speaker 1: name into the chat box if you want to google it. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: just be really present. Try not to let your mind
Speaker 1: drift off on other things. That is the first second,
Speaker 1: which kind of follows on from being present, is to listen.
Speaker 1: So when I was researching with this, I found this
Speaker 1: interesting statistic that we can comprehend an average of six
Speaker 1: hundred spoken words per minute, but when we speak, we
Speaker 1: speak at about one hundred to one hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2: Words per minute.
Speaker 1: And so what that means is that people have a
Speaker 1: hard time listening because they're like, come on, come on,
Speaker 1: speak faster because I can process faster, and then our
Speaker 1: mind gets bored because we're waiting, and then we drift.
Speaker 1: So think about that the next time you're listening and
Speaker 1: wondering why is my mind feeling like drifting? And to
Speaker 1: be a good listener, be empathic, but also be an
Speaker 1: active listener paraphrase back to check that you've heard properly.
Speaker 1: I'm halfway through a book called You're Not Listening, which
Speaker 1: is written by a journalist and is quite is quite
Speaker 1: an interesting book around why we're not good at listening
Speaker 1: and how to get better at listening. The third thing
Speaker 1: that I'll say, which shah run around, actually an activity
Speaker 1: in this for a team thing that we're doing Inventium
Speaker 1: is a really cool exercise which you can do to
Speaker 1: get to know someone that you don't really know that
Speaker 1: well is find uncommon commonalities. And what shar did with
Speaker 1: our group, which he did, all know each other quite well,
Speaker 1: but she gave us sixty seconds where she broke us
Speaker 1: out into pairs in zoom and we had sixty seconds
Speaker 1: to find an uncommon commonality, which is something that you
Speaker 1: have in common with your pair, but is actually quite
Speaker 1: an unusual thing to have in common, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: I've got a mum and a dad. That's not an
Speaker 1: uncommon commonality, but like I'm obsessed with Broadway musical theater,
Speaker 1: slightly uncommon.
Speaker 2: And so with my pair, who was Katie.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if Katie, who's our organizational psychology placement
Speaker 1: student that we've got at the moment, who is awesome.
Speaker 1: I was paired with Katie, and within sixty seconds we
Speaker 1: both worked out that we went through an obsessive serial
Speaker 1: killer phase where we both had read, like I don't know,
Speaker 1: five ten books all about serial killers, which is kind
Speaker 1: of weird.
Speaker 2: So there are a few things I.
Speaker 3: Think what's interesting when Jane Dutton talks about high quality connections,
Speaker 3: it doesn't have to be someone that you know for
Speaker 3: a long amount of time. It's actually it can be
Speaker 3: something that happens in a really short space of time.
Speaker 3: I think she gives an example of how she was
Speaker 3: about to go into an interview with Adam Grant and
Speaker 3: she's sitting there in the office back in the days
Speaker 3: when we went places physically. She's got a piece of
Speaker 3: paper and she's trying to write some notes, but her
Speaker 3: pen wasn't working, and the receptionist saw that and came
Speaker 3: over and without even Jane asking, brought her a pen
Speaker 3: and was like, is this going to help you? And
Speaker 3: Jane said that that was a moment of really feeling
Speaker 3: like she'd been seen and someone had recognized that she
Speaker 3: needed something, even though she hadn't had to voice it,
Speaker 3: And that was a high quality connection even though she
Speaker 3: didn't even know this person. So this isn't something where
Speaker 3: you have to know people really, really deeply. You can
Speaker 3: form these really through short interactions.
Speaker 2: That's such a cool story. I love that.
Speaker 3: So the next question is I create a lot of
Speaker 3: opportunities by bumping into people in the corridor and kitchen,
Speaker 3: et cetera. Now that I work from home, my work
Speaker 3: is drying out. How can you recreate those encounters in
Speaker 3: a virtual world.
Speaker 1: I'm finding I'm getting this question a lot, like in
Speaker 1: virtual keynotes and stuff that I'm delivering, Like how do
Speaker 1: you recreate those just those serendipitous moments, Like people talk
Speaker 1: about Steve Jobs when he was at Pixar. He made
Speaker 1: the kitchen and the toilets in a really central place
Speaker 1: so he can encourage people bumping into each other. And
Speaker 1: just those serendipitous ideas kind of came about that way,
Speaker 1: and I still think they can come about, but in
Speaker 1: different ways. Like an example that happened to me a
Speaker 1: couple of months ago. So Micha CEO emailed me just
Speaker 1: this totally random email going.
Speaker 2: Hey have you thought about blah?
Speaker 1: And blah was like a potential opportunity but like really
Speaker 1: broad at that stage, and it just like planted a
Speaker 1: seed in my head. I thought about it for a
Speaker 1: couple of days, and then I replied and I said, Oh,
Speaker 1: what do you reckon about this?
