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I notice that more and more people contact me about what I write here. So I would encourage you all to leave a comment too and of course, please link to my site.
Getting Things done is the title of a new book I started reading this week.
getting things done
I have read many management books and many time management books. cb consulting offers time management seminars also. So there are really two reasons for me reading this book.
a) David Allen suggests that the old time management techniques like A/B/C prioritising and planning methods are a little out of date. Therefore for me offering trainings I like to offer the most valid way of an effective time management training.
b) as part of my “new life” I need to find a way to deal with hundreds of emails, unexpected work loads, processing information and Getting Things Done! So ultimately it offers me hands-on support in my daily job. Whilst job is defined as any kind of work you carry out, e.g. DIY, gardening etc. (definition by Allen).
I try to keep you up to speed whilst I read this book. Most interesting in the beginning is the theory of the pebble you throw into a pond. It will form some ripples but then it eases out and the pond is still again. That is how you should be able to deal with your work load in order to not stress.
I keep you posted.
Volker
Hello All,
Facebook - after publishing my new status “starting a new life, everyday now” I got a few requests about what I am up to?
No, I am not getting a divorce or change my job. Everything is fine and I am more than happy with both! However….there is always a BUT.
Really, the last 4 weeks with us moving into the new place, the job being more than busy and me having little time to un-wind, lead me to have a good think over the weekend. Never have I been so worn out, tired and exhausted for such a long time.
So, I will change my life, a bit everyday. Planning in some “me time”, “exercise”, “knowledge”, “fun”, “friends”, “family” etc. - just to consciously making life more live-able. Making sure I enjoy what I am doing and have the work life balance or life-life balance.
No rocket science really but I think that I haven’t really had time lately to focus on the nice things in life. And if I had the time I did not use it. So all I do is a re-cap and a more conscious living.
Thanks, Volker
I always wonder why consulting works and people spend lots of money to get a 3rd party to advise them. Maybe there are 2 ways of looking at it.
1) someone does not have the internal resources nor the expertise
2) someone lost the site of things and needs a third party to look at it
Latter is my experience from last night, sitting as I like to do, on the Southbank in London with a good friend and have a couple of Ales. And whilst we talk about job, personal life and past experiences in jobs, he helps me (and sometimes I help him) to see things a different way.
He pointed out a lot of good things where I can sit down, have a think, improve and then hopefully come back stronger and better.
I will keep you updated.
Have a good weekend, Volker
I do not believe it is another week. Besides a very busy day at work, I met with a “client” for Career Coaching tonight.
The goal setting process combined with a good NLP technique and the Buddhist view in combination with gut feeling - how do you do that?
You start analytically and write down the pros and cons of the existing and the new job. Purely to find out what your clients likes, dislikes, what scares her/him. S/he gives so much away by talking about it and by using certain terms.
Then you start the goal setting process, stepping stones and the approach of “if you had already achieved what you aim to achieve in this lifetime, how would you have got there“? By internally going where you would like to be in order to look back as if you had lived through your decision already, helps you to get a different perspective on it. Try going backwards on the different timeline, going via stepping stones you set before? Ever tried?
You then have the choice of deepen the “what did you achieve” question with some “how did you achieve it” and “why did you achieve it”. Get some more NLP in there by using different aspects of the decision making process, e.g. use similar terms and digg deep on the reasoning on how someone would have achieved something.
I like to bring in some Buddhist thoughts. The path does not matter as it all has been defined before……but that is an entry in itself I believe!
Then break up with the exercise, take a deep breath and go back to your analytics pros and cons sheet in order to start analytics, a decision matrix, and evaluate the whole situation. Mix it a bit with gut feeling and you will hopefully either see a result or a strong tendency on what the client really would like to do. S/he will see it her/himself, no doubt….
Job done.
Sounds like a recipe, not as easy to follow without experience but surely something for everyone to pick up on.
Leave your comments on how you last made up your mind about a difficult decision!
Hopefully speak soon,
Yours Volker Ballueder
Hello,
After a few months my new website for cb consulting is live!
I made a few changes and added more services. Now, cb consulting not only concentrates on coaching and on trainings but also adds the management consulting for strategy and marketing to its portfolio.
Also, particularly looking back at my old job, I gained so much knowledge and experience about the Online Marketing industry that I am more than confident to suggest marketing strategies for various services to clients. Just done that recently.
