Celebrate! And Focus on Your Success!

Mind Tools Newsletter 83 - 18th Sep 2007 This newsletter is published by Mind Tools Ltd of 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PY, UK. You have received it because you have subscribed to our double opt-in newsletter. To subscribe or unsubscribe, just click the links at the bottom of this email.

Contents: Club First Birthday Offer What’s New? In Flow A Final Note

First the celebration, then the focus on success!

I'm very pleased to tell you that, this week, we're celebrating our Career Excellence Club's First Birthday. To mark this event, we have a great double offer for new members who join over the next 7 days!

Since launch, we've welcomed more than 3,000 people to the club. It's been a real pleasure to get to know many members in the discussion forums, and we've enjoyed helping and supporting each one of them as they strive for excellence in their lives and careers.

So, if you're looking to take your management and career skills to the next level, we have a special birthday invitation for you:

Join the Career Excellence Club Today...

We're celebrating the club's first birthday with a special offer…

****Please note, this offer closed on Tuesday, September 25^th 2007 ****

What's more, you also get a great birthday bonus – a free copy of our new Career Booster Workbook, worth US$19.99. This guides you through the process of rediscovering the things that you’re passionate about at work, so that you can steer your career in a direction you’ll love. It then teaches the skills you need to accelerate along your chosen path. This book will give an incredible boost, both to your career and to your quality of life at work!

All this, and your first month's subscription is just US$1, with the ability to cancel at any time. Click here to find out more about what the club can do for you, or here take our new tour of the club. If you've thought about joining before, now's a great time to become a Mind Tools insider!

And Now, the Focus on Success...

People often ask me what one thing they thing they should learn to make the greatest difference to their career success. With hundreds of tools at Mind Tools, and each person's unique challenges to consider, my answer usually starts with the words "It depends…"

But whatever the situation, one thing that always seems to be high up my list is the concept of "flow". When you're "in flow" you're absolutely focused on the moment, performing at your best and concentrating intensely. Learning to get in flow is an important (and highly enjoyable) skill, and one I'm delighted to share with you in today's newsletter article!

What Else Is New?

Our second new article this week is also high up my list of important tools and concepts: leverage. Wouldn't we all like to achieve much more by doing less? Well, that's exactly what leverage is about, and I hope you enjoy finding some ways to find some leverage for yourself! The concept of leverage is genuinely one of the most important ideas you need to understand, so click here to find out more!

So enjoy this newsletter. Try out our club tour, get into flow, and learn to use leverage for success!

  

James & Rachel

James Manktelow and Rachel Thompson
MindTools.com
Mind Tools – Essential skills for an excellent career!

To find out about new tools on the Mind Tools site the moment they’re uploaded, click here to subscribe to the Mind Tools RSS feed (you'll need an RSS newsreader installed), or here to find out more about RSS.

New Article
In Flow
Maximizing Productivity through Improved Focus

What is focus?

Let's take an example. Have you ever seen a hassled mom trying to get her young daughter to leave whatever she is doing and do something else? It's a common enough sight: Young children can get so wrapped up in whatever they're doing that it takes a lot of persuasion to get them to switch their attention.

This ability to focus totally on one thing comes naturally to young children, but it's one of the biggest challenges that most of the rest of us face. We struggle to concentrate and, because of this, fail to get on with the work we're doing.

Some people, though, seem able to focus intensely on what they're doing, and perform exceptionally well as a result. Modern psychologists refer to this state of absolute absorption or concentration in what we are doing, as being "in flow."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who first described the concept, suggests that this state of being able to achieve total focus applies to almost every field of activity. According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow involves "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost". So how do we enter this "ecstatic" state?

Creating the Right Environment

Flow is easiest to achieve when:

• You have enough pressure on you to stay engaged, but not so much that it's harming your performance.
  
• You believe that your skills are good enough to perform well.
  
• You have distraction under control.
  
• You are attending to the task in hand, rather than analyzing and critiquing your performance.
  
• You are relaxed and alert.
  
• You are thinking positively, and have eliminated all negative thoughts.

Some of these are hard to achieve in a busy office environment. Your phone rings, your e-mail beeps to indicate that a new message has arrived, and co-workers pop by to ask you questions. At the same time, you can't stop thinking about a whole range of personal and work issues that are causing you stress, not least of which is the sheer quantity of work which is piling up.

So if you're to have a good chance of getting into flow, you need to sort out all of these distractions first. Here are some practical things you can do:

• Get comfortable, and eliminate distraction from your environment. Rearrange your working environment so that you eliminate as many distractions as possible. Change the orientation of your desk, so that people passing don't disturb you. Use plants and screens to damp noise. Adjust furniture so that it's comfortable. If untidiness annoys you, tidy up. Make sure the temperature is comfortable, and that your work area is well lit.
  
  
• Keep interruptions at bay. Put up the "Do not disturb" sign, switch off your cell phone, close your email reader and web browser, and do anything… anything that will block the most common things that distract you from work. You'll be surprised at how much you can get done in just one hour of uninterrupted work, which may be the equivalent of plodding on for several hours if you're handling interruptions at the same time. For more on this, read our article on managing interruptions.
  