Speaker 2: This and this? And then Misch writes back and she's like, oh,
Speaker 2: I really like that. And then we got on the
Speaker 2: phone and we sort.
Speaker 1: Of nutted it out a little bit and we're like, okay,
Speaker 1: so what would we need to do to actually get
Speaker 1: this off the ground. It wasn't necessarily something we had
Speaker 1: to experiment with. It was more like, oh, we've just
Speaker 1: identified this opportunity just through this serendipitous email. That's how
Speaker 1: it started, and then within two months it's now become
Speaker 1: like one of the biggest projects and we're launching it
Speaker 1: in a few weeks time that we're working on an inventium.
Speaker 2: So you can find all sorts.
Speaker 1: Of ways, And I kind of think, well, email worked
Speaker 1: for me, just like random thought sharing.
Speaker 2: Who knows what will happen.
Speaker 3: So DEA's got a question to follow up on that,
Speaker 3: which they've asked, how do you create those meaningful connections
Speaker 3: and make sure people feel seen when you can't see them?
Speaker 1: And I'm assuming that like physically seen as opposed to
Speaker 1: metaphorically seen.
Speaker 2: So I learned this from Adam.
Speaker 1: Grant Vis, the organizational psychologist that Shah mentioned before as
Speaker 1: a professor at Wharton and on Work Life his podcast,
Speaker 1: he talks about the research suggests that we actually engage
Speaker 1: in better connections over the phone as opposed to zoom,
Speaker 1: and we're actually better at reading people's emotions when it's
Speaker 1: a phone call. There's also less impression management going on
Speaker 1: with Zoom. What I mean by impression management is if
Speaker 1: you have not hidden yourself view when you're doing video conferencing,
Speaker 1: whatever platform you're using, then you are impression managing yourself visually.
Speaker 1: You're conscious of what you look like visually, and that
Speaker 1: requires quite a lot of brain power. And therefore, if
Speaker 1: you're using brain power on yourself and what you physically
Speaker 1: look like, you don't have enough brainpower then to be
Speaker 1: focusing on the connection. So phone really good.
Speaker 3: And to follow up on that, I guess I would
Speaker 3: say that even if you can't see people physically, I
Speaker 3: guess it takes that extra empathy and caring of you know,
Speaker 3: putting yourself in other people's shoes and thinking about what
Speaker 3: are they facing and even though you can't see them
Speaker 3: and see, oh, they look kind of stressed today, I
Speaker 3: guess it takes that caring about your team, thinking what
Speaker 3: are they going through and reaching out to them even
Speaker 3: if you aren't physically with them. Let's get into the
Speaker 3: next category of questions, which is around meetings. The joy
Speaker 3: of meetings, So is remote working and remote meetings more
Speaker 3: effective when everyone is remote? I feel like it is
Speaker 3: because when there was one or two people who are remote,
Speaker 3: they were often left out. Similarly, people would wait to
Speaker 3: see somebody in the office to solve a problem. However,
Speaker 3: I'd like to know if there is any evidence around this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think a really good example here is
Speaker 2: from Trello. So Trello they.
Speaker 1: Create software like project management software, I guess it is,
Speaker 1: and they're about a five hundred person company and they
Speaker 1: have worked remote for many years, so completely remote workforce.
Speaker 2: They do have a head office in New York.
Speaker 1: They have a rule where if one person is remote,
Speaker 1: everyone's remote. So what that means and this is something
Speaker 1: we adopted in Inventium. So for our team meetings, most
Speaker 1: of us were in the Melbourne office and some of
Speaker 1: us were in New South Wales and so I.
Speaker 2: Was in the Philippines. And so rather than all.
Speaker 1: Of Melbourne getting in the same room and dialing in
Speaker 1: everyone else via zoom, which we used to do, which
Speaker 1: was an awful experience for everyone that wasn't in Melbourne
Speaker 1: because we'd have all this annoying banter going in Melbourne
Speaker 1: that would get lost in the sound. And so we
Speaker 1: then moved to the Trello model where if one person's remote,
Speaker 1: everyone's remote. So we'd all sit at our desks in Melbourne,
Speaker 1: even though we're practically side by side, and we'd all
Speaker 1: dial into Zoom. Now, obviously we all have to do
Speaker 1: it that way. I interviewed Dom Price, who's head of
Speaker 1: R and D and the work futuristed at Lassian, and
Speaker 1: he said that Lassian adopted that Trello approach. They acquired
Speaker 1: Trello a couple of years ago. So, yes, if one
Speaker 1: person's remote, everyone should be a remote.
