One Known Route To Happiness
It’s Saturday. Most people have the day off.
It’s okay if you’re working but you may want to consider getting into the flow of something completely unrelated to work.People who report being the most happy often are also people who spend a lot of time in a state of “flow.”Flow is that place where time disappears and all that matters is exactly what’s in front of you.
Flow is that place where distractions disappear and you are consumed by total focus.
When was the last time you were in flow?It could be a puzzle, a rock climb, or a game of air hockey.No matter what it is, people who get more of it end up happier.
2 Minute Action
Pick something that makes you feel alive and removes distractions.Bowling? Writing? Swimming?If you can’t set aside time today, take 2 minutes to carve out the time for this activity on your calendar.It might feel unnecessary now, but you’ll thank yourself later.
The Interruption That Could Cost You $5,500
I once was working with a software client.
Here's what I was seeing:
The codebase was incredibly complex, in fact, there were only 4 people in the world who could do the math to put all of it together--and 2 of them were in the room.In order to answer questions and solve problems, the development team was having long meetings every week to sync up. They were also interrupting each other any time they had a question about the code. After all, they needed that question answered before they could move on.
Here's what I told the CEO:
Every time you have a meeting, the conversation moves its way into a discussion about implementation of a very specific feature. This usually requires only 2 or 3 people to work through and everyone else just needs to be updated.Every time a developer is interrupted, it can take a half-hour to an hour to get back into the flow of what they were doing. By using a messaging tool, questions can be posted and developers can answer in their own time without interruption. Rarely does anything need to be answered within the hour. Usually, it can wait 2 or 3 hours.The CEO didn't like this and mentioned that they needed the long meetings to stay, and the interruptions were just part of the workflow.
Here's how I reframed it:
On your team, every meeting burns through about 5 man/hrs of wasted time.Every interruption burns about 2 man/hrs of wasted time.The meeting is once/week and there are roughly 25 interruptions/week.You're paying your developers $100/hr.That means you're wasting $5,500 per week.
Why did this work?
Because it was reframed in a language that CEOs speak: dollars.When you are measuring results by the same axis, you can begin to actually collaborate on solutions.
2 Minute Action
What's something you've been trying to communicate with someone else?At the end of the day, on what are they being graded?Do they have to look good to their boss?Are they motivated by money?Would they rather have social status or rank?Find out how they are measuring success and translate your agenda to their language.
The Trick About Peak Performance
It's the peak.That's it.It's not sustainable. It's not feasible under most conditions. It's not the goal.It's good to have peak performance as a benchmark to measure what you're capable of, but to expect it all the time will lead to discouragement.It's more productive/profitable to seek Productive Performance, which is a term I just made up.It signifies a level of output that is sustainable over time, tough to shake under life's difficulties, and it promotes a state of happiness and flow.What's your Productive Performance output? It's probably ~80% of your Peak Performance.It's high enough to feel a little uncomfortable every day, but it's not consuming all of your resources or requiring a "crash day" after your project ends.Everyone is different, so it's your responsibility to figure out your Productive Performance rate (how many hours of work, what kind of labor is most exhausting for you, etc.) and solve for x.School definitely didn't teach this, so it's up to you.The planet needs you.Let's focus. Let's do this.
2 Minute Action
When was the last time you pulled an all-nighter?Do you remember how it felt?When was the last time you worked on a project and felt ready for the next challenge after you finished?Take 2 minutes to compare those moments in your life and give yourself your best guess about what kind of work excites/energizes you, what kind of work drains you, and how many hours it takes before you need to crash and reboot.Having this insight in the back of your mind will help you maximize your output across the rest of your career.