You may have seen this impact for yourself. How do you feel when you know the project you are working on will be a success? When you are about to go on vacation? When you are about to see a loved one you haven’t seen in a long time? And, on the flip side, how do you feel when you are about to enter a meeting in which you think your project will be criticized and dismissed? When you have to work for the second weekend in a row?

Considering the future can have this impact on how we feel and the actions we take, you may be faced with a question: Can I engage with the future in such a way that I am left happy, engaged and in action to fulfill what is most important to me? The answer to that question is, Yes!

A key first step in engaging with the future in such a way is determining what you would like to have in the future; what, if it were in your future, would inspire you, would light you up, would bring you joy. While simple in principle, it can be difficult in practice. (And, we are not going to address this step at this time.)

An important next step is determining where the future will live; where it will exist. By “where it will exist” I mean is the future on post-it notes, on a to-do list, taped to the refrigerator door?

I will give you a personal example. As you may know, last month I wrote about reflecting on, choosing and scheduling what would leave us satisfied at the end of the summer. (If you haven’t read it, I recommend you schedule time to read it!) One of the things I saw would leave me satisfied at the end of the summer was having gone to the beach – at least once. I am now scheduled to go the beach in a few weeks with a friend! I am stoked!

One thing I haven’t scheduled yet is having a barbecue with friends. The barbecue lives for me differently. It doesn’t have the same life, the same juice as going to the beach. For going to the beach I can picture the surf and sand, having fun with my friend, and can almost feel the sun and smell the ocean. For the barbecue, I can conjure up what it might be like, however it is more distant; the conjuring takes more effort. Any vision I have of the barbecue is generic; for example, I can’t picture who will be there.

So, what can account for the difference between my experience of my planned trip to the beach and my intention to have a barbecue? Where the future lives. For the beach, the future is in my calendar. For the barbecue, it is on a list of what I do not have scheduled. And, having my beach trip in my calendar gives a lift to everything I am doing.

You can attempt this with anything you have to do – get it into your calendar. I particularly invite you to put into your calendar activities for yourself and your enjoyment. Having things we enjoy scheduled in our calendar makes it easier to deal with the difficulties we face. A much different and more beneficial impact than those things we haven’t scheduled.

(Now I know why my mother regularly asks me when she is going to see me next. Mom, if you’re reading this, I will call you later today and schedule when we see each other next!)

As always, let us know what happens! I’ll write again after my beach trip!

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

A summer goes by. A vacation goes by. The holiday season goes by. A year goes by. And, at the end we have the feeling we didn’t get to what we wanted to get to. Is that a familiar feeling for you? If you are like me you have had that feeling more than once.

What will it take to end the summer satisfied and looking forward to the remainder of the year? There are three elements I see: reflection, choice and scheduling.

By reflection I mean considering what would leave you satisfied at the end of the summer. A useful way of doing this is to imagine yourself at the end of summer, let’s say mid-September. From that perspective, looking back at the summer that is now over, what, if you have done it, would leave you satisfied? Then, take the reflection one step further. For each of the things you identified, ask yourself, “What about that is important to me? Why do I care about that?” These last questions may help clarify and possibly simplify what would leave you satisfied.

Next, consider what would be the minimum that would leave you fulfilled at the end of the summer. In other words, choose what you will do and accomplish. And, just as important, choose what you will not do. This second element of choice, choosing what you will not do, is often not as easy, and it will dramatically increase your satisfaction. Those items about which we haven’t chosen to do or not do – the maybe someday’s – float around bothering us from time to time. These items are a significant source of dissatisfaction. In actually choosing not to do something, it puts the item, and our mind, to rest. (And later, you can always make a choice to do the item.)

The third step: schedule. For the things you have determined will leave you satisfied, put them in your schedule. Not just the week or the day; schedule the actual hours you will do these items. Confront when you will actually do those things. Block out the time. For some items it may be difficult to do – I invite you to do it anyway. What you may find is that having it scheduled for a specific day at a specific time will have that item appear differently to you – it may occur for you more certain that it is going to happen and give you a lift even before it happens!