Speaker 2: It's a good rule to have.
Speaker 3: I personally have benefited from that. I've loved the fact
Speaker 3: that now everyone is joining on Zoom and I'm not
Speaker 3: feeling guilty that you're all sitting on top of each other,
Speaker 3: but having to log in remind me. Okay, So the
Speaker 3: next question is again, it's two kind of two questions
Speaker 3: that are related. I'm finding it difficult to maintain my
Speaker 3: professionalism during work interactions due to feeling more relaxed at home.
Speaker 3: Help before I send another inappropriate meme i'll regret. And
Speaker 3: the second one, I initially tried to hold up a
Speaker 3: certain style in online meetings, for example, wearing more elegant
Speaker 3: clothes and not slipping into my comfy mode. However, over
Speaker 3: time it seems like everyone has become very casual, even
Speaker 3: having meetings from their bed. I'm not sure about that much.
Speaker 3: Lais fair and my old fashioned or is this a
Speaker 3: good thing?
Speaker 1: I mean, this is such a good thing, and I
Speaker 1: just like I can't get enough COVID meetings quite frankly,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm probably responsible for half of the
Speaker 1: things that are shared in our Inventium chat group. But
Speaker 1: this is great, Like, it's great when people like have this,
Speaker 1: Like my pet hate is people that use a virtual
Speaker 1: zoom background that has company branding. Apologies if I've just
Speaker 1: offended anyone who might have set that policy for their company,
Speaker 1: but it destroys the personal connection. And we know when
Speaker 1: we can kind of get this insight into people's personal lives,
Speaker 1: which you can through being more relaxed in how you
Speaker 1: dress or having the background of your bedroom or your
Speaker 1: kitchen or whatever in the background. Is like it leads
Speaker 1: to those higher quality connections that we just talked about
Speaker 1: from Jane Dutton. So I think this is a brilliant
Speaker 1: thing that this is happening, and please do more of
Speaker 1: it rather than less of it, because you will also
Speaker 1: drive connection, circling back to what we first started talking
Speaker 1: about in terms of connection, mastery, and autonomy being the
Speaker 1: three critical ingredients for motivation.
Speaker 3: All right, let's move into the next category, which is
Speaker 3: about communication. So the question is how do we manage
Speaker 3: those difficult or confrontational conversations in the virtual workplace that
Speaker 3: we previously would have said were better to have in person.
Speaker 3: Zoom somehow feels more impersonal than the phone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well this is kind of interesting. So what I
Speaker 2: said before about you know, we're better at reading emotions
Speaker 2: over the phone, counterintuitively, I'd actually recommend having these conversations
Speaker 2: over the phone.
Speaker 1: It's easier because you can read people better, and as
Speaker 1: I said before, there's less impression management going on usually,
Speaker 1: so you'll probably get a more authentic discussion going on
Speaker 1: over the phone. Now, there's this great article that I
Speaker 1: read in HBr.
Speaker 2: This is from a few years ago. A few things
Speaker 2: that this article recommended.
Speaker 1: I love the title, it's how to have difficult conversations
Speaker 1: when you don't like conflict, which, you know, let's face it,
Speaker 1: it's probably all of us.
Speaker 2: Just a few things from the article.
Speaker 1: So begin from a place of curiosity and respect I
Speaker 1: find this very helpful because normally you're beginning from a
Speaker 1: place of fear, like you're scared about having this conversation
Speaker 1: if you're someone like me that doesn't like having conflict.
Speaker 1: But if you begin from a place of respecting the
Speaker 1: other person and being curious as to like, how can
Speaker 1: you find a resolution to what's going on, far better
Speaker 1: mind frame. Stop worrying about being liked again, that's a
Speaker 1: big reason why we hate conflict.
Speaker 2: Most us have a very high need to be liked.
Speaker 2: That's not the point here.
Speaker 1: The point is to you know, if it's a difficult conversation,
Speaker 1: possibly to deliver feedback for example, and also focus on
Speaker 1: what you're.
Speaker 2: Hearing, not what you're saying.
Speaker 1: We can get so caught up in preparing for difficult
Speaker 1: conversations where we're thinking about our script and practicing it.
Speaker 1: Forget about that, I mean prepare, but focus on what
Speaker 1: you're hearing. It's not about you, it's about them. And finally,
Speaker 1: expect a positive outcome. Don't go in kind of going,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this conversation is going to be awful.
Speaker 1: Actually expect it to be really productive and expect maybe
Speaker 1: to learn something from it.
