{"id":1741,"date":"2019-03-29T00:47:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T00:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dynamicteamsolutions.org\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2019-03-29T00:47:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T00:47:07","slug":"look-busy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/29\/look-busy\/","title":{"rendered":"Look Busy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"These days, there\u2019s an ever-present pressure to be continually responsive and available. After all, thanks to today\u2019s technology, with email on our smartphones and calendar reminders pinging us throughout the day, we\u2019re more connected than ever. But that doesn\u2019t mean we should be.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Not only do we feel a padded sense of accomplishment when we respond quickly to others\u2019 concerns, needs, and questions, but we also relieve ourselves of <\/span>a smidge of burden<\/span>. The ball is back in their court, <\/span>lobbed back in<\/span>to their own inbox or to-do list. Whew, another responsibility crossed off for us.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Yet, then they inevitably feel the same way and <\/span>hit<\/span> it right back to us. And so the cycle continues on and on and on. When does it end? This perceived responsibility to be so available <\/span>at<\/span> every beck and call<\/span>, in some way,<\/span> feels like we\u2019re alleviating <\/span>stress<\/span> every time we respo<\/span>nd to another email or invite. B<\/span>ut in truth, it does the opposite.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem with being so reachable<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the constant back-and-forth actually adds to our busyness. We\u2019re truly never done for the day, unable to conceptually clock out and enjoy life. A 24\/7-work life is a notion so many people wear and strive for with pride, but in reality, it deters <\/span>our <\/span>productivity and leads to burnout at a faster rate.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

W<\/span>e might \u201cfeel\u201d more productive when we stop to respond to every last person as soon as possible.<\/span> An empty inbox gives us a sense of relief and achievement.<\/span> However<\/span>, this behavior is actually interrupting the true productivity\u2014the innovation, the problem solving, the idea curating, the project finalizing, the management, development, and advancement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, the fear <\/span>behind <\/span>needing to be<\/span> constantly responsive <\/span>is wondering what might happen if we DON\u2019T respond. What fires might bla<\/span>ze on and storms might prevail?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Funny enough, my husband used to work in IT for a Fo<\/span>rtune 500 company and often had <\/span>to ignore some problems while he took care of others. More often than not, the ignored issues worked themselves out as people found resolutions<\/span> when he was unavailable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One tool for boosting your productivity<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My tip for you to break out of the availability conundrum is to make yourself look busy. It\u2019s almost a small brain trick because most of us truly <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> busy, but by responding right awa<\/span>y to others, we look available.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Choose a block of time\u20143 to 4 hours\u2014and turn your phone and email off. Yes, off! Don\u2019t respond to one thing during the time block, and your productivity will <\/span>skyrocket.<\/span> (Check out <\/span>this article<\/span><\/a> I wrote a few years ago that lends more insight into the detriment of <\/span>relentlessly<\/span> checking our emails.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You might feel some tender gut swirls of anxiety at first, but more often than not, your team or colleagues will <\/span>inevitably <\/span>learn to figure some things out without you. For the most part, everything else can be on hold until you are back online.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A side benefit is that teamwork will vastly improve, as well. Taking the time to step away and let others step in empowers the team to feel trusted and enabled, even in your absence. In an odd way, our constant conn<\/span>ectedness and availability is <\/span>a form <\/span>of micromanaging others.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not your job to be available all the time<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re constantly there to say yes or no, to explain, to reason, to fix, to resolve, to decide, to make the move. When we\u2019re not <\/span>at the mercy of someone else\u2019s email to us<\/span>, <\/span>others can have an opportunity to step in and find solutions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking a few hours to step away and focus on the true work will allow you to feel ready and recharged for the required communication and responsiveness parts of your work. Your mental health will thank you, and ironically, you will likely get more things done at a faster rate, and feel more satisfaction in the process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These days, there\u2019s an ever-present pressure to be continually responsive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.dynamicteamsolutions.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}