How to change the way you work

1. Potentially destructive behaviors

Dr Bill Lampton identified behaviors that could be destructive to creating a working relationship with a potential client. His list included the following behaviors, all of which could be removed or reduced significantly.

• Interrupting repeatedly

• Dominating the conversation

• Inconsistent eye contact

• Standing too close, invading “personal space”

• Taking a cell phone call or even letting it ring

• Chewing anything, unless you’re at a luncheon

• Arriving late

• Being longwinded

• Attempting to use humor best described as risqué

• Wearing clothing inappropriate to the setting

• Checking your watch frequently

• Failing to listen and missing key points

• Displaying poor table manners

• Boasting (exhibiting the ‘I’ disease)

• Looking and sounding bored

• Complaining about anything

• Distracting noises, such as tapping on a table

• Not knowing how to use the chosen software

• Cluttered office when someone visits you

2. Remove distractions

Denise Landers identified ten distractions in the office environment that can take your focus away from your work at hand. According to Landers, once you recognize what interferes with your work, then you can begin to make the changes that will increase your daily productivity. Her ten distracters are:

Email – Telephone – Paper – Visitors –Environment – Noise – Meetings – Lists –

Expectations – You.

Landers’ suggestions for removing these detractors are as follows:

• Email. Find a system of folders that let you clear out the general inbox and prioritize your action items.

• Telephone. Set aside time blocks to deal with non-urgent calls, and let your voice mail tell callers when they can expect to hear from you.

• Paper. Make a decision on the needed action the first time you look at a particular document, and keep your desk cleared of distracting stacks.

• Visitors. Get to the point quickly if someone comes by and interrupts your work.

• Environment. There may be no one answer for the right temperature or light situation. You need to find the correct level for yourself.

• Noise. If you are easily distracted, close your door, use a small white noise machine, or try headphones.

• Meetings. Allocate time to focus on key projects during the day, and stick to that allocation.

• Lists. Record tasks to be accomplished on single sheets of paper so that you can easily prioritize your work.

• Expectations. Let people know that you will respond within a set tome, say two hours or four hours.

• You. Work with only one project on your desk at a time. If you momentarily lose focus, take a well-earned break get back on track.

3. Changing another

In his book, One Minute Nonsense (Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1992), Anthony de Mello, S.J. used the following story to emphasize the fact that each time we seek to change another, we should ask what will be served by this change—our pride, our pleasure, or our profit?

“A man was about to jump off a bridge when a policeman rushed up to him. ‘No, no!’ he cried, ‘Please don’t do it. …