Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger, Mickey Hay, founder and President of Thriving In The Third Act. We hope you enjoy Mickey’s wisdom and perspective.
“What are you doing?!”
“Oh, I’m working on a project.”
“But you’re just sitting there at your desk with your eyes closed! Doesn’t look like you’re working to me.”
“Yep. I am. I’m forming a vision of how I want this project to play out. I’m imagining all of the people who will be affected. I’m seeing a possible timeline and optimal weekly goals. I’m responding to an inner urge to just ‘be with’ the plan for a while until I feel certain of the next step.”
“Sounds like a bunch of New Age hoo-hah to me. Also looks like you’re taking a nap sitting up."
Yes, I take a lot of “naps” sitting up. I also take a lot of walks. And I stare into space. And I’ve never been more productive in my entire life. Let me be clear about this point. I have never accomplished more through less effort in my entire life.
I used to create a constant beehive of activity around myself, much of it productive, but some of it just smoke and mirrors to make people think that I was committed, a hard worker, and a busy “important” person. I loved having people say to me “Wow—you sure are a busy woman!!”
This described me pretty well. I arrived early every morning. I was often the last person to leave on Friday nights. I came in the office on the weekends “to catch up” as if that were even possible. And throughout each day, I was “crazy busy” as I liked to describe it, feeling by degrees either virtuous or guilty or resentful.
I viewed productivity and commitment differently when I read Joseph Jaworski’s book Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership (1998). The following paragraph made me sit up and pay attention:
“In our traditional image of commitment, things get done by hard work. We have to sacrifice. If everything starts to fall apart, we try harder, or we tell ourselves that we’re not good enough, or that we don’t care enough to be that committed. So, we vacillate between two states of being, one a form of self-manipulation, wherein we get things done by telling ourselves that if we don’t work harder, it won’t get done; the other a state of guilt wherein we say we’re not good enough.”
That was me! Living in a “contradictory state of frenzied commitment, of treading water, knowing (I) wasn’t actually going anywhere.” I felt closed off from the flow of real accomplishment.
The shift Jaworski challenged me to make was from a commitment of constantly doing to more of an attitude of being.
Being more reflective about what my roles and responsibilities were. Being more focused on people than on tasks. Being more in the flow of shifting priorities, responding to those that emerged out of my dedication to being of service to the other people I worked with.
This shift can be extremely difficult to make in one’s current position, because our methods of operating have become so habitual. Not only is it hard for us to change how we do things, it’s very hard for others to adjust to our doing things differently. (What do you mean, you’re waiting on an inner urge before you take the next step?!) So if we’re reorganizing our workload, we have to explain what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. But even before we can think about reorganizing our workload, we have to step way back from our day-to-day job and look at our overall mission.
If we keep our awareness of our personal and professional mission front and center, it’s easier to focus our energy on the tasks that fulfill our mission. Tasks that don’t have anything to do with our mission can sometimes be delegated, put off until more mission-critical tasks are accomplished, or ignored altogether. How many times have you ignored a request from someone who could easily take care of the issue on his or her own? How many times have you jumped in and responded for no good reason, just because you could?
Gaining clarity as directed by our deeply held mission may be more productive than working down an ever-growing To Do list. For me, it’s meant accomplishing more through less effort.
What’s The Risk?
If we operate more from the energy of doing than being, we can lose sight of what’s really important in our work. We may think we’re making things happen because we are so busy, but like rats on a treadmill, we eventually run out of steam. When we shift to a commitment of being, there is flow around us, and things just seem to happen. We begin to see our work with more clarity and focus, and others respond positively to our energy and passion.
This content was written and shared by guest blogger, Mickey Hay.
Mickey Hay, Ph.D. is the founder/President of Thriving In The Third Act, a coaching, consulting, and retreat business she created after completing a 25-year career in higher education administration.
Mickey’s professional energy is focused on those who want to thrive in personal and professional leadership roles and those who want to thrive in their “third act”- a term used to describe a time in life when one career or life circumstance is ending and another is beginning. Her tag line “What’s next for you?” reflects her skills in asking penetrating questions and listening intently and intuitively for the answers that will serve her clients’ highest purposes. As a corporate coach and consultant working in business, Mickey applies her knowledge of leadership theory and develops its practical applications in the workplace. She holds a PhD in Leadership.
Connect with Mickey via her website, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
