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Be Where your Feet Are

Aug 23, 2021 6:45:00 AM

 

Symptoms:

It was Thursday at 7 pm and Frieda was sitting on the sidelines of her daughter’s softball game with her head buried in her phone. This championship game had come out of nowhere as the team wasn’t very good but managed to keep winning. Frieda was thrilled for her daughter, but it couldn’t have come at a harder time for Frieda’s work schedule.

There was an out-of-town conference next week followed by a family vacation in two weeks. Frieda felt immense pressure to squeeze in as many appointments with her local clients before being disconnected with them for what feels like an eternity.

It was when a player hit a triple and the parents went crazy did Frieda realize it was her daughter that hit the ball. She missed the whole thing because she was reading and responding to emails.

Diagnosis:

Freida suffers from something that so many working professionals can fall victim to- working non-stop.

Smart phones, but let’s call them what they really are- tiny computers, go everywhere with us and it is very easy to get sucked into always checking and responding to emails.

It wasn’t just at this softball game where Frieda was physically in one place but mentally in another. While with one client she was checking her phone, worrying about different client. On a recent conference call, she sat at her desk half listening to the call while putting together a report for something completely unrelated- missing valuable information on both projects.

Trying to spin all her plates all the time was getting harder and harder for Frieda.

Prescription:

Frieda needs to learn one rule: be where your feet are.

Be present in the moment you are in and stop trying to multitask. In fact, there have been some articles (here is one) published that multitasking can actually be a hindrance to getting effective and accurate work done.

There are always exceptions to any rule for emergencies, but none of what Frieda was doing was an actual emergency.

Frieda needs to be sure to practice setting expectations with customers, understand expectations her boss has for her, put all tasks into her calendar to manage her time and if possible, ask for help on some tasks.

Learning and practicing the tactics mentioned above will help Frieda stop feeling the pressure to always multitask and be present where her feet are.

Critical Thinking:

While this example is specific to a working parent, there are PLENTY of other situations where this can play out. Can you think of one example you had in the last week where you were not where your feet were? What was taking your attention from the place you were and was it really that important to deserve your eyes immediately?

Final Thoughts for the Morning:

Present

 

 

Your Top 3 Goals & Tactics for the Week

It has been brought to our attention that some readers think the three goals MUST be business related. The truth is we want to hear any three goals you are working on. Anything that we can help  you with or follow up with you on. The GD tactics part is to remind you that our tactics and teachings can be used not only in your everyday professional life, but also in your personal life too. The more you practice your tactics when it isn't in a selling situation the better your skills will be in those selling situations. 

LAST WEEK: Update us on how things went last week with your stated Goals and GD Tactics.

THIS WEEK: Please share your Top 3 Goals for this week and the GD tactics you plan to deploy.