I invite you to try this out and create your summer! Let us know how it turns out – in September or at any time.

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

Each of these initiatives was kicked off by the leader at the head of the organization. And, while each was different in their aims and focus, several similarities have emerged in terms of what they confronted and their approach.

One commonality at the outset was that each leader was determined to bring about significant, sustainable change. Also in common was that they did not see a way forward that would unquestionably deliver change of this nature.

Rather than starting by figuring out how to fix or change the issue that initiated the creative exercise, each leader started by working with their team on defining the issues of fundamental importance to their organization – defining their organization’s reason for being. The conversations that ensued were transformational for each leadership team and each organization.

Unsurprisingly, when starting the conversation, each member of the leadership team had something to say about these items of fundamental interest. What was unexpected was the many subtly divergent views of what those items are that constitute their organization’s reason for being. Each time what followed were conversations that produced clear articulations of their organization’s purpose that provided a foundation for going forward. Just as impactful, if not more so, what was accomplished was a new depth of understanding and unquestionable alignment among the members of the leadership team.

I have seen other leadership teams take such work out into their organization, determining the objectives that unquestionably fulfill their organization’s raison d’être. This has produced a different impact than merely dealing with the issue that initiated creating a new future. In each case what ensued was a clarity and coherence of action throughout the organization – a new power in accomplishing the results that demonstrate success. Additionally, what also occurred was a significant drop in the “noise” in the organization – conflicting agendas, miscommunication and wasted effort.

Whether you are accountable for creating the future of your organization or only for the future of your own life, I invite you to bring this perspective to your creation. Let us know what happens!

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

You may be saying, “Yeah, sure.” I can completely understand any skepticism. Most of us are inundated by email. The average office worker receives the equivalent of a 250 page book in email each day. I have worked with people who have had hundreds, even thousands of emails in their inbox. It can seem that a full email box is a fact of life, like death and taxes. Even though it may seem inevitable, I suggest it weighs on us.

For the most part we have become numb to the impact of having a significant number of emails in our inbox. For a moment I invite you to pause, take a breath, look at the number of emails in your inbox and consider the impact on you – particularly the impact you may not regularly notice. If you’re anything like me, the impact can include a sense of worry or anxiety, feeling like there are things in there I should be attending to, wondering what has slipped through the cracks that will come back to haunt me, even a sense of resignation.

Now, imagine what it would be like to have an empty inbox (for some of us this is harder than imagining flying without a plane). Imagine what it would be like to see white space in your inbox – only a few emails you know you can get to. There may be a sense of relief, shoulders relaxing, breathing easier. Fiction? It really is possible. Let’s get into how.

There are many effective methods out there for dealing with email, and I have tried many of them. After much experimentation my inbox is now emptied (completely!) at least several times a week and there is consistently white space on my inbox screen if it isn’t empty. What enabled the shift for me in being effective was one particular insight.

I often had between fifty and a hundred emails in my inbox. What I noticed was at the bottom of the inbox there was often one or more emails I wasn’t sure what to do with. It was either about a difficult issue or something I couldn’t see what to do with. The insight I had was that I hadn’t made a choice about what to do with that email.

What I began to do was to force myself to make a choice about what to do with that “anchor” email at the bottom of the inbox. Sometimes it was scheduling time to deal with it. For others it was filing the information in an appropriate place. And, for some, it was choosing to do nothing about it and deleting it. Once I dealt with that “anchor” email, in a surprisingly short amount of time my inbox was empty. Equipped with this insight, it has not taken much to maintain an empty inbox. What it has taken is biting the bullet and making a choice about each email, even when it seems difficult. What has made the difference is knowing I can make the choice and, if I do make the choice, there is the freedom of an empty inbox at the end.

I invite you to try this for yourself. If you have a backlog of email, one thing some people have done is create a folder and put the backlog in the folder, dealing with the backlog as they get to it (that’s what they were doing anyway) and emptying the inbox every day.

Please let us know what you find!

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

A colleague gave me a magazine article on procrastination. It was a reprint of a book review that originally appeared in October about a new book, “The Thief of Time” – a philosophical inquiry into the nature of procrastination.

A description of the book contends, “there has been no sustained philosophical debate concerning [procrastination].”

I took that description as a challenge and began my own inquiry into procrastination! A first stop, as in many good inquiries, was a search on Google. In 0.11 seconds, Google returned over 4.2 million results. I browsed several of the results. There was quite a bit that was provocative, some that I found useful, and yet I was still left with more questions than answers.

What I began to consider is that what determines whether I do an item now or put it off to do later has to do with how that item exists for me at the moment in which I encounter it. A couple of explanations about what I mean. By “exists for me” I mean how the item shows up or occurs for me, how it looks to me. The item can look to me as something that looks great to do, something that I don’t want to do, something that I don’t have time to do, etc. By “encounter it” I mean the item enters my awareness in some way – either it crosses my path like a piece of paper, I receive an email about it, someone mentions it to me, there is an appointment in my calendar about it, etc.

Armed with that insight I have been observing myself for the last several days, noticing when I do some items and put others off until “later”. When I was putting something off, I noticed the conclusions and interpretations I had about and around the things I put off. They included:

• It will take too long
• There are too many other things to do
• I am not sure how to go about it / I am not good at doing this kind of thing
• I have some fear regarding how doing the item might turn out
• It’s too complicated / involved.

As I observed myself, sometimes I would put off the item. What began to happen more and more is that I would notice how the item was existing for me. I would then see the interpretation or conclusion about the item and I saw it as an interpretation or conclusion – not the “truth” about the item. Each time that happened I was left with a choice – do I do the item or not. I was left with the experience of freedom and power.

You could say that each time I encountered the item I had a choice. However, the times I put the item off, my putting it off was automatic, it was a reflex action, there was no occurring of a choice. It was only after the fact that I could notice my reaction and see there was an interpretation underlying how the item existed for me. When I saw the interpretation is when it looked to me that I had a choice.

I invite you to try this on. If you find yourself putting something off, see if you can notice how that item exists for you; see if you can identify the interpretation or conclusion about that item as an interpretation or conclusion. And, see what opens up!

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

A colleague gave me a magazine article on procrastination. It was a reprint of a book review that originally appeared in October about a new book, “The Thief of Time” – a philosophical inquiry into the nature of procrastination.

A description of the book contends, “there has been no sustained philosophical debate concerning [procrastination].”

I took that description as a challenge and began my own inquiry into procrastination! A first stop, as in many good inquiries, was a search on Google. In 0.11 seconds, Google returned over 4.2 million results. I browsed several of the results. There was quite a bit that was provocative, some that I found useful, and yet I was still left with more questions than answers.

What I began to consider is that what determines whether I do an item now or put it off to do later has to do with how that item exists for me at the moment in which I encounter it. A couple of explanations about what I mean. By “exists for me” I mean how the item shows up or occurs for me, how it looks to me. The item can look to me as something that looks great to do, something that I don’t want to do, something that I don’t have time to do, etc. By “encounter it” I mean the item enters my awareness in some way – either it crosses my path like a piece of paper, I receive an email about it, someone mentions it to me, there is an appointment in my calendar about it, etc.

Armed with that insight I have been observing myself for the last several days, noticing when I do some items and put others off until “later”. When I was putting something off, I noticed the conclusions and interpretations I had about and around the things I put off. They included:

• It will take too long
• There are too many other things to do
• I am not sure how to go about it / I am not good at doing this kind of thing
• I have some fear regarding how doing the item might turn out
• It’s too complicated / involved.

As I observed myself, sometimes I would put off the item. What began to happen more and more is that I would notice how the item was existing for me. I would then see the interpretation or conclusion about the item and I saw it as an interpretation or conclusion – not the “truth” about the item. Each time that happened I was left with a choice – do I do the item or not. I was left with the experience of freedom and power.

You could say that each time I encountered the item I had a choice. However, the times I put the item off, my putting it off was automatic, it was a reflex action, there was no occurring of a choice. It was only after the fact that I could notice my reaction and see there was an interpretation underlying how the item existed for me. When I saw the interpretation is when it looked to me that I had a choice.

I invite you to try this on. If you find yourself putting something off, see if you can notice how that item exists for you; see if you can identify the interpretation or conclusion about that item as an interpretation or conclusion. And, see what opens up!

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

A lot of the time we are on auto pilot – wrapped up in our thoughts and not aware of what is happening around us. In his essay, Dr. David Rock quotes a study saying we are on auto pilot nearly half of the time.

He points to how we process information; most of the time through a neural network that operates on a narrative, based on what has happened in the past. What is the cost of being on auto pilot? One of the main costs, as noted by Dr. Rock, is being happy. When we are on automatic we are not happy. It may also impact what we accomplish as we are not powerfully aware of what is going on around us.

There is another brain network consistent with what scientists call direct experience. When operating in this state, we perceive more information as well as more accurate information. This leaves us more effective at responding to events as they arise, and even happy.

So, coming off auto pilot can pay big benefits!

How do we effectively and reliably come off auto pilot? Dr. Rock proposes a few simple, physical practices we can do to be more mindful, such as noticing our breath or paying attention to the feeling of our foot on the floor. As an experiment I invite you to, right now, pause, close your eyes, take three deep breaths, and notice what happens for you.

As Dr. Rock points out, we need to keep being reminded – it’s difficult to remember to shift out of our default mode of auto-pilot. There are a few things I have found support coming off auto pilot. One simple device is to make note of whatever I find myself thinking about, especially when it is a diversion from engaging in what’s in front of me. For example, when I am working on writing a document, I write down stray thoughts that come along, rather than switch to a web browser and do a search on the topic that came to mind. This allows me to focus more effectively on the task at hand.

Another device is scheduling time for the things I am committed to accomplishing and, when the time comes, reminding myself and the people with whom I am working of what we are at work on and intend to achieve. This allows all of us to set aside other conversations, listen more actively, and respond more effectively.

Possibly the most powerful tool is that of awareness. Simply being aware of being happy or not. (I feel many of us we have habituated ourselves to a background sense of being upset or bothered. More about that in a later post.) When not happy, a simple breath, feeling the floor beneath our feet, or pausing to really look at our surroundings, may be all it takes to move us from auto pilot to a state of mindfulness.

I invite you to experiment and see what you find. Let us know what practices you find helps you come off auto pilot and what the benefit is for you!

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share, please let us know.

Regards,

Doug Fisher

Whatever path people end up taking, the act of creating yearly goals can be very useful. And, there are ways of adding power to whatever goals we may take on. So, get out a piece of paper or open a blank document and let’s get started!

Write down one outcome you would like to have next year. It can be in your work, or your life outside of work. Don’t worry about getting the right one or the best one or the most important one. Any one will do.

Now, ask yourself, what about that is important to you? Ask yourself that question at least three times and make note of what you come up with. Next is a speculation. Take the last answer you arrived at and look from there: if that were fulfilled, what would your work and/or your life look like at the end of 2011? Said another way, if you got what you wrote, and got it fully, what would be there at the end of 2011 that is not there now? Allow yourself to speculate and make note of several outcomes. The more specific they are, the better. And, don’t try to settle on one at this point.

After you have listed several outcomes (I recommend going for at least 10), review the list of what you said might be there at the end of 2011. From the list select one, two or three outcomes that most represent the fulfillment of what is important to you. This may include the goal you started with, and it may not.

Next is the step that will add the greatest amount of power. Get out your calendar and schedule times to do those things that will result in you achieving the outcomes you selected. At this time you may not know all that needs to be done. However, if you have time scheduled, you can reflect and determine what actions are appropriate at that time.

