Stress Management

 I once heard a lecturer explaining stress management to an audience.

The lecturer raised a glass of water and asked, how heavy is this glass of water?

Answers called out ranged from eight to twenty ounces. The lecturer replied, the absolute weight doesn't matter.  It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.  If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes and that's the way it is with stress management. 

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burdens become increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you must put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.  When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.

So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work/life down.  Don't carry it home with you. You can always pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, set them down for a moment if you can.  

Relax; pick them up later after you've rested. Life is short!

Lists

I enjoy a lot of the content found on Entrepreneur.com.  Generally, it provides quick and easy reads that contain useful and insightful information for business owners and entrepreneurs.  However, a recent article caught my attention under the heading of Productivity entitled “101 Time Management Tips to Boost Productivity Every Day”.  The title is somewhat of a mouthful, but 101 tips?  Seriously?  Some John Maxwell lists, like the 21 Laws, are borderline too long for me. 

I like lists; bullet points make sense to me.  You have frequently seen me use lists in the MMM.  But 101 tips goes way beyond being a digestible list.  I read it anyway!  There were a few valuable suggestions.  Many items really did not seem to belong there.  Several items were very similar or almost duplicated.  It felt like the author had to work hard to come up with 101 items. Anything needing 101 different items does not need to be in list format and certainly does not belong under the productivity subject heading.  I think I could have been more productive with my time by not reading that article. 

Leadership -MBWA

A great leadership concept was introduced in the late 1970’s in the book “In Search of Excellence”.  It is called Management By Wandering Around (MBWA).  The basic idea is that you have to be out among the troops to know what is going on.  That concept has stuck with me over the years.  I am not always good at it, but I try.  You really can’t know what your staff is doing unless you spend some time in their space.  You have to feel the pulse of the team, hear the heartbeat of the staff, and listen to the noise in between productivity.  Leaders who stay holed up in their office are considered out of touch for a reason.  A leader who spends no time touching base with his people cannot be in touch with what is going on.  It is really quite simple, but you have to get up and wander around to put it into practice!  MBWA…