Inviting Flow
Obviously, as the owner of Figart Consulting, I’m self-employed.1 I don’t have a boss. I do have clients for whom I want to provide a good service, which means my work is judged – as well it should be! But since I generally get a client, then go back to my office2, and then get to work. No-one tells me how to schedule that work, how many contracts to accept or how to get it done. I get a deadline, then the rest is up to me.
Sounds like heaven, doesn’t it?
Well, it is and it isn’t. It’s very easy, because you want the income, to accept a bunch of contracts then spazz yourself out trying to get them done by each deadline.
You hear a lot of people say, “Oh, I work better under pressure” in the mistaken belief that the adrenaline rush you get will help improve efficiency.
It’s a myth.
That adrenaline rush is to help you escape a tiger chasing you, not to help you write an article, plan a website, or study financial data. Your brain shuts down except for those details necessary to make physical decisions about things that will save your life – not your bank account.
You’re more efficient at high order thinking3when you’re calm or experiencing “flow”4. Flow is impossible when you’re spazzed. So how do you invite flow into your life? It’s random, isn’t it? Of course it’s not. You have the power to create this.
Have a plan. You’d be insane to dive into a project without figuring out what you need to do and the steps you need to complete it. Every minute you spend planning saves you two minutes of work. When you have a plan and know what you’re going to do, you find yourself falling easily into flow.Now, keep in mind that there is a difference between having a plan and having a rigid list of steps that you fall over. A plan is flexible as the situation changes. You can change a plan if you must.
Reduce distractions. Distractions are the enemy of flow. If you can, turn off the ringer on your phone, close your email client, turn off your IMs. I recognize it is not always possible to eliminate distractions and interruptions. That’s okay. I chose the word “reduce” for a reason. If you can eliminate the distraction, do it. Only allow those distractions you have absolutely no control over. These are probably fewer than you think. The world won’t stop if you stop checking your email every ten minutes, and unless you’re on a battlefield, turning off communications devices aren’t going to kill anyone.
Trust the plan. This can be a hard one, especially if you’re distractable or a worrier. Once you’re into the flow of something, you often find it feels good and you want to keep going. If you’ve planned to get a specific task done, do that thing, then move on to the next thing. If you’re like me, you may have three to five projects you work on every day. This means you need to break down your work and allow time each day to work on each one. Trust your planning and move on to what you planned for the next project when you finish a step in the first one. If you’re experience that much increased efficiency, you can always do some more on it when you’ve finished your planned work.
Give it a try. You’ll be amazed at how much you get done and how calm you will be doing it!
1Actually, everyone is self-employed when you work in an “at will” state, but that’s a matter for another column.
2Yes, yes, my office is wherever I put my laptop.
3And if you’re doing anything that uses a computer to get it done, you’re doing high order thinking.
4Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the
activity.
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- I’ve Got Rhythm
- Do You Recreate the Office When You’re Self-Employed
- Intelligent Goal Setting
- Document Formatting Services
- Figart Consulting’s Excel Nifty Tip #1
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