Speaker 3: Awesome and so The next question is around those casual
Speaker 3: online catch ups that think we've all been having with
Speaker 3: our teams, whether that's Friday afternoon, a happy hour, or
Speaker 3: you know, lunchtime meetings as well with the team. So
Speaker 3: one person's asked a question around them and saying that
Speaker 3: we've been having those casual learn catch ups with the team,
Speaker 3: but they're not hitting the spot. Suspect that it's a
Speaker 3: whole group thing and you missed the little one on
Speaker 3: one moments. What can I do? I don't want to
Speaker 3: seem like a grumph for opting out because I really
Speaker 3: value my team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can relate to this.
Speaker 1: We're trialing something at the moment and inventia where we've
Speaker 1: got this Wednesday afternoon catch up. We used to have
Speaker 1: this Friday kind of I don't want to call it
Speaker 1: team building. It was just like games.
Speaker 2: Really. Someone would bring along a game that we could play.
Speaker 1: Virtually, like Pictionary or Wheel of Fortune or something like that.
Speaker 2: And we'd play games.
Speaker 1: And my number one strength according to our recent strength
Speaker 1: profiling activity is competitiveness. So that worked really well for me,
Speaker 1: even though I didn't win many weeks, but.
Speaker 2: That was kind of fun.
Speaker 1: But then we because we're doing the four day week,
Speaker 1: we're not working Fridays, and then Thursdays.
Speaker 2: Is always like a pretty full unday.
Speaker 1: So we're trying to get everything done so that we
Speaker 1: can have gift of the fifth with what we call it,
Speaker 1: so the gift of time. On Friday, it's not work,
Speaker 1: and so now we're like, oh, maybe Wednesday afternoon, let's
Speaker 1: hang out as a team and just hit chat.
Speaker 2: And while it's I don't know, shah, you.
Speaker 1: Found it and obviously like we need to debrief as
Speaker 1: a team because it's an experiment. So where we're running
Speaker 1: it for I think two or three wednesdays to see
Speaker 1: what we think about it. I don't know, I'm not
Speaker 1: quite sold on it.
Speaker 2: What did you think of it? Chat?
Speaker 3: Well, Amanda, especially when you say the mandatory team meeting,
Speaker 3: like like you must be there because we had an
Speaker 3: optional an optional lunch beforehand and no one opted in,
Speaker 3: which is telling some people opted in sometimes, but you
Speaker 3: wouldn't know who will when.
Speaker 1: But to answer the question rather than to segue and
Speaker 1: possibly like dilute the experiment. Now that I've shared my opinion,
Speaker 1: I think just making time for those one on one
Speaker 1: catch ups is really important, Like I know for me.
Speaker 1: For example, Kez and I every Monday afternoon we have
Speaker 1: like a one on one check in, so Kez, she's
Speaker 1: kind of like my hand on quite a few things
Speaker 1: that I work on, and we never get straight to work.
Speaker 2: We'll probably do like ten to fifteen minute.
Speaker 1: Debrief about our weekend, about the latest date that we've been,
Speaker 1: something like that, and it's just really nice. It's that
Speaker 1: moment of connection and I love my Monday chats with
Speaker 1: Kez and then we finally get onto work stuff. But
Speaker 1: I think I totally get that, and as an introvert,
Speaker 1: I much prefer one on one catch up, so I
Speaker 1: find them so much more enriching than big group things.
Speaker 2: So hopefully that helped.
Speaker 3: To help this person who's asked this question. Something that
Speaker 3: we do at in menting we obsess about is we
Speaker 3: literally experiment with everything, So we literally are constantly trying
Speaker 3: to find out what's going to add the most value
Speaker 3: and what's going to really solve problems. And so we
Speaker 3: treat every team meeting as like this is here for
Speaker 3: a reason, We're not just meeting for no reason, and
Speaker 3: is the way that we're doing this achieving that or
Speaker 3: solving that problem? And so we're constantly asking could we
Speaker 3: do this better? And so maybe with those group meetings,
Speaker 3: it's actually asking everyone to share their feedback in terms
Speaker 3: of what is the purpose of this and are we
Speaker 3: actually achieving that purpose? Because if the purpose is to
Speaker 3: catch up and connect with people in a more meaningful way,
Speaker 3: maybe doing that in a group format is not achieving that,
Speaker 3: and maybe you need another format, or maybe you need
Speaker 3: to throw out the old format. But maybe adopting that
Speaker 3: kind of experiment of mindset and asking your team to
Speaker 3: share some feedback in terms of what could we do
Speaker 3: to make this more impactful. All right, let's move into
Speaker 3: the next category, which is around managing stress and anxiety.
Speaker 3: One person has asked, I would love to explore how
Speaker 3: to best engage and support colleagues who are balancing competing
Speaker 3: demands so work, remote learning life during lockdown.
Speaker 1: When I was thinking about this one, I think about
Speaker 1: and I think this quote comes originally from Voltare.
