Values become actionable through behaviors. Becoming more values-driven doesn’t always mean you have to make huge changes. Focusing on micro-habits or smaller behavioral changes can be more effective. Kim Old, eMotive,
Over the next couple of weeks we are planning to focus on teams and teamwork but before we kick off with working collectively, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on small habits that might helps us individually.
This was partly inspired by a growing tendency I have noticed recently. People seem to be increasingly making decisions for others. I’m hearing quite a lot of ‘oh they won’t do that’, or ‘I think they’ll say it won’t work.’ When I have asked what the other person thinks, or what the team has said, I generally find the question hasn’t been asked. I don’t know if this is because of remote working, our general weariness, or because we’re losing confidence due to social isolation. In almost every case when I’ve suggested we just ask the person concerned what they think, the response from them has been positive and not negative as had been assumed.
This gave me pause for thought about the kinds of habits we are developing at the moment and how important some of these small habits can be in supporting change and demonstrating our values.
As we move into a new week, in a new month here are a few ideas that might be helpful.
The end of day review: take five minutes to review your day and think about what is coming tomorrow. This will hopefully, in part, help you clear your mind and sleep well, ready for what is to come. Try and focus on what you have achieved rather than what you didn’t achieve.
Try a full on brain dump: if you’re feeling overwhelmed try a mind map or list and just get it all out. When you first look at it you might think it has just made things worse but then try organising the mess, think about categories, themes, or priorities. There might be things you can let go, or chunk into smaller tasks, or even things you can ask for help with.
Have 5 minutes of silence: just five minutes of stillness. Time to stop, just for a moment. I am really noticing the change in noise levels now I am sharing my home working space and as someone who needs peace and quiet to think it has required a bit of adapting. Grabbing five minutes of quiet has really been helping.
Write one paragraph: if you’ve got a looming report, board paper, review, any piece of writing that is weighing on your mind try writing a single paragraph. Sometimes it the scale of something that gets in the way, we have a big vision or goal and then find 101 obstacles to put in our own path. Just start where you can. When I’m writing reports, I often start with a few bullet points or a brain dump of my thinking about the topic. Even if I junk it all later it gives me the sense I have ‘started’ and the blank page has been defeated! This echoes Mel Robbin’s ‘five second rule,’ those vital seconds between when you have a bright idea and your brain interferes.
Understand your patterns: Try and observe yourself as a third party. Notice what you’re doing when you feel happy, at ease, frustrated or cross. Consider what has prompted those feelings and how you might handle those prompts in future. I sometimes use the two column method – on the left hand side I write a description of what happened, on the right hand side I do a bit more analysis and draw out some of my self talk. It helps me think about what I might have done differently or what I’d like to do more of.
Try saying ‘no’: this is not something that comes easily to most in the sector, we like to have a ‘can do’ culture. This is double edged in that while lots gets done it also means there is a danger of overload. Learning to prioritise and be clear about how you are prioritising is really valuable, especially at the moment. It is just not possible to fight every fire on every front all of the time. If you can build this habit it will also help others around you.
Share your ideas: if I have learnt anything from being involved in artists’ crits it’s the value of sharing work in progress and inviting the views and feedback of others. It has made me less precious about my work and has helped me understand the aspects of my work that are most important to me. I have a tendency to run a lot of thought processes in my head and assume others will have followed a similar path. This means I don’t always explain my process as clearly as I might and I know there are benefits to sharing more.
I know much of this will seem like common sense – the challenge is to make them habits and not just nice to haves on the self-help post its!
If you have any small habits that have helped you in recent months do share them.