3 reminders in the growth journey : Notes to self

Introspection (n): /?ntr?(?)?sp?k?(?)n/ “The examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes”

Everyone is busy - with work, thoughts, daily tasks, and more. We’re constantly thinking, our brains wired to tackle one thing after next - next meeting, report, quarterly plans. I like to carve out time amidst the hustle to evaluate, examine, and rethink my processes. I immediately make notes of anomalies and shifts in my actions, responses, and behaviours. It is more of a self-awareness activity. You could call it mental journaling and recognizing emotions in a situation.

Emotions - often are like data points, and data needs to be analyzed periodically. Building self-awareness by assessing emotional reactions enables us to critically evaluate what could be done better. It helps put into perspective what goals we aim to achieve, how strongly we feel about them, the end purpose, and how we should achieve them. This self-reflection activity often brings me insights, and here are 3 things that I'm reminding myself:

#1. Invest your time

Do you find your google calendar or Teams calendar totally booked out? There’s a meeting scheduled every hour, and it makes you wonder where the day went. The more we talk about time management, the more we realize we want to fit a 26-hour schedule in one day. This is especially true in a hybrid workspace setup. How do we not only manage time but invest it wisely? Here are a few learnings -

Be realistic about time and goals:

First, assess where your time is being consumed? What do you want to achieve on Monday, Sunday, or during the week? Make a list of goals and respect the 24-hour time frame. Divide your goals realistically and carve out time for personal and work goals, equally.

Collaboration time vs. Work time:

Define collaboration time with your team - brainstorming sessions, team briefs, approvals, and review meetings. Set a fixed agenda and be a stickler about it. Not every meeting needs to be a 30 min meeting - can it be done in 10 minutes? Focus on the outcome of the meeting, rather than the time fixed. This would mean everyone on the team comes prepared with concrete insights that add value to the time.

Your habits define your time:

You cannot discuss managing time without examining habits. Are you easily distracted? What are the triggers? Let’s respect the mind’s limitations. Some feel creative and productive at 5am, while others at 3pm. However, work targets need to be achieved within a specific timeframe. Find a way to work around your best hours and offer accurate deadlines and turnaround times on tasks.

Boundaries:

Respecting our own limitations would often lead to setting a boundary. Boundaries help establish a strict schedule. What does it look like? It looks like assigning a post-lunch slump of 2 - 4 pm for tasks like responding to emails. Researching, ideating, and thinking just after your first coffee to spark new concepts or solve problems, but don’t engage in any other task. In both cases, don’t let either task or activity overlap – strict boundaries. This would also mean no emails, social media, or calls while helping your kid with homework. Work-life balance is, after all, achieved with a good set of boundaries.?

#2. Shut out the Noise and Listen more

Notice a few conversations – are you listening, thinking, or simply hearing? Various cues - verbal, non-verbal, and contextual - help to listen. Non-verbal cues often get missed in a remote workspace. As leaders and managers, adopting a different listening style in different contexts can help navigate teams better. An?HBR ?article articulates the various styles of listening-

- Analytical listener

- Relational listener

- Critical listener

- Task-focused listener

The article explains how leaders must dynamically shift between these listening styles to improve communications. Employees facing burn-out or work overload cannot be dealt with a task-focused listening style. It may be relatively easier to identify well-being in physical interactions. However, when it comes to remote working, organizations must employ systems and initiatives that proactively listen to and pre-empt mental well-being risks.

Develop the art of listening as a skill this year

We need to determine - the what and the why of listening. Are you receiving criticism or praise, or is someone sharing a problem? This is where we need to keep aside the noise of emotions and other distractions and identify the end goal to achieve in the communication.

Listen for the sake of listening

Another approach is not to share an anecdote, derail a conversation, or shift the focus mid-discussion. Instead, genuinely focus on the speaker, empathize, or add value to the conversation once the speaker is done. Listening without interjection encourages the conversation further to uncover more insights. Thus, enabling better responses rather than an automatic reaction.

Remember “Part of doing something is listening.” Madeleine L’Engle?

#3. What am I learning today?

Today I learned that AI has grown leaps and bounds and has the full potential to drive not just data or machines. It holds the ability to change the way we live by 2030. This was part of an interesting conversation with an Angel One team member that led me to in-depth learning about future AI technologies. We need to keep learning to stay ahead, and this learning must come from various sources - from academics, people, experiences, failures, opportunities, and more.

We need to actively seek out these learning opportunities, derive inferences, and use these to develop, improve and do better. There is a need today to choose lifelong learning – the voluntary and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge. Not just professionally, but personally. A prime example is how quickly the pandemic accelerated digital learning and adoption. Senior citizens and rural citizens are digitally-savvy with their smartphones, performing daily tasks with apps and software. We must expand our knowledge and expertise to grow, thrive, and leverage future possibilities.

No growth was ever found in a comfort zone, though. Choosing continuous learning means making an effort to go beyond what you know. Learn more, practice, and then have the courage to unlearn, and adapt to a new learning cycle. Ready to take on that learning journey?

In conclusion, these are my 3 reminders:

Choose where you want to invest your time, take a moment to listen without the clutter of thoughts, and make an effort to learn something new today. I’d love to hear some of your introspective notes, do share in the comments below.