  
• Manage your stress. Identify the sources of stress you experience with a Stress Diary, and then work to reduce or eliminate the greatest stressors. One of the most common sources of stress at work is feeling that you have too much to do. See our section on time management to find out how to deal with this. And if you're under so much pressure to perform that this is distracting you, use relaxation imagery to calm yourself down.
  
  
• Keep a To-Do List or Action Program. Empty your mind of those distracting things you have to do by writing them down in a to-do list or action program. You'll be surprised how much this can clear your mind! Do the same for worries – write them down and schedule a time to deal with them. And don't try to multi-task: Just concentrate on doing one thing well.
  
  
• Think positively. It's very hard to concentrate if you have negative thoughts swirling around your mind. What's more, the negativity they cause undermines the way we deal with work, with people and with issues, often making things more difficult. So the final step in preparing to concentrate is to stop thinking negatively and start thinking positively.

Successful athletes commonly use relaxation and positive thinking techniques as they face the challenge of competition. They deal with their feelings of nervousness with relaxation techniques, and by reminding themselves that they have the skills needed to succeed. And when they are out there running, jumping, or throwing, they concentrate on what they’re doing, rather than on the distractions around them.

Getting Into the Flow

With all of that in place, you can start to practice your concentration skills. Try to focus on one task at a time to the exclusion of others, as far as you can.

Before you know it, you will be in flow. You'll be so involved in any activity you undertake that nothing else seems to matter. Not only will your productivity increase, you'll find that your work is more rewarding. Flow is productive, flow is fun, and flow is essential for real success!

Key Points:

When you achieve a state of flow, you're able to achieve more because all of your thoughts and energy are focused on the task in hand. To get into a state of flow, you need to eliminate interruptions and distractions from your environment.

More than this, you need to empty your mind of worries, anxieties, negative thinking, and all those little "mental notes" that flit in and out of our consciousness. This sounds hard, but in reality is quite easy if you take the time to get into the right habits.

Apply This to Your Life: Look for ways in which you could improve your work environment so that you can get into the flow more efficiently and more often. If you work in an open-plan office, consider using a meeting or rest area when you need to concentrate. Alternatively, use headphones to block out the noise when you're working at your terminal. Be disciplined about shutting down your web browser, and only checking your e-mail once you have completed a task. Follow our advice, set up an effective time management system, and get on top of the stressful thoughts buzzing around your mind. You'll be surprised by how much better you can concentrate if you get everything down on paper! If you get stuck with a certain part of your task, don't succumb to self-distraction and hurry off to get a cup of coffee. Instead, remind yourself that you have the skills to break through the problem, and maintain your focus on finding a solution.

This article is championed by Rachel Thompson of Mind Tools. Click here to contact Rachel and comment on this article.

What Members Say About the Club...

“I can tell you that the home page for the CEC is also the home page on my browser… Each time I look, there is something I can’t wait to sink my teeth into. In particular there are always short, easily digested, and helpful articles that I like to download, print and read over lunch or during morning or afternoon tea. I am always challenged to think about my personal and professional development and ways that I might improve with the information I find on the CEC. "Congratulations to you and your team on the success of the club!”

Shane Hawkinson, Tasmania, Australia

"What I enjoy most is the variety of tools available with Premium membership. Often there are similar tools to choose from and if you are working with a small process improvement team you can match the appropriate tool to both the problem and to the experience level of the team. I routinely recommend Mind Tools to my professional colleagues and they are amazed at the resources available. Well done!"

Gordon Hagewood, Burke, VA, USA

“In my opinion the Career Excellence Club is a tremendous networking system that enables one to consider many credible points of view on a host of varied subjects. It is a prime example of collaborative thinking at its best… I have always considered Mind Tools as my own personal mentor, Career Excellence Club is a big bonus.”

Heather Nates, Ontario, Canada

“Team work has been my main focus and at times I have found the support from the club invaluable, in particular the sharing of tools and reading about others experiences… I don't need to 'reinvent the wheel' as there is plenty of information out there for me to find the solutions I need. Thank you so much for sharing them with me.”

Andrew Duncan

“It's easy to dip in and out as and when you have time – but when you do need help, you can be sure of a speedy response from other members with varied and valuable advice. It's great to get a range of different opinions – and you are tapping into a huge bank of life and work experience.”

Pam Aitcheson, London, UK

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More About the Club >>

A Final Note From James

I really enjoy anniversaries like the one in this issue! It's great to celebrate them… and to reflect on the journey that leads up to them. I've been privileged to work with some great people on this journey, and it's been a real pleasure to meet so many Mind Tools readers through the club and this newsletter! We've had some fantastic contributions and feedback, and it's been a joy to see members share their experience and expertise to help one another out, sometimes in quite difficult situations.

So, as people across the Northern Hemisphere refocus on their work and careers after the Summer break, I really do encourage you to join us, so that you can make the very most of the year ahead. You'll find that it makes so much of a difference, as you'll see from existing members' comments when you take the (free) club tour!

In two weeks time, we'll be back talking about body language and – stifle the yawns – the Art of Filing. Yes, I know it's not exciting, but getting this right makes you – and makes you look – so much more efficient!

Have a truly excellent two weeks!

James

James Manktelow

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Essential Skills for an Excellent Career!

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