The Thoughtful Leaders Blog
Posted by Robyn McLeod on December 1, 2011
Over the last several weeks the topic of multitasking has come up multiple times for me in discussions, articles, and television shows. Everyone seems to be talking about the implications and effects of trying to do several things at one time – and the impact of technology on this issue. Most experts and opinion-makers on the subject lament the destructive, stress-inducing effects of multitasking. They cite studies that show how productivity is negatively impacted by trying to complete a task while reading email and participating in a conference call.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on October 24, 2011
“All glory comes from daring to begin.” Eugene F. Ware
Sometimes starting is simply the hardest part. There’s a project you need to tackle, an article (or book) you want to write, a number of phone calls you need to make, a relationship you want to build…but all you can do is sit at your desk, not starting. The task seems too daunting and a million other urgent issues or immediate tasks at hand seem to appear, as if out of nowhere. So you never begin, and you therefore never finish.
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on October 17, 2011
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is to say ‘I don’t want to.’” Lao Tzu
Time Management seems to be a current theme for most of my coaching sessions. So many of my clients are focused on finding more time, or managing their time better. So often I hear, “I really want to do that, but I just don’t have time for it.”
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on July 28, 2011
Talk to anyone in any workplace and it never fails that the topic of endless, pointless meetings comes up. It seems that the number of meetings – whether face-to-face, conference call, or video/web-based – is on the rise. One executive I worked with shared her calendar with me to demonstrate the point. She had a week full of meetings, many of which overlapped. “How can you be in two places at one time?” I asked. “Well, I’ll start out in this meeting and then leave early to catch the last half of that meeting,” she answered. Sounds awfully stressful and unproductive to me!
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Posted by Chatsworth Consulting Group on July 12, 2011
That glowing Check Engine light. The piles of junk mail on your dining room table. The friend who calls you weekly to complain about her life. The colleague who interrupts you, even when your door is closed. The manager who can’t seem to find anything good about what you do. The direct report who incessantly misses deadlines (but always with “good reason.”) What do these things have in common? If any or all of them are a part of your life, they are tolerations – those distracting, annoying occurrences that frustrate you and sap your energy.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on May 26, 2011
I have a client who is in overwhelm. How do I know? She personally told me that she has thousands and thousands of unread emails…that she will never get to. And everyone around her has confidentially told me that my client simply promises too much, overcommits, and just plain old “works too hard.” In essence, she “overpromises” and “underdelivers” – which is the exact opposite of what we coach our clients to do. We strongly suggest that they “underpromise” and “overdeliver” – thereby giving themselves some breathing space and wowing those around them with on-time (and even early) delivery of stellar results.
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Posted by Lisa Kohn on March 4, 2011
 I was really, really tired. It was mid-day and I could feel the pressure mounting of everything that had to get done and all there was to cross off my to-do list…but I was really, really tired. I swear it felt as if my head was pulsing and my eyes just wanted to drift close.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on December 3, 2010
Yesterday I was nearly bowled over by a man texting as he walked down a busy street in Manhattan. I hope he looked up long enough to stop at the light at the next corner. I was angry, and yet I also had to admit that I too have looked at messages on my Blackberry while I walked. At times it seems impossible not to – in order to keep up with the constant tide of email. Message overwhelm is a problem I hear about from many people. With email, voicemail, and IMs often coming from multiple accounts, trying to keep focused on your current task at hand can be difficult, even if it is walking down the street. The temptation of the new mail pop-up or IM alert can seem too great to ignore.
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Posted by Robyn McLeod on November 19, 2010
In any given week, I get plenty of emails about Time Management – seminars to attend, books to read, articles to click through to, and the hottest new productivity tools to buy. And when I find myself struggling to get through my to-do list or forgetting to do something, I feel guilty about my “poor time management.” No wonder everyone is focused on time management. Seems like there is always more to do, more information to process, more new technology to comprehend, more people to stay in touch with, and more places to be at the same time! Yet, we still have the same 24 hours in a day that we’ve always had. So, what do we do? Sleep less? Not I.
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Posted by Cathy Alfandre on October 6, 2010
“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically—to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside.” — Stephen Covey
It seems to be a crazy time for everyone lately, with more things to do than time to do them. In the event that this sounds uncomfortably familiar to you too, I thought it might be helpful to share two time management strategies. They are practical and “doable,” and they always seem to resonate.
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View Robyn McLeod's profile
I have always felt like I was an outsider because I wasn’t able to focus for long periods of time. I would always end up with the office where the most traffic passed or other ways to be around people. Now I see that the ability to multitask can be beneficial, not the detriment that people for years had attempted to make me believe. Thank you for this insight.
Thanks for your comment, Dwight! I found Cathy Davidson’s research and viewpoint very insightful as well. It’s so important to hear many perspectives on a topic and she offers a new way of thinking about multitasking. I’m happy it resonated with you and affirmed your need for regular task breaks.