Website: Harvard Business School
“Working Knowledge for Business Leaders”
Section: What Do YOU Think?
Article: How Will Millennials Manage?
Published: August 2, 2007
Author: Jim Heskett

Heskett wrote an article, “How Will Millennials Manage” wondering how this group, also called Gen Yers (born in the late 1970’s) will handle managerial positions. His article provides an interesting observation from a managerial point of view on the trends he sees in the work place. Worthy of reading if you haven’t heard been hearing about the Millenials in the workplace social phenomenon.

However, I’m including here a particularly well-spoken/written response to the article, (signed “Anonymous”) written by someone in this particular age group. The writer could be a spokesperson for the generation. I’m on the fringe of this age group and associate with a lot of what this writer says.

Instructions for changing your Mac OSX or Win XP desktop image:

Mac OSX

1. under the Apple menu, choose “System preferences”
2. select “Desktop and Screen Saver”
3. you have 2 choices. 1. Desktop, and 2. Screen Saver. Choose “Desktop”
4. in the list of folders, choose “Choose folder…”
5. navigate to the image you just saved and click “Choose”
6. that should do it!

Win XP

1. click the Start menu, and then the “Control Panel”
2. select “Display”
3. click on the “Desktop” tab
4. click on the “Browse” button
5. navigate to the photo you just saved and click “OK”
6. you can experiment with the “Position” drop down menu, “stretch” looks best on my PC
7. click “Apply” and then “OK”
8. that should do it!

For years I’ve made my own journals. Sometimes the covers are other people’s art, sometimes it’s a collage, sometimes just words, and sometimes photos. The one I made last month has a photo I took at Bridgeport in the spring when the wild flowers were partying like crazy. The link to Bridgeport doesn’t show the image below but does show the one they call Fiddleneck; that’s the flower in the photo that should pop up in your address bar before the projectsimplify.com. I took that photo at the same place a couple of years ago.

Right this second, I’m needing a little break from an intensive Sunday morning of working on my business plan (more on this soon… =) and wanted to look at some pretty pictures. One thing led to another and I thought I’d create an image to use for your background desktop picture. It’s in jpg format.

Note that this thumbnail is just that, a thumbnail, i.e. small.

To download, (Mac) ctrl+click (PC) right click on the word IMAGE , then “save image as” or “save link target as” in a pictures folder for desktop images.

Since the web developers of Mac and PC have spent many hours perfecting their products, you should be able to complete the process through logical deduction.

OR, if you prefer a quick walk through for installing this new image on your Mac OSX or Win XP, click HERE.

I’ll also post this on the posters page and will upload new ones periodically. Suggestions on format (do you need bmp?) and sizing welcome.

Merlin Mann of 43 Folders gave a talk at Google on July 23, 2007 about his Inbox Zero. The super abbreviated slideshow version can be found here at SlideShare.net. The whole filmed presentation is here at Google Video.

I wrote a short summary of the Inbox Zero concept here a little over a year ago–good stuff. The primary difference for me in approaching my email inbox this way is opening it with intention. Never check email without processing it = the moral of the story.

Instead of going to your email inbox whenever you hear the ding or feel indecisive, take action. You’ll delete, delegate, respond, defer, or do. Schedule a time, 2-3 times a day, once an hour, every 20 minutes–as appropriate for your job or profession. BUT whenever you do, process what is there. Think of your inbox as a receptacle, not a reference storage unit or a “don’t know what to do with it” toxic dump. Decide. It feels fantastic!

If you’d like to hear him talk about it, you can watch his presentation at Google. The whole video is an hour, about 20 minutes of which is Q&A.

I received Duane Elgin’s book Voluntary Simplicity and have just completed Chapter 1: Voluntary Simplicity and the New Global Challenge. My initial response is a feeling of richness and concurrence with the general premise. Specifically, I appreciate that Elgin includes the fullness of spiritual pursuits and service to others in the same breath of one’s awareness of the global environmental situation and the inequities of the global economic situation. A convincing tie between the micro and the macro.

This is in line with my thought, and the thoughts of many, that each decision I make effects the whole world. Something as simple as a choice made, whether in the spirit of caring or in greed, has an energetic pattern that combines with the rest of the patterns already encompassing our human family. Thus, my life does make a difference (though put this way sounds like a self-righteous declaration, ha ha).

I remember the intro to Buddhism course I took in college. The Buddhists of the Mahayana tradition preferred to stay in the world (rather than retreat completely) because the suffering of one is the suffering of all. They knew their influence could help people choose a path of non-suffering.

