How I learned to Act…
Not Just Read About It
I love to read. I can spend hours reading just about any subject. I am especially talented at reading how to do something. How to publish, how to write, how to lose 10 pounds, exercise more, reduce stress, work smarter not harder, invest wisely, and be more present. I read about topics all the time. I can quote people and refer you to the best books on many subjects. I know where to find up to date information on all my favorite subjects. I have purchased a dozen Great Courses on everything from How to Paint to How to Train Your Dog.
By the amount of reading I’ve done you would think I have the best trained dogs on the planet, that I show artwork at major galleries, and am a yoga master. But, my dogs don’t come when I call them unless they think they are getting a “cookie,” my artwork is still very much a work in progress, and while I own yoga pants I don’t actually practice yoga all that much.
I am a MASTER reader, and someone who struggles to actually do what I am reading about. I have been thinking a lot about this. You see, three months ago I transitioned to working as a consultant and writer full time. I left my corporate job to devote time and yes, reading, about how to start my own business and pursue my dream. When I was working in corporate I blamed lack of “doing” new things or adopting new behaviors on not having enough time in the day. Now, I make my own schedule including how I choose to spend the hours in my days and realize having the time was not in fact my root problem.
So what was my root problem? I had read about how to get to the root problem of an issue, right? :)
So, I engaged in a technique that I had read and written about. It’s called the 5 Why Exercise. This is a technique developed by Sakichi Toyoda that was used within the Toyota Motor Company during its evolution of manufacturing methodologies. You use it to assess process, not people and to distinguish causes from symptoms. You continue to ask “why” until you reach the root cause.
Here is an example of something I wanted to change, and yet found myself doing the same thing every day despite my desire to be different, and all the reading I had done on how to work smarter and more efficiently.
I love to work, and stay focused for long periods of time. Unfortunately, when I do this for several days in a row I get extreme tightness in my shoulders, neck and back. This has recently led to a significant shoulder issue causing me to lose sleep because of pain. I know, from reading and webinars, and posts on social media that the “best” way to work if you have a sedentary job is to get up every hour and move around for a few minutes. I should be taking mental and physical breaks. I believe this is really good advice. I support it. I just don’t do it.
Why? (here is my first “why” in the 5 Why Exercise)
Why #1: I don’t take breaks because I don’t want to interrupt my “flow” and my thought process.
Why #2: It will be too hard to get my rhythm of thought or writing back if I interrupt myself.
Why #3: My rhythm depends on me staying in one place for extended periods of time, that is how it works.
Why #4: Because that is how I have always stayed focused whether it’s a meeting to take important action, or an article or policy that needs to be developed.
Why #5: Because I learned to focus by being still and staying in one place for a long period of time.
By the time I got to Why #5 I noticed I was starting to think different about my practice of staying in one place for a long time. Just because I learned to do that at one point in time does not mean that practice still works for me does it? Now it was time to decide if I could CHALLENGE my assumption about this particular way of working being the “right” way to focus on getting something done. I could now engage in problem solving because I got to the crux of the matter which is a core belief I could only accomplish a task if I stayed still for a long time.
What other ways of working might be possible? And how could I implement something new, and make it into a new habit? Of course, I then read articles and books on habits including Gretchen Rubin’s book Better than Before. Gretchen (and many others) talks about how habits are great because when we have them, we don’t have to use up our stores of self-control. I believe we start each day with a certain amount of self-control and every time we have to make a decision, we reduce our stores much like a debit from our banking account. But there is a dark side to habits too. If we have a habit working against us then we have to DECIDE to act differently. Or we have to start acting. A habit requires no decisions, because it’s automatic. Deciding to change requires thought and ACTION.
That is why the “5 Whys” exercise is so important because we engage our thinking to question what has become a habit. Just because I had transitioned to working at home with a very flexible work day, did not mean that I was actually working differently. I found myself still practicing the same way, performing the same rituals, and getting the same results.
My habit was in charge, not my circumstances.
What needed to change was my habit. And the thoughts that formed my habit. It was time to challenge the idea that I had to sit for long periods of time without a break in order to be successful and produce good work. But how? This is where the principles of behavioral economics help out. It was time to DESIGN my workday to be filled with breaks (what I have the tendency to call interruptions, but I’m working on my language). I can call it an experiment or trial if that will help me break my old habit. I will build these breaks into my calendar so they pop up like any calendared appointment would.
OK, I made the decision to calendar the break. I changed my language to call it a break not an interruption. Now, how should I set myself up for success so I don’t lose what I perceive as “flow” when I am working on something important? I decided to pause my work in the middle of a sentence. I read somewhere it was easier to get started again if you left a sentence open and came back to it.
So, I [just did that right here] and took a 15 minute break to get a snack, walk around, and brush my teeth. And it worked. It took only a few seconds to get my train of thought back and finish this piece. Now it will be up to me to build this way of working into a new habit, one that will become unconscious and not tap my self-control. Maybe my new super power will be acting on what I read. I’ll let you know.
