The Way We're Working Isn't Working

Unlike computers, which you just plug in and leave on all day, humans operate best when moving rhythmically between activity and rest. Think of a Formula One racing car. If it did endless laps of a track without pit stops to refuel or swap tires it wouldn't win the race. Chances are it'd splutter to a halt or even crash.

Well, if we run our minds and bodies in a similar way, we face the same fate.

So who's this book for? Well, if you feel like you're running on empty, it's definitely for you. Or maybe the picture's not so drastic, but you could use help energizing your own performance or that of your team. The program of action laid out in this book will help you get more out of your professional and personal life, and could revolutionize the way your company or team operate.

The book is primarily aimed at those in business management, but you don't have to be a corporate CEO or team leader to benefit from it. You might work at home and be struggling to organize your days, and need tips on incorporating exercise and healthy eating.

Of course, the concept of balancing your life isn't new. Mind Tools has a raft of articles on relaxation and sleep, meditation, prioritizing and time management. Many of you will already have learned how to fit work, exercise, healthy food, friends, and family into your day.

But we believe this book brings fresh depth to concepts that might be familiar to some. And its ideas are presented in a succinct, powerful, and very readable format.

So, are the authors really authorities in such a range of fields?

Well, the book draws on their own vast professional and personal experience.

Tony Schwartz is a business consultant, motivational speaker, author, and founder of the Energy Project, which since 2003 has helped organizations and individuals perform better by following the tips and practices he shares in this book. The Energy Project has worked with Ford, Sony, Google, Toyota, and Gillette, to name but a few.

Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy are experienced leadership and business consultants, and both hold senior positions at the Energy Project.

The authors also include extensive research by doctors, physiologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, and authors from past and present, as well as studies by firms like Gallup and Towers Perrin into modern-day working practices and employee satisfaction.

So keep listening to hear how to transform your performance through regular exercise or meditation, how to control your emotions so they don't get in the way of your work, and to learn how to boost your creativity by tapping both sides of your brain.

The authors? basic premise is that humans must meet four energy needs to perform at their best: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. And we need to move rhythmically between activity and renewal in each of these areas to fulfill our corresponding needs: sustainability, security, self-expression, and significance.

It's an idea not unlike Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of human needs," brought up to date by the authors.

For some of us, meeting the four core needs will require a transformation in the way we work, exercise, eat, sleep and play, as well as an examination of why we do what we do – that is, our purpose.

Through action steps at the end of each chapter and challenging questions, readers are asked to take a good look at their lives. For example, is the life you're leading worth the price you're paying to live it?

Or the question Eugene O'Kelly, CEO of accounting firm KPMG, asked himself in the final months of his life, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer at 54: "What if I hadn't worked so hard?"

So let's look more closely at how to impact our energy and performance levels, starting with sustainability and our physical needs.

As you heard earlier, humans have a fundamental need to spend and renew energy, and the higher the demand, the greater the need to refuel.

There are two types of renewal: active – incorporating exercise and play – and passive – through meditation, rest and sleep. We ignore our basic physical needs at our peril.

For example, on average we need seven to nine hours of sleep every night to function at our best. Without adequate sleep, depending on the work we do, we can be a danger to others or ourselves.

We're most productive when we work in ninety-minute sprints, interspersed with periods of renewal, say a run or even a nap. And if we don't take our vacation time, we won't perform at our best.

A healthy diet of meals and snacks every three hours or so is also a vital part of the equation. That keeps our blood sugar levels steady and our bodies fully energized. And take note: always eat breakfast!

Now, at this point, you might be smiling at the thought of napping on the job, or watching your colleague nod off for half an hour.

But the sooner the corporate world accepts that naps or midday workouts are a quick way to energize our minds and bodies the better – according to the authors.

Likewise, the sooner corporations replace sugary snacks in vending machines with slow burning foods, the more productive and focused employees will be.

Unfortunately, not all companies are so enlightened, and it'd be tough to have a lie-down after lunch if no one else was doing it! That's why, the authors say, the whole culture of corporations needs to change.

Sony Europe is one company that has embraced change. The authors helped Sony transform its managers? experience of a traditionally exhausting event, which had the knock-on effect of increased client satisfaction.

Every January, Sony UK holds almost a month of meetings with its key dealers – in a remote setting, to ensure Sony has the full attention of its clients. Coming straight after a December sales push and Christmas, employees and their families had come to dread the event. Many of the salespeople said it took a huge toll on them and their loved ones – they were away from home for so long and when they got back, they were exhausted.

Schwartz and his team encouraged Sony managers at the event to drink less alcohol, eat lighter meals but eat more often, ritualize morning exercise and go to sleep at a reasonable and designated hour. It sounds pretty simple, but it's the kind of change that'd be tough to implement on your own. Sony said its managers came through the event in better shape, and the dealer partners said the company overall felt sharper and more focused.

Similarly, Sony UK decided to change the structure of its annual budget and planning meetings, another dreaded event that left people frustrated and exhausted. Leaders divided meetings into 90-minute sessions, with breaks in between, leaving time to re-energize and refocus.