It crosses the line to my main job, working in Search Marketing, a little but to be honest, anyone who has not thought about Search Marketing for their site should do that immediately. That is almost the fundamental of the Internet these days.
Islands, Islands - Inseln.
Years and years ago, as some wondered why I write about islands on facebook, I came up with a theory that life is like going from one island, one level to another.
You start on one shore, going into the water, life, and struggle to reach a piece of land - an island. Now, after you reached the first island, you can get a breath of fresh air, relax and have reached some kind of “higher” level. However, you would not be happy with the first island, because you aim to be at the other shoreline (if there is one, but I come back to that later).
So as years go by you go from island to island reaching a higher level in your life. More experience, more confidence, more fresh air if you like, and you just enjoy reaching them. But then you have to go back into the water to reach a new level. Some people like the island they achieved and stay, but I am a person that needs to move on and find a new island.
Now, one point to make is that NLP, TA and other techniques, meditation, Buddhism and career/personal development give you new tools in order to reach new islands quicker or easier.
As an example I used that I am almost at the level that I jump from island to island using some jet skies. However, my aim is to get airlifted, have a yacht or fly. The higher I get on the level ladder, the better the tool, the quicker the way to the next level. It is almost like a race where you chose or learn to use different tools and the speed gets quicker as you move along.
The other point is that each level is giving you great satisfaction. Happiness. And, you do not know how long/wide the ocean is (N.B. nothing is linear). Is it just from Calais to Dover with a few islands or are there more islands, e.g. we are going from NY to London, or even further. This ocean might never end until you either get insane or you reached a level of the magician (you remember the story from Bandler and Grindler in Frogs to Princes about the islands ,-)).
So, whatever you decide to do, be patient, collect tools on the islands, go into the water to reach the next. Never give up, the sky is the limit really.
Currently, I reached a new island. I know what I want, how to get there but the water is still deep and dangerous. But I am up for it. Let me breath for another few weeks, then I will be out there again to reach the next island!
Have a fabulous night!
I read an interview with Chris Hyman this morning in the MT. Chris seems to be an achiever, clearly as a CEO of one of the top ten companies in Britain, a Formula 3 driver, only sleeps 4 hours a day, and he grew up in the belief “if you always do your best, you will be spotted“.
That is why I started “googled” him, to find out a little bit more. And I found an essay he wrote about change. So, I thought I write a few lines about change. Chris mentions in his essay that with all the innovation around us, a change process needs to happen and is inevitable. Therefore, contractors should expect it to happen, being aware of it.
That brings me back to what I wrote a few months ago about having anticipation of change making it easier to cope with. You remember that?
But coming back to “doing your best” - my old host dad whilst I was an exchange student in the US told me over 10 years ago “Volker, if you always do your best, neither you nor anyone else would blame you for what you are doing.”
So maybe it is not about doing it right or wrong - is it all about doing your best to be at the top - the top of your life not the top of the world. Maybe for some it might be the top of the world.
And, if you always give your best, would that prepare you for more change because you can anticipate more of the change and be more prepared to make things happen?
Surely something to think about at this very cold December morning.
This Sunday Morning is miserable. Not easy to convince myself to go jogging but I need to and of course I want to ,-) So I will.
Let us talk about change. In October I got married and tomorrow I start my new job. That is a lot of change. According to “Holmes and Rahe, Scaling of life Change”, published in 1971 in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research - Marriage ranks with a scale value of 50 and change of work around 36 out of 100 (which is Death of Spouse). My old manager said the other day that he went to a conference that showed that people those days are going through 9 jobs in their first 10 years of working whilst his generation (he is about 40) is having 3 or 4 jobs in the same time. So maybe the scaling changed over the last 30 years.
But, change of jobs and getting married are not necessarily bad things, just the opposite. It is about the perception you have for change. I often talked about the “motivation towards to and away from”. E.g. if you change jobs because you were fired then your perception of change and the stress it causes is much higher. The opposite is true for a wedding. If you are looking forward to it and things are going well, the stress related to it is “positive stress” which is easier to cope with.
Then again, “positive stress” has the same physical impact on the body, e.g. increased heart rate, however it shows that if someone is very positive about a change then it is easier to cope with the “side effects”. Research suggests if you have a loved one that dies suddenly and unexpected, the effects on the sudden change are greater than if you know the person had a terminal illness and you see that person die. However, it would never change the grief and loss, it might just be easier to cope with the moment itself.
