Written by Milena Velez, Consulting Team Leader, Blacksmith
When Steven Covey first wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in 1989, email, the internet and mobile phones were not part of our everyday life. Fast forward quarter of a century and the world is a very different place at a very different pace.
Covey’s seventh habit, sharpen the saw, is more important now with the ever-blurring lines between work and life. At Blacksmith our take on this is ‘Creating Space in the Pace’.
To us this means lifting your head out of the day-to-day to unplug, reflect and refocus. Covey emphasised the importance of making the time to preserve and enhance the greatest asset you have – you!
Here are five things we do to create space in the pace, and we know you can do them too:
- Be deliberate! Book time out in your diary to reflect, recharge and refocus. It doesn’t need to be hours at a time. Short and regular is better than lengthy and sporadic.
- Be a role model! Make it part of ‘how we do things around here’. Set the expectation that every member of your team will take time to unplug. Show them what good looks like by taking time for yourself.
- Be on the lookout for opportunities! When a meeting finishes early don’t rush back to the office or check email on your phone. Take the opportunity to walk through a nearby park or put on your headphones for a guided meditation (we’re big fans of the Calm app).
- Be discerning! Deciding how you use your time is the most important part of your job. If you view space in the pace as a high value task you’re more likely to prioritise it.
- Be generous with your time! Research shows that if you act like you have an abundance of time and you will actually start to feel like you have an abundance of time.