Why We Don’t Work at Work -And How We Can Do Better

Have you ever had this experience? You are busy at work all day, and by closing time you’re wrung out and ready to head home, but you realize that – despite all the energy you put out – you didn’t actually get much of anything done.

It happens to me all the time, and I don’t think I’m alone in this. It makes me mad. I like my job, but I hate days when I go home feeling like I just blew nine hours I could have been spending with my kids, and I didn’t even get any good work done.

So I was thrilled when I stumbled on Jason Fried’s talk at TED. Fried is the cofounder of 37signals, and he’s spent years thinking about why it is that we don’t get work done when we are actually at work.

Fried says work is like sleep. When you sleep, you actually progress through three different stages -- and it’s the last stage of really deep sleep when all of the healing and recovery happens that gives you energy for the next day. If your sleep is interrupted before you get to that last stage, then you have to start all over from the beginning. People with infants will tell you that short bursts of sleep here and there, even if it adds up to 6 or 7 hours, wiare not refreshing.

Work is the same way. We progress through stages of focus, and it’s only in that last deep stage when you are in the “flow” that you get your best work done. If you get interrupted, you have to start over from the beginning.

Which makes the modern office pretty much the worst place ever to get work done. Between people wanting to chat, your boss checking in on you, and the endless meetings, solid blocks of uninterrupted time to get work done are few and far between.

Since watching Jason's talk, I stated paying attention to how many times people wander into my office while I’m in the middle of trying to get something done. It happens a lot. And half the time it doesn’t even have anything to do with work. A ten minute talk about your weekend here, fifteen minutes to talk about something cute your kids did there, and before I know it the time I had staked out to get something done has evaporated.

Fried has some pretty out there suggestions to fix the problem – my favorite one is that every Thursday afternoon no one is allowed to talk to anyone else.

I took a simpler approach: I close my door. I have to say, it’s awesome. Sure, sometimes people will knock, but I can choose to answer, or to keep working. It has been so satisfying to go home everyday knowing I produced something, that I find myself closing the door more and more.

If you’re like me, and you get pleasure and a sense of self worth from actually making stuff, I urge you to try the door. If you don’t have a door, then leave. Go to a coffee shop, put your ear buds in, and just focus for 90 minutes. It is a fantastic feeling.

Now if I can just get rid of those dang meetings.

Hope this finds you well,

Jacob Braude

VP, Strategic Planner

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Good Ideas Need a Little Help From Their Friends

I recently came across this UPS-guy-on-steroids promotional video for a new book by Steven Johnson titled “Where Good Ideas Come From.” Aside from the super engaging way it tells the story, I think the basic premise is fascinating and familiar.

Mr. Johnson’s theory is that big ideas don’t leap from the minds of solitary geniuses. They actually start as hunches that evolve slowly, over time, as a result of colliding with the hunches of other people who are thinking about the same area. As examples, he talks about how the coffee houses during the Age of Enlightenment served as an environment for colliding ideas, which is why we had such a rich explosion of creativity during that period.

The natural leap to today – and the one he makes – is that the proliferation of social technologies is opening the door for another Enlightenment-type explosion of creativity. We are connected with more people more regularly than anyone thought possible, which should set the stage for some fast and furious colliding of hunches.

The great thing about collaboration is that any of us in any setting working on any problem can do it. We here at Wellness have been moving more and more towards collaborative systems for doing our work. Different functional groups, working together hand-in-hand with our customers, is the ideal environment for some great colliding to generate better ideas than any one of us could have thought up on our own.

One important caveat: this does not mean that good ideas come out of group sessions. We find that often these ideas can occur in solitary settings: in the shower, walking the dog, nodding off to sleep. Although these ideas often emerge when we’re alone, if you trace the genealogy of the idea, you will find the genetic material of many other peoples’ ideas built in.

Hope this finds you well,

Jacob Braude

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Are You in the Blue Zone?

In September 2009 Dan Buettner gave a talk at TED where he detailed the findings of research he has done on what he calls “Blue Zones” – areas where people live to be really old. And not just old – vital. They’re still physically active. They maintain a sharp wit and a discerning mind.

Somehow these people have figured it out.

My first reaction was – boy I’d love to take a swim in their gene pool. But according to Mr. Buettner, only 10% of their longevity is determined by genetics -- the other 90% is lifestyle.

Wellness means many things, but for most of us one of the key components to wellness is how long we live. We quit smoking, go on diets, stuff ourselves with expensive vitamins and supplements all in the name of being healthier with the expectation that we will live better and also longer.

Mr. Buettner offers “nine commandments” for living a long life – things which all of the super-seniors had in common:

1. Move Naturally: Incorporate regular, non-stressful physical activity into your daily life.

2. Downshift: Slow down & de-stress. Stress ignistes an inflammatory response that can lead to a number of health issues.

3. Purpose Now: Take time every day to remind yourself why you’re doing what it is you do.

4. Wine @5: Drink a little bit every day (whoohoo!)

5. Plant Slant: Eat more plants than anything else

6. 80% Rule: Stop eating when you’re 80% full

7. Loved Ones First: Maintain close contact with extended family. It may feel like it’s killing you, but it turns out to be healthy (I added that part J)

8. Belong: People with a large social network of close friends live longer

9. Right Tribe: If the people around you have unhealthy habits, it’s likely that you will too.

Just out of curiosity and I checked off which of the nine I am currently doing – being generous with myself I’m at 4 out of 9.

He doesn’t tell how many extra years that buys me, but I’m hoping for a few.

Hoping this finds you well.

Jacob Braude
VP, Planner

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