Whilst writing here I scan through the magazine “Personal Success” published by the Coaching Academy, and my eye caught an article about motivation of young people at the workplace. It seems that the “Matures (age over 62)” and “Baby Boomer (43-61)” are in charge of the “Generation X (28-42)” and Millennials (27 and under)”. The X-ers and Millennials do not necessarily see “hard work and loyalty, achieving a rank” as their primary goals for work. That just perfectly fits in with what I said earlier about changing jobs and taking longer to settle in the one that seems right. The one that gives someone freedom and room for personal development, “me time“.
The article points out that the younger generation have a lot of respect for their managers and their leadership and that they need to have the right “feel for the job” - if they do not feel that the job or manager are right, then they are not going to stay long in the job. Loyalty must be earned by good managers but once that has been done, one surely gets that commitment back from the younger generation. The change from management to coach? How can my boss guide me to where I would like to be?
All this and more details are published by Cam Marston “Motivating the “What’s in it for me?” Workforce”.
Do things turn out the way you want them to?
Not long ago, I wanted to change something in my life. I was angry, furious to change it. Nothing happened and I decided I am going to stick with what I am doing, I do not need the change I am longing for.
Now, a few months on, I still think of the change but my emphasis and importance of changing did change - which means that I am still interested in the original change but not as angry and furious about it. Therefore, the change seems to come naturally and I can cope with it easier, as I am more patient, more relaxed and I do investigate more about the right step of change.
Of course it depends on the topic but if you really look for something and you put your mind to it, it will happen. And it is coming your way when you are ready. It will be there, be patient and relax. It does not come without effort but it might just come as a more sustainable change and not with a crowbar (I translated that from the German “Brechstange” and hope it makes sense).
There is a saying that you cannot force your luck - you cannot. But, it is true that good things come to those who wait. Just do not fall asleep waiting ,-)
All the best for the next week.
Hello,
My partner Jen said to me the other day that, during a girl’s night out, her and some friends discussed whether one does ever know when the right time is to get married and when to have kids.
She came home and shared the thoughts and I, whilst jogging last night, realized, what most of you probably already realized, that in terms of change management, humans change as well.
Not a great revelation I suppose. But here we are. 6 months ago I liked my bottle of wine, my nice diner and could not be more comforted by having food and nice drink. Now, shortly before the wedding, I drink about a glass a week, run about 20 K (in total) a week, do weight training and cannot tell you what a difference vegetarian food makes to my diet. Wow - that is a lot of changes.
One never knows what comes next. Another trigger in life lets me set sail to India or Tibet to get enlightened and my partner might want to move to New Zealand for good. Would one make those decisions together, can one make those decisions together? Will one ever know the other person? When is the right time?
The right time is always in the now. The Power Of Now - by Eckhard Tolle, describes it nicely. There is never a good time but the actual now. Because we do not live in the past or future. All decisions, all feelings are at this very moment. NLP taught me that if you start thinking of e.g. buying a new car and really get yourself hyped up for it, feel it and imagine driving it, then you have already bought it. All you have to do now is the action and physically buy it.
So, is there something like THE right moment. Yes, there is. It is now. But this now changes, in “human terms” every second I suppose - if we want to put a measuring on it.
We all have the right to change and the will and motivation to change. We need to constantly develop ourselves, have different wants and needs. Out of that we create our now which nobody would ever be able to predict.
However, with a little of common sense and stability I guess we are reasonable in what we are doing and caring and loving towards our partner.
I would like to dedicate this entry to Jen, as without her, I could not reflect my thoughts as well. Her love shows me every day, that the now is what I want. And, if I could, would like to have the NOW forever.
Maybe it is sad that a sales manager for an online and digital marketing show admits that this weekend, after paying a few quid to transfer 2 videos on dvd, I trashed the last two videos I still had. The video-recorder went 2 weeks ago.
An era ended long before but for us, we hung on to the last videos and the video recorder that so nicely showed the time just under the TV. I bought a new clock, analog though ,-)
Life changed so much. The videos I transferred to dvd are the ones from my graduation - that is 11 years ago. That is amazing, at that time video recorders were expensive and the latest technology. Almost anyway and for me, I still copied CDs on cassettes 2 years ago to listen to them in the car. This time I bought a CD player that even plays MP3. Having done all that my phone now works as an MP3 player and the memory is bigger than the MP3 player I bought two years ago….Also, I decided that my 15 year old stereo will not be replaced with a cassette player - but it still works and probably continues to do so for another 15 years!