Speaker 2: So Voltaire has said the best is.
Speaker 1: The enemy of good, I think in more common vernacular
Speaker 1: and something I hear people say perfect is the enemy
Speaker 1: of good. So I would say, like, adjust your expectations,
Speaker 1: adjust your expectations for the colleagues that are balancing a
Speaker 1: whole lot of stuff, and also adjust the expectations you
Speaker 1: have on yourself right now. Aim to be good, don't
Speaker 1: aim to be perfect. This is something that I am experiencing. Granted,
Speaker 1: like I do have help with homeschooling, but when I
Speaker 1: don't have help with homeschooling, when I'm trying to do
Speaker 1: invent him and be a teacher. Although I mean, my
Speaker 1: daughter Frankie's teachers are amazing, but she's six and a half.
Speaker 1: She's not sitting there like doing maths on her own.
Speaker 1: And I've heard this like because all the year one
Speaker 1: parents have a WhatsApp group, so we're constantly sharing strategies
Speaker 1: slash having a winge.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Someone on the WhatsApp group said, I just aim to
Speaker 1: do half a day of school. If we can get
Speaker 1: through to one o'clock and get Mass in English done,
Speaker 1: then that's a great day. And I thought, that's bloody awesome.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: And also I used to be incredibly st with screen
Speaker 1: time with Frankie. Frankie was allowed one.
Speaker 2: Hour a week.
Speaker 1: That changes in Lockdown one version one, the original, not
Speaker 1: the sequel, So Frankie's allowed like an hour a day,
Speaker 1: like granted, everything has to be done by then, and
Speaker 1: it's always in the afternoon, so she doesn't turn into
Speaker 1: a monster in the morning. Not that she turns into
Speaker 1: a monster, but she gets more screen time now because
Speaker 1: it's like, well, I got to do what I got
Speaker 1: to do, and if I've got a meeting at four o'clock,
Speaker 1: Frankie is not just going to entertain herself at that time.
Speaker 2: So yeah, perfect is the enemy of good folks, and.
Speaker 3: So adjusting your expectations, I guess for yourself as well
Speaker 3: as those people in your team that you're trying to
Speaker 3: support exactly, all right. So some more questions around managing
Speaker 3: stress and anxiety. One person said, I have roller coaster emotions.
Speaker 3: One day, I'm productive and positive, the next I'm eating
Speaker 3: ice cream for breakfast and want to crawl into a ball.
Speaker 3: Is this normal? Another person's asked, I have anxiety generally,
Speaker 3: but now it is significantly heightened. What can I do
Speaker 3: to stop the negative thoughts railroad in my day?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think that, like this is such a
Speaker 1: common experience, and you know, it's like it's so hard,
Speaker 1: Like I think, you know, if you're someone that is
Speaker 1: prone to feeling anxious or feeling stressed normally, like this
Speaker 1: situation is obviously going to like heighten that experience. I
Speaker 1: am a huge believer in actually getting external support, like
Speaker 1: actually seeing a professional to help manage these things.
Speaker 2: I think that is absolutely critical.
Speaker 1: I know myself as a psychologist, I think it's really
Speaker 1: important for me.
Speaker 2: To more often than not be seeing a psychologist.
Speaker 1: So I see a fantastic psychologist to help me be
Speaker 1: mentally healthier, I do think though. My favorite book that
Speaker 1: I've read around managing anxiety and stress is The Happiness
Speaker 1: Trap by Russ Harris. I read this years and years
Speaker 1: ago when it first came out, and it's probably the
Speaker 1: book that I would gift the most to people that
Speaker 1: are having a hard time in their lives. The book
Speaker 1: is basically a summary of ACT, which stands for Acceptance
Speaker 1: and Commitment Therapy. One strategy from ACT that I think
Speaker 1: is really helpful is a strategy called cognitive diffusion. ACT
Speaker 1: is really all about untangling your thoughts and thinking of
Speaker 1: your thoughts as the reality as opposed to what they are,
Speaker 1: which is simply just words going on in your head.
Speaker 1: So cognitive diffusion involves, for example, instead of saying I'm
Speaker 1: going to fail which is probably a thought that you
Speaker 1: have if you know kind of a feeling anxious or
Speaker 1: stressed about something, say to yourself, I'm having the thought
Speaker 1: that I'm going to fail. So actually creating distance between
Speaker 1: the thought and yourself. So creating that space. That's a
Speaker 1: very subtle difference, but it actually does make a difference
Speaker 1: because it makes you go, that's just a thought, like
Speaker 1: it's not the reality.
Speaker 2: There's this fantastic quote to completely.
Speaker 1: Bastardize it that says, all of the most stressful things
Speaker 1: that happened in my life never actually happened, I eate,
Speaker 1: they were just things that I thought about.
Speaker 3: I think that's so interesting because I think that that
Speaker 3: is you mentioned it. It's like subtle, but it is
Speaker 3: so important to recognize that what you're thinking is not
Speaker 3: real it is it is just thoughts. And so just
Speaker 3: getting that distance and like you said, diffusing or unhooking,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of detaching yourselfs something that's really resonated
Speaker 3: with me with that book and for anyone who's interested.
Speaker 3: Russ Harris also does an online course where he teaches
Speaker 3: you about act and if any of you have colleagues
Speaker 3: who think are at risk of burnout or of feeling anxious.
Speaker 3: Then one thing you can do to help them is,
Speaker 3: just like a Mantha mentioned, gift them with a copy
Speaker 3: of this book. It's it's not a big book. It's
Speaker 3: it's really easy to read, and he's written it in
Speaker 3: a sense that you can do activity throughout it to
Speaker 3: really help yourself get those immediate benefits. All right, let's
Speaker 3: move into the next topic, which is a bit of
Speaker 3: a gearshift. We're talking about innovation. So one of the
Speaker 3: questions is do you believe local businesses are generally capable
Speaker 3: and successful at innovating or do you recommend they reach
Speaker 3: out for expert help one.
Speaker 2: Hundred percent they're capable of innovating. I think there's so
Speaker 2: many examples of this right now, particularly in hospitality. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, like literally every cafe and restaurant that has
Speaker 1: survived COVID thus far, they've pivoted their business model. They're
Speaker 1: now doing takeaway and home delivery if they won't. And likewise,
Speaker 1: you know so many local alcohol manufacturers producing hand sanitizer.
Speaker 1: Like I think that there's there's so much innovation going
Speaker 1: on with local businesses, and I think it's like it's
Speaker 1: not a nice to have, Like if you're going to
Speaker 1: survive what is going on at the moment, and we'll
Speaker 1: probably continue to go on for quite a bit longer.
Speaker 1: It's happening all over the place, Like you absolutely have
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 2: You need expert help.
Speaker 1: Look, I mean, I think I want to reframe that
Speaker 1: as external help, you know, like you don't need to
Speaker 1: bring in you know, if you're a small business like
Speaker 1: big shot consultants. There's so many great books out there. Yes,
Speaker 1: in Bentium, you know, we do occasionally help small businesses,
Speaker 1: certainly through our online learning around innovation. So there's I think,
Speaker 1: just know that there's really structured and approaches to make
Speaker 1: innovation a whole lot easier. So if you are running
Speaker 1: a small business and listening, I think that, yes, get help,
Speaker 1: because with help you can make it a whole lot
Speaker 1: easier for yourself. But yeah, innovation is not nice to
Speaker 1: have right now.
Speaker 3: The next question is innovation. What is your view on
Speaker 3: that intercession and in the new normal in twenty twenty one?
Speaker 2: Yes, really good questions.
Speaker 1: So there's there's been quite a lot written about this,
Speaker 1: a lot of research done based on past recessions. You know,
Speaker 1: I think there's like what we're going through at the moment.
Speaker 1: It's very different on like a number of different variables.
Speaker 1: So one of the keys is having the right balance
Speaker 1: of offense and defense. I think a lot of companies
Speaker 1: the trill inclination is to go into defense mode and
Speaker 1: risk aversion mode and just like cut costs and just
Speaker 1: kind of get really nervous about trying new things because yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what we do when we're scared.
Speaker 2: We don't want to try new things, we want to
Speaker 2: just stick with the same.
Speaker 1: Then, you know, you also do get companies that are like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're going to use this as an opportunity to innovate,
Speaker 1: and they're just like really gung ho and like pursuing
Speaker 1: opportunities but not actually doing anything to protect the business
Speaker 1: or defend or you know, make things more sustainable. So
Speaker 1: the optimal, the optimal thing to do is to find
Speaker 1: the right balance of doing both.
Speaker 2: And it's not as simple as just do both. It's
Speaker 2: finding the right balance.
Speaker 1: So the companies, based on past recessions that have come
Speaker 1: out most successfully financially, they have been very selective with
Speaker 1: their defensive moves. So, for example, they have cut costs
Speaker 1: by improving operational efficiency rather than just slashing head count,
Speaker 1: but they've also been very selective on their offensive moves
Speaker 1: as well in terms of where they've picked their opportunities.
Speaker 3: Okay, and the next question is around idea generation and creativity,
Speaker 3: and so quite a few questions around this in terms
Speaker 3: of do you have any tips for increasing creativity and
Speaker 3: brainstorming while we're working from home? It seems like every
Speaker 3: meeting I have someone who's looking at a different screen
Speaker 3: or phone or otherwise distracted, which affects the group's ability
Speaker 3: to think creatively.