Will any of this guarantee that you will accomplish what you set out to accomplish? No. As you are probably well aware, there are no guarantees in this life. Will it make it more likely that you will fulfill more of what’s important to you? Definitely.

I invite you to do this exercise before the end of the year with at least one area in your work or life. I promise if you do, you will have a greater experience of being self determined going into the year. And, if you honor the times you scheduled, this experience will continue throughout the year.
From me and all of us at Mission Control, we wish you a powerful and fulfilled 2011.

Thanks for reading. As always, if you have something to share please let us know.

Regards,
Doug Fisher

However, what does that herald for the coming year? If I look merely at the trend of my and others’ conversations, 2011 seems it will be more of the same – a continuation of the past. For many of us the past year has had its challenges. Most of us, if not directly impacted by the wider economic climate, know friends or family members who have been. And there seems to be a looming uncertainty about the future.

In the face of all that, I’ve begun to question how we can enable ourselves in going into the new year fresh, with power, fully able to create a year that will be fulfilling. One of the things I have come to as a key element in having freedom going into the future is being thankful for what has come before.

If you have participated in one of Mission Control’s programs you may recall the notion of incompletions – those things that are on our minds, preoccupying us; the hum of noise in the background; the fog in which we often live. Being grateful, being thankful, is a very powerful way of quieting the noise of the incompletions, leaving us with more room to create.

Okay, you may say, it’s easy to be thankful when things are great, but what about when they aren’t great? It seems these situations are exactly the time when being thankful, grateful, has its greatest power. It both takes and gives the best of us.

When I reflect on the past year for myself and consider difficulties I have encountered, there are some for which it is easy to be thankful. For some, I find I need to bring some forgiveness, for myself and sometimes others, to be able to be genuinely thankful. (Paul Boese said “Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”)

In whatever preparation you do for the coming year, I invite you to begin with reviewing and bringing gratitude and thanks to what has happened in this past year; especially for the difficult times. I promise you that in doing this, you will be left with a new opening in which to create a fulfilling 2011.

As always, please let us know what you find! Thanks for reading.

• People scheduling you for meetings without looking at your available time
• Double booking of meetings
• Scheduling back to back to back meetings
• Starting late and running over the scheduled time of the meeting
• People working on email, blackberries and taking calls during the meeting
• Conversations going off topic
• No clear action coming out of the meeting
• The feeling that the meeting was a waste of your time

For many of us, meetings consume a significant part of our day and are also a major complaint. It often seems like the poor quality of meetings is something we need to tolerate and put up with.

Back to our client. As part of thier Mission Control Program, they began to consider that the burden associated with meetings was a function of habits, both their own and others, and they could actually do something about it.

The first step of the realization of habits was important in creating some freedom to do something different. Individuals in the group began to see their habits that had them sit through ineffective meetings; saying to themselves there was nothing they could do about it. They also began to appreciate that their colleagues who took the meetings off track were doing this out of some habit, not out of a conscious intention to derail the meeting.

Armed with this insight, people had more room to speak up when the meeting went off track. And, those who would hijack the meeting were more willing to see their habit derailed things.

With a new freedom, the group agreed to adopt a few simple protocols for managing meetings:
• As a default, schedule meetings for 45 minutes rather than one hour. Leave the remaining 15 minutes free.
• Start and end on time.
• No agenda, no meeting.
• The agenda includes the topic and the intended outcome of the meeting and for each agenda item.
• If you agree to the meeting, you are also agreeing to do the requested preparation.

While it is early days after agreeing these protocols, the client is reporting a significant difference in the effectiveness of their meetings.

Another client implemented similar protocols and tracked the improvement in meetings. They reported reducing the number of meetings by 50% at the same time as cutting the average meeting time from 60 to 35 minutes,a combined reduction of 70% of the time spent in meetings.

We invite you to take on the effectiveness of your meetings. Our clients’ experience indicates what’s most useful is starting with a heightened awareness of your habits around meetings and compassion for the habits of others. An open conversation about these habits reliably produces room to address what isn’t working and establish new practices.

Let us know how it goes! Thanks for reading.