Today, some 2000 employees at Sony Electronics have been through the Energy Project's program, and 90 percent say taking regular breaks away from the desk has significantly increased their energy levels and performance.

Let's now look at security and emotional needs. Our core emotional need is to feel valued and secure. We perform best when experiencing positive emotions, when we feel calm, optimistic, challenged, engaged, and invigorated.

Unfortunately, many of us instead work in a state of impatience, irritability, anger, frustration, fear, defensiveness, and anxiety. Those negative emotions carry a huge cost, and if we feel them for any length of time, we'll end up getting depressed and burnt out.

This is where good leadership comes in. Leaders are "chief energy officers" – their job is to recruit, mobilize, inspire, focus, and refuel the energy of those they lead, nudging them to perform at their best.

But what if our leaders or colleagues put us down or fail to recognize our hard work? We're left feeling angry, deflated or defensive.

The good news is we can learn to control our emotions, to pause before we react, to identify our triggers and to avoid responding compulsively to them – which only wastes energy and often brings negative consequences.

One tip is to look at things through a broader range of lenses.

When you feel yourself being triggered, put down or diminished, first try looking at the situation through what the authors call the Reflective Lens. Ask yourself, "What are the facts here?" and then ask yourself, "What is the story I'm telling myself about those facts?"

Let's say someone asks you to get in touch about a job, but fails to return your calls or emails for a week. It's likely that'll push your self-esteem button. You might feel rejected and resentful. You might want to criticize that person in your head or to others. Using the reflective lens will help you step outside of yourself and observe what's going on with your emotions, rather than simply reacting. We can ask ourselves, "Could there be a different story here to the one I'm telling myself?"

Next, there's the Reverse Lens. This means looking at a given situation through the eyes of your antagonist, or more simply, widening your lens. You might ask yourself how he or she might be feeling. One of the most powerful ways to reclaim your value when you're triggered is to find a way to value the person who triggered you.

Finally, you could try the Long Lens. This lens allows us to think beyond the present to how things might be in the future. It's not about taking a Pollyanna approach; it's more a reminder that often what we fear doesn't come to pass and good things can come from bad situations. Do you know anyone who lost their job but seized the opportunity to do what they really wanted with their lives, maybe travel or start a business?

Let's now look at our self-expression and mental needs.

There are some great tips in this section on how to manage in a world where we're constantly bombarded with information, how to prioritize our work and learn to focus on a single thing for 90 minutes. The authors say multitasking is a myth – it reduces our ability to focus on the task at hand.

So what do they say about the creative process?

Typically, from the classroom to the boardroom, our left-brain capabilities are awarded the highest value. The left-brain is the province of logical, analytical, rational thinking. The right hemisphere of the brain houses our more visual, big-picture-oriented, creative side. Unfortunately, the right side is often undeveloped.

Both sides of the brain are needed in the creative process, with each side put to work at different times.

Physiologists, mathematicians and psychologists over the years have tried to divide the creative process into stages, and the result of that thinking today is a widely accepted five-stage process.

The first stage is called First Insight. This is a right-brain function that involves stepping out of the box of what we already know. It's the plot for a new novel, a scientist's inspiration for an experiment, a new business idea.

Saturation comes next, which involves gathering information that's already out there. It's therefore a left-hemisphere activity – a laborious, methodical process of gathering, sorting, sifting, and prioritizing.

In any creative process, you're likely to hit a roadblock along the way. This is where the right brain swings into action again. The harder we try to work things out – using our left-brain logic – the more frustrated we get. This is the Incubation stage. Sometimes it occurs naturally when we give up and go for a walk. It's a critical stage in the creative process, and knowing how our brain works means we can intentionally encourage right-brain activity by taking a break, exercising or meditating.

The fourth stage of creation – Illumination – also occurs in right-brain mode. This is the breakthrough moment. Leonardo da Vinci regularly took hours off from his painting and appeared to be daydreaming endlessly.

The final stage is Verification, which is back in left-brain territory. At this stage, whatever we've created requires rigorous testing or putting into words so others can understand. It's a vital stage, when intuitive thoughts become practical solutions.

Once we understand the functions of each side of the brain, we can intentionally foster the conditions that best serve each one. So the next time you're hunched over your computer, low on inspiration and energy, take a break and let the right-brain move into action.

The book is packed full of similar fascinating insights and tips on improving your performance in all areas of your life, backed up by research, quotes from Olympic athletes, doctors, great business brains like Apple's Steve Jobs, and renowned writers in the field of performance.

Granted, you'll have heard some of the concepts before and may already be living them out, but you might not have come across them discussed so thoroughly and with such a wealth of evidence to prove their benefits.

Indeed, the authors make such a convincing case for changing the way we work, eat, exercise, play, and rest that you'll likely be prompted to put some of their tips into action right away. And pretty soon, you'll be reaping the benefits.

"The Way We're Working Isn't Working," by Schwartz, Gomes and McCarthy, is published by Simon & Schuster.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.