Speaker 2: And Shah, I actually want to switch over to you
Speaker 2: to add this because you've been running.
Speaker 1: So many ideation workshops and I have not, so I
Speaker 1: want to actually hear your tips in terms of what's
Speaker 1: been working well, because you're getting rave reviews from all
Speaker 1: our clients, So what's.
Speaker 2: Been working for you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we trialed out using some of those virtual
Speaker 3: whiteboard software apps, so Mirror for example, a mural, and
Speaker 3: I think that they're really helpful and really useful. What
Speaker 3: we've kind of landed on in terms of how we
Speaker 3: were doing this, if we think about logistically how we're
Speaker 3: managing this with our clients, is we're doing everything via
Speaker 3: Zoom using breakouts using editable PDFs or templates and Google
Speaker 3: docs and things like that. So I guess what I
Speaker 3: would say is that you know, there's plenty of software
Speaker 3: out out there to help you, but in terms of
Speaker 3: how to really keep people engaged and how to make
Speaker 3: this work for you, firstly, I would say that you
Speaker 3: need to be really clear on the challenge that you're
Speaker 3: trying to solve. So if people are distracted or they're
Speaker 3: not engaged, you know, really think about is this a
Speaker 3: worthwhile challenge for us to be solving and for these
Speaker 3: people who I've invited to be solving, and making sure
Speaker 3: you're framing that challenge in terms of a problem to
Speaker 3: be solved for a specific customer or group of customers,
Speaker 3: and really framing that in a really inspirational way in
Speaker 3: terms of an opportunity. So making sure that you're starting
Speaker 3: with a good challenge and not just you know, approaching
Speaker 3: brainstorming or creativity with a really scattergun approach. It actually
Speaker 3: is a really rigorous process that you should be going
Speaker 3: through and not just defaulting to let's just get everyone
Speaker 3: together and just get a lot of jop down ideas,
Speaker 3: because we know that that is not the best way
Speaker 3: to encourage good ideas or creative ideas. The second thing
Speaker 3: I want get you to think about is whether you
Speaker 3: need to do this at the same time, synchronously or
Speaker 3: asynchronously so you can still engage in creativity and get
Speaker 3: people to put their ideas forward when we're not live together.
Speaker 3: So you know, you might be getting people to do
Speaker 3: this offline and then submitting. But if you do decide
Speaker 3: to do it synchronously, so at the same time via
Speaker 3: zoom for example, I would be making sure that you're
Speaker 3: capturing those ideas live. So we create a PowerPoint template.
Speaker 3: We've got a really simple news slash template we call it.
Speaker 3: It's just a really simple one page and when we
Speaker 3: get people to capt their ideas as they're going and
Speaker 3: we basically break people into break out group and have
Speaker 3: one scribe per group and then so that that's a
Speaker 3: really easy way to not only capture those ideas and
Speaker 3: share them afterwards. And then I guess the final thing
Speaker 3: is to make sure that you've really got that structure.
Speaker 3: So again, like I said, this is not just a
Speaker 3: free for all. Making sure that you've got a really
Speaker 3: tight agenda and you're not just saying to people, give
Speaker 3: us your best ideas, So using stimulus to really push
Speaker 3: people to think into new areas and using rounds to
Speaker 3: break people down into Okay, for this activity, we're going
Speaker 3: to do this. For this activity, we're going to do this.
Speaker 3: So we've got lots of tools around that. And actually
Speaker 3: one of our colleagues, Zoe, she ran a webinar the
Speaker 3: other week where she put together a bit of a
Speaker 3: kit around running virtual brainstorming sessions. So if you're interested,
Speaker 3: we can share you the link for that. All right,
Speaker 3: so let's move into email and productivity and distractions. Maybe
Speaker 3: just one question here, So well, I'm.
Speaker 2: Going to go I'm just going to go like rapid
Speaker 2: fire chat.
Speaker 1: So if you want to like pick a few out,
Speaker 1: it's like going to be really time with my answers.
Speaker 3: Okay, Email traffic in lockdown increases, making us actually less
Speaker 3: efficient your comments and strategies.
Speaker 2: Okay, two things. Firstly, bat your email checking.
Speaker 1: What bats your email checking is is just like get
Speaker 1: in your inbox maybe three or four times a day
Speaker 1: for like twenty minutes, go hard, then get out, like
Speaker 1: close it down. And also think about what your email
Speaker 1: workflow is, like what is your approach to actually checking emails?
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things that I've heard on the
Speaker 1: podcast was Laura May Martin, who's Google's executive productivity Advisors.
