Life Contained's Personal Productivity Blog

2 Sides to Staying Cool So You Can Be Productive

  

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The following message is encapsulated in the 3.5-minute video above.

Working from a more even-keeled presence on a daily basis requires equal parts prevention and in-the-moment actions.

1. The prevention segment incorporates things like:

• Planning your work…taking into consideration results, activities and priorities
• Planning your time…being sure to estimate, schedule and build in flexibility
• Committing to a single task management system to track your responsibilities
• Capturing all of your tasks in that system…not capturing half and leaving the other half rattling around in your head
• Conducting a weekly review to comprehensively acknowledge what you’re doing and what you’re not doing
• Conducting deliberate 1:1 meetings with folks you report to or who report to you…experimenting with the frequency, duration, who leads the meetings and the content
• Managing expectations through clearly defined end state, establishing rules of engagement and communicating incessantly

2. The in-the-moment actions are meant to guide the fight or flight response innate to humans and includes things like:

• Controlling your words…exercising and taking renewal breaks throughout the day to give you more control over your words and reactions before difficult situations arise…during a heated conversation, having a heightened awareness of when the fight or flight response is activated is also helpful…so you can quiet your physiology and hold everyone’s value @ the forefront…and then sometimes the situation will call for you to delay and compose your response and to keep communicating after the event
• Using a proven formula to respond to criticism with dignity with also help in the moment (sample formula shown in video)
• As will using a guideline for delivering criticism without launching a personal attack (example guideline shown in video)
• It bears mentioning, too, that avoiding stress also builds control

What additional methods are you using to foster and maintain your cool?