Do Less, Not More

by Angela Copeland | Oct 4, 2022 | Career Corner Column, Newsletter

How do you react when you’re behind at work, or at home? So often, when this happens, it feels like the answer is to do more. Roll your sleeves up, work harder, and push through it. Stay up late, and get up early. This can be an effective strategy if you’re doing something mindless, such as unpacking boxes after a move. But, if you’re doing work that requires thought and concentration, doing more may not actually work. In fact, it could have the opposite effect.

Over-working yourself will wear you out. It will zap your creativity and your mental energy. Your work will take longer, and it is more likely that you’ll make mistakes. Pushing yourself too much is one of the behaviors that can ultimately lead to burnout. And, burnout can take quite a lot of time and energy to recover from.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that we all begin checking out. It’s also not an effective strategy to do nothing.

But, when you’re tight on time, or your to do list seems to be way too long, take the time to reprioritize. Rather than try to accomplish everything, decide which of your long list of things is the most important. A great exercise is to try cutting your to do list in half. If you could only accomplish half of the things on your list, which tasks would you begin with? Which tasks must be completed now versus later? Which tasks are quick, and which are long?

Focusing in on fewer things allows us to do those things better. It allows us to clear our minds of the worry of having to complete too many tasks. For the items you do complete, you’ll have the time to do the best possible job on each task. Of the tasks you focus on, you’ll actually complete them. And, you’ll do a better job.

If you’re squeezed at work, you’ll probably find this advice is the opposite of the way many leaders think of getting things done. So often, prioritizing what is important seems like an impossible task. In fact, everything is important. How can we possibly pick specific tasks over others?

But again, trying to accomplish too much is not a good long term strategy. It can work once in a while, but not normally. There’s a saying that if everything is important, nothing is important. And, this is true. When you try to do too much, you may find yourself completing very little of your list.

Both at work and at home, make your goal to do fewer things better. You’ll find that this strategy will improve your mood. You will ultimately accomplish more. And, your quality of work will improve overall. At work, this strategy will force you to have tough conversations about which projects take priority. But over time, the process of reprioritizing your work will become easier. And, you’ll get more done.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach

Praise in Public

by Angela Copeland | Aug 1, 2022 | Career Corner Column, Newsletter

We’re at an interesting point in time when it comes to business culture. People with many backgrounds and experiences are working together more now than ever before. Some team members are young who have never worked at an in person job and have always had a cell phone. Others are older people who started working before laptop computers or the internet even existed. Some employees have only worked in at big corporate companies, while others have been at startups. These people all have different working styles. They are now collaborating together, via the tiny camera on their computers.

Variations make communication differences quite interesting to observe. You probably have some coworkers who will only call you if there’s a scheduled meeting on your calendar. Others may send you an unplanned message, asking if you have time to talk, even when there’s no meeting scheduled. And, then there are a handful that will call with no notice. These differences are driven by multiple factors, including generation and work experience.

Similarly, people have different habits when it comes to written communication. Some people prefer email, while others like Slack. Within email, there are fairly distinct differences. Some emails are sent from one person to another single person. Others include many extra people as a carbon copy, for informational purposes. Some emails will have recipients included as a blind carbon copy, to reduce the number of replies. And, other emails will add additional people to existing email chains.

Over the years, I’ve started to believe that there is an inverse relationship with email and the size of the company. In other words, the smaller an organization is, the more recipients will be included on a single email. People at startups tend to copy many people at once. This keeps everyone up to date, and is seen as being more efficient. Within a large company, it’s more common to see email chains that include only the bare minimum number of people. The sender doesn’t want to involve anyone who doesn’t need to be on the email.

The same trend seems to also be true in meetings between two companies. A small company will bring many attendees to a meeting in an effort to show that the company is legitimate. A large company will send one or two representatives, who serve as the sole points of contact.

No matter the venue, one thing hasn’t changed. Praise in public, and criticize in private. Calling someone out in a meeting in front of others does nothing but hurt your relationship with them. If you’re asking a colleague for something via email and aren’t getting the results you want, call them or email them — directly. Don’t copy additional people. Even if you aren’t trying to put them on the spot, this is how it will likely feel. No one wants their shortcomings to be pointed out in front of others. Adjust your approach, and you’ll get better results.

I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.

Happy hunting!

Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach