Stop Worrying about Bird Flu — and everything else!
I read an interesting article over on the Slow Leadership blog. They talk about a very real epidemic that is killing more of us than most of the worst case predictions of a Bird Flu epidemic. And since this is actually happening while Bird Flu is still hypothetical, think it deserves more attention.
Suppose… some drug had been found to increase heart attacks, interfere with the immune system, cause obesity and liver problems, promote alcoholism, wreck family life, and ruin your sex drive. … What would you think? Wouldn’t therebe a public outcry, demanding the drug be taken off the market at once?
Of course, they aren’t talking about another drug scare, the are trying to drag us through the backdoor to the realization that work related stress has been repeatedly demonstrated to cause decreased sex drive, heart attacks, liver problems, obesity, alcoholism, and is a leading cause of divorce. Even with all of those negative effects “it seems, people are quietly accepting it’s alright to work 60-70 hour work weeks on a regular basis.”
Of course, I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong with working 60 hours a week once in a while — or even fairly regularly — if that is not causing you unnecessary stress. It’s all about what you do, how you do it, and how your company treats you.
There is nothing wrong with doing something you love, doing it well, and sustaining that effort over time. But there is something wrong with unrealistic deadlines, impossible pressure, and insane work practices.
If you work for a great company where you get to do what you are best at every day, but you still have work stress, there are things you can do to reduce your stress, and thereby improve the length and quality of your life.
If on the other hand, you work for a manager who pressures you into unrealistic deadlines, and who constantly focuses on your weaknesses, and generally creates stress for you, you are in a much tougher position.
You can still do things to reduce your stress, and improve your life. Depending on your assessment of your manager and her propensity to grow and change you can either choose to work it out, or choose to leave. I’ve done both, and in each case I think I did the right thing.
Either way, I think you can gain control of your life only when you implement a process of collecting every task, every project, every obligation, and putting them in a trusted system outside of your brain.
To get started, I recommend getting 3×5 cards and writing each thing somebody expects of you on one card. Once you have the pile of cards, go through and identify the next physical thing you can do to move forward on that obligation and write it on top of the card. If that action will complete the obligation, you put it in a pile called “Next actions” and you are done with that card. If, on the other hand, more actions are required you have an ongoing project.
For each project, write on the top of a card a 1-2 sentence description of what your life will look like when this project is completed. Grab another card, identify the next action you can take to move that project forward, and write it on top of the new card and place that one on the “Next Actions” pile, and add the project card to a “Projects in Process” pile.
Once you have this done, you’ll have a physical reminder of the things you need to do, and a good starting place for re-negotiating expectations with your boss, your clients, your friends, and yourself. You can sort the cards in any way you want, and rip them up when you complete or negotiate away one of those obligations. If you keep this up, you’ll know that you know what you have to do, and you’ll stop worrying about all of those things that might “fall through the cracks.” And that reduced stress can improve your relationships, and even lengthen your life.