Am I afraid things move on too quickly. Yes and no. A friend of mine is paranoid that his IP address is tracked and never does anything online while I find nothing else than behavioural targeting more interesting and useful in today’s world. The only thing that I have to admit is that I still do not know how to subscribe to podcasts and download them automatically…but hey, I am still young.
Before I turn 50 I am sure the digital revolution implanted a chip in us and all I need to do is think of what I would like and “bang” there it is. The song I would like to listen to, the news I would like to watch on my phone or whatever it might be.
Let it come the revolution…..I believe I am ready.
Then again, looking up record players, and I am a fanatic to listen to 70-ties records of Reinhard Mey and Peter Maffay on records as it gives you the real sound, you get them as a gadget for your USB hub….sad world.
I want to quote a bit out of the book by Connor “Managing the Speed of Change”.
“A prerequisite for committing to change is the recognition that the cost of the status quo is significantly higher than the cost of change. Suppose a man is offered ten dollars to walk ten feed along a two-by-four plank that is two feet off the ground. He would probably say, “No problem.” In this case, his commitment to perform the task is easy to attain.
What if the height of the board were raised to twenty feet? Now , then dollars may be too little incentive for him to risk a broken limb. If the ante is raised to several hundred dollars, it might then be worth it. But unless he really needs the money, he’s probably not going to be committed enough to undertake the venture.
What if the height were three hundred feet, across an alley between two buildings? Most people wouldn’t try that for even a million dollars. But place a young child on the ledge of the far building, and nearly every parent would be committed to crossing the dangerous height on a narrow board.
In this instance, the price of staying put and possibly watching your baby plummet from the top of the building is much higher than the cost of falling off the board yourself. In fact, most people wouldn’t take a million dollars to sit tight and not try to save their child.”
I am not too sure if this paragraph is only showing the commitment to change and really stick to it, or if it shows motivational patterns and how incentive increases/decreases motivation. Connor probably wants to make the point, as he explains further, that it is easy for people to acknowledge that a change is to be made and to get started on it. But keeping their motivation up when the going gets tough, that seems to be the problem. That is when the role model (sponsor, agent, target) have to be highly involved.
From my point of view it does not make a difference whether it is change in a company or personal change - e.g. lets say you like to lose weight or want to give up smoking. All you need to do is taking the first step. But if you do not see a reason to keep your motivation going, it is far too easy to go back to your old habit. If you want to beat any habit, you have to get the commitment to change it. Then you have to stick to it and remind yourself of the goal and why you are doing it. Always thinking of something positive, moving towards something nice (a cleaner lung, fresher breath, leaner muscles) and not moving away from things, focusing on the bad things (away from cancer, away from heart disease, away from obesity).
Your motivation has to be positive and you have to find a good reason for that it is worthwhile you keeping up your motivation and would be willing to cross from one skyscraper to the other on a two-by-four. A good coach always helps ,-)
I set myself to lose quite a few kilos until our wedding. My stepping stone today was buying a weight bench. Now I need to keep the motivation up to use it, because I want to lose the weight, I want to move towards a nicer, healthier, leaner body.
Have a great Sunday!
The latest book I am reading is about “Managing the speed of change” by Daryl R. Conner. Amazon lists it here.
An old friend I met on an NLP course recommended it to me in 2003 and I bought it then. Never looked at it until I remembered the book when I met up with him for the first time just a few weeks ago in London. So I thought, it is about time to read a book about change, change management and the speed of change.
I definately like this book - it describes the structure of change quite detailed, Connor talks about the Resilience that is supported by Synergy, Nature, Process, Roles, Resistance, Commitment and Culture. So dependent on those 7 support patterns, one takes change on easier or not.
When he comes to describe roles he talks about sponsors, agents and target. The sponsors are defined as the one who has the power to sanction or legitimize change. The agent is responsible for making the change and the target being the one in the group who must actually change. He adds Advocates, people who want to achieve change but have not the power to sanction it.
Depending on those roles the change process develops better or not….really, if you look at any situation where you had to change, I am 100% positive you can identify those roles. Also, very interesting is of course the behaviour and culture point of view. Being German working in an international environment I can see that cultural differences lead to behavioural (or are part of cultural) differences which then can lead to tension, misunderstanding and people not taking on the roles they were meant to. No surprise that there are people who focus purely on intercultural change or change in intercultural teams - training and developing those team by understanding their needs. A fascinating topic, don’t you think?
More soon.
ballueder
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