The Hindu Business Line : Create the time for dash work in a dot-defined world

Are you getting gradually pulled into tasks that don't match your particular expertise or coincide with your goals? If yes, here are `the nine competencies' for making your work life work': Julie Morgenstern's Never Check E-Mail in the Morning, from Simon & Schuster (www.simonsays.com).

First, `embrace your work/ life balance'. If you are feeling overworked, exhausted, and depleted, take the first step of letting go at work and taking care of yourself, advises the author. "Something as simple and straightforward as catching up on your sleep is actually one of the most effective ways to improve your productivity on the job." Remember, "The most successful workers create a balance that ensures they are energised, refreshed, and renewed every day."

If you work superhuman hours, be honest about your motivation, counsels Morgenstern. The second competency is, `develop an entrepreneurial mindset'. Realise that you own your career, exhorts the author. That makes it easy for you to stop feeling like a victim! She assures that, though the new world is scary, we all have the aptitude to take control and invest in ourselves and make decisions based on our values, interests and abilities, to the benefit of ourselves and our employers.

"You can smell people who resent their jobs from a mile away," writes Morgenstern. Sniff around to check!

"One person's constant complaining, bitterness, and water-cooler whining can pull a whole department down." You may not love everything about your job, acknowledges the author. "But as long as you feel you are choosing to stay, rather than being forced to, you will feel your power."

Skill three is to choose the most important tasks. Face these straight questions that you can't escape from: "When you have a busy day, can you confidently zoom in on what's critical, or are you frozen, dead in your tracks, confused where to turn next? Do you complete one task at a time or, in a panicky, scattered state, do a little bit of everything, finishing nothing?"

For the hassled, one of the `grab-and-go' strategies that the author offers is, `3Qs and 4Ds'. These are three questions, viz. "how long will it take, what is the ROI (return on investment), and when is the deadline"?

The four Ds are delete, delay, delegate, and diminish, "to lighten your load as often as you can". Another important strategy is that "everything you spend your time on should be assessed in terms of its proximity to the revenue line."

The fourth competency is to create time to get things done. "Work isn't about the number of hours you put in, it's about what you actually get done." Morgenstern advises: "Think of texturising your day in terms of Morse code: A series of dashes — tasks that require blocks of concentration, an hour or more of quiet time, like writing, design, or analytic work — and dots — quick phone calls, e-mails, signing cheques, approving invoices, and so on."

She concedes, however, that it takes a conscious effort "to create the time for dash work in a dot-defined world."

Helpful techniques include: Avoid e-mail for the first hour of the day; beware multitasking; determine your concentration threshold; focus on the joy of concentration; stretch time by planning; group tasks; and work with your energy cycles. For each of the methods, there are practical suggestions for implementation from Morgenstern, thus making the book a valuable guide in your search for better productivity and an increased sense of fulfilment.

There are five more competencies to go, but let me wrap with the author's concluding remarks that the new world of work "will keep throwing you off your game, raising the bar of mastery, requiring you to continually work to perfect your skills".

And: "Whether you like it or whether you hate it, don't get comfortable, because things are bound to change."

BooksOfAccount@TheHindu.co.in

D. Murali

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