Speaker 1: She advises execs at Google's how to be more Productive.
Speaker 1: I'm going to post a link to this interview in
Speaker 1: the chat box. She went through basically what the workflow
Speaker 1: she recommends is to spend less time in your inbox.
Speaker 3: All right, another listener, I loves all the productivity tips
Speaker 3: and tricks that you share, but often struggles with momentum
Speaker 3: and slipping back into old ways. In short, how do
Speaker 3: I create good habits?
Speaker 2: Firstly, I would say, is this actually a motivation issue,
Speaker 2: in which case.
Speaker 1: Go back to the very beginning of this webinar, we've
Speaker 1: talked about motivation or is it about habits? So my
Speaker 1: favorite book on habit change would be Tiny Habits by Bjfog.
Speaker 1: The thing that bj Fog says that I really love
Speaker 1: is how to make a habit stick is to make
Speaker 1: sure that there's positive reinforcement coming out.
Speaker 2: The other side.
Speaker 1: So I think about, how can you create a little
Speaker 1: bit of a positive buzz in feeling and that will
Speaker 1: make you more likely more likely for a habit to
Speaker 1: be sticky. So, for example, which with my deep work
Speaker 1: sprint kind of habits that I've got at the moment,
Speaker 1: I feel really awesome at the end because I've achieved
Speaker 1: something and I can physically move that post it note
Speaker 1: across my kanban board columns, which feels really awesome, and
Speaker 1: that has made my current deeport habit really sticky.
Speaker 3: I'm finding that by the end of the work week,
Speaker 3: I'm pooped like more than an only would how do
Speaker 3: you suggest staying energized with this endless working from home?
Speaker 3: And this is from the category of managing energy obviously.
Speaker 2: Yes, so the final category. So look, I reckon this
Speaker 2: is all about breaks.
Speaker 1: It's really easy to not take breaks because a lot
Speaker 1: of us are in back to back zoom meetings or whatever.
Speaker 1: Try to get into the habit of at least having
Speaker 1: speedy meetings, which is a setting in Google where you
Speaker 1: like all your meetings are like fifty minutes or twenty
Speaker 1: five meetings. Research into breaks would suggest that rather than
Speaker 1: having one half hour break, our energy is so much
Speaker 1: higher if we actually have six five minute breaks and
Speaker 1: we go for a walk for that five minute period,
Speaker 1: so same amount of time thirty minutes, but just break
Speaker 1: it up into shorter breaks and get moving. That is
Speaker 1: the best way to take breaks, and breaks are critical
Speaker 1: for maintaining your energy right now.
Speaker 3: And is there anything else that you wanted to just
Speaker 3: add before we wrap up a in terms of you
Speaker 3: wanted to cover today that you haven't had a chance to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, I think with distractions, because there were a
Speaker 1: lot of distraction type questions. One of my favorite books
Speaker 1: here is Indistractable by Near Ear, And I just think motivation,
Speaker 1: I think is often a root cause when we're looking
Speaker 1: at distractions and procrastinations, which I think is a big
Speaker 1: issue for a lot of us right now. My favorite
Speaker 1: tip from near is a tip called surfing the wave,
Speaker 1: where if you're feeling like if you're trying to get
Speaker 1: work done, but you're like, oh, let me just check
Speaker 1: email because I'm feeling stuck or unmotivated or something negative,
Speaker 1: try to surf the wave, which.
Speaker 2: Basically means just say to yourself, Okay.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna spend ten more minutes in this task
Speaker 1: that is really hard but important. And then if after
Speaker 1: ten minutes, I'm still craving, like you know, checking my
Speaker 1: email or making a cup of tea or whatever, then
Speaker 1: go for it.
Speaker 2: Give in to it.
Speaker 1: But chances are the feeling will have evaporated and you'll
Speaker 1: be back in the zone. So I really do love
Speaker 1: that tip from the book. And there was a question
Speaker 1: around how do your balance work in homeschooling. Perfect is
Speaker 1: the enemy of good folks. Just be good, just your expectations.
Speaker 2: Awesome.
Speaker 3: Thanks A, so thank you for coming along. It's been
Speaker 3: so great to have you. And thanks Samantha. Loved chatting
Speaker 3: with you again.
Speaker 2: Thank the shower. That was awesome.
Speaker 1: That is it for today's show. I hope you got
Speaker 1: some useful tactics and strategies from the range of topics
Speaker 1: that we covered in this episode.
Speaker 2: And if you liked it, I.
Speaker 1: Know someone else that would like it, why not share
Speaker 1: the episode with them.
Speaker 2: And if you're enjoying how I work.
Speaker 1: I'd love it if you could leave a review wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your podcast. So that is it for
Speaker 1: today's show and I'll see you next time.