I enjoyed the broad and brief stroke of the roots of Simplicity painted by Elgin in the first chapter. Showing how these concepts trace strongly through history, cultures, and religions around the world provides a convincing argument for why someone who might still doubt should continue reading with open mind. I suppose this survey could also provide fuel for someone trying to explain their choices in a broad context. He refers to Frank Lloyd Wright, Pablo Picasso, the Quakers, Plato & Socrates, Simone de Beauvoir, the Christians, the Buddhists, etc and of course, Emerson and Thoreau… quite a lovely mix of influentials!

Chapter two will get into examples of people who have chosen a life of voluntary simplicity. Elgin gave some ideas in chapter one of what these people’s lives might look like through his extensive list of common trends of these folks.

Personally, I love reading about the ideas of simplicity, and feeling the camaraderie of similar beliefs of all the people and groups mentioned above. For me, this is the truly universal part, the exploration of ideas. I love reading about other’s interpretations of these concepts and how they play out in the poetry of their words.

As Elgin points out, everyone’s interpretation of a simple life will be different based on one’s culture, climate, belief’s, personal history and so on. We all get to make our own peace and find our own balance between taking care of ourselves, helping others (known and unknown others), and our footprint on the earth and of resource use. Thus he continues to, I assume, some more nuts and bolts type of stuff.

Questions arise: What does wealth mean to me? Is my answer based in fear, history, and other’s beliefs? Or do I answer surely from my own understanding of what I need to thrive? How much time do I want to spend (and how much time am I spending) working and maintaining in order to “have”?

The answers might not be easy. but they sure are worth answering =)

The forty-third issue of the Project Simplify newsletter The Simplifier is now archived on our newsletter archives page.

Here is a brief summary of the contents:

1. A Note From Shawn
It’s all about you and your essential self
2. Our Featured Quote
by Soren Kierkegaard
3. Article: Getting Together with Your Essential Self
by PS Head Simplifier Shawn Tuttle
4. This Week’s Simplification Tip
Getting Into Shape
5. In the News
A simpler, happier life, The spirituality of a little hard work, and a teacher gets a lesson from her son
6. Featured at ProjectSimplify.com
Three Blog Posts
7. Keep Smiling
Interactive Buddy

Read the full issue here.
Subscribe to The Simplifier here.
[posted by Lance]

This article originally appeared in The Simplifier #42.

Doing it Right

By Shawn Tuttle

This article is part of a series on the 5 Core Concepts. We’ve covered creating meaningful goals, visualizing, clearing obstacles, and planning. Now it’s time to start doing!

One of the primary reasons people want to simplify or get organized is to take care of everything they need to take care of with ease. While Planning (last article’s subject) gets into what actions to take toward your goals, Doing refers to how you work. Just because we call it “work” doesn’t mean it has to feel like you’ve been slaving away all day!

You want your work to be as easy on my mind, body, and spirit as possible, don’t you? 

• It’s easy on the mind when you make decisions quickly and accomplish tasks in an appropriate amount of time.
• It’s easy on the body when you mix up your activities and stay healthy. 
• It’s easy on the spirit when you make progress on your heartfelt goals as well as your other work. 

Making it hard
The antithesis of ease is stress. Oftentimes, the work itself isn’t difficult—it’s a challenging mental environment that makes work tough. Understanding what can trip your mind up helps you identify what changes will ease your work flow.

Confusion makes you ineffective and inefficient. The two most prevalent situations that confuse the brain are trying to do too many things at one time and not providing sufficient instructions to get the job done.

Think of your brain as a computer. When you tell it to check email, work on a report, write an agenda, and answer the phone simultaneously, it jumps around from one task to the next, spinning faster and faster. Even if a task is something you’ve done many times, your brain still needs to recall the instructions. Tracking too many sets of instructions stresses your brain. Maybe it completes some of the tasks while leaving others in mid-process. Sometimes it just freezes, leaving you feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.

The other common type of confusion results from not having a clear understanding of what you are doing. I’m not talking about the situations when you figure stuff out on the fly. I’m talking about unclear parameters. One example would be “Research article topic”. It’s akin to telling your computer to “search” without giving it a search term. How will your brain know when it has completed this task? Or if it gets off-track with the assignment? It needs specific information or you may end up researching all night long. Or, your brain will get bored and start wandering the far-flung corners of the World Wide Web. 

Exacerbating confusion, procrastination plays havoc with the mind. Leaving something until the last minute when you haven’t clearly defined the task makes for frantic action on top of worries that you’ve forgotten something. 

Some people thrive on last-minute pressure. I’ll bet this has to do with the time-pressure forcing them to make decisions quickly. You can’t be wishy-washy when the house is burning down. Unfortunately, last minute work is often sub-standard to your capabilities and can prevent you from accepting more enticing offers. (Ex.: Can’t go to the movies because I have to finish this report.) 

Strategies
Understanding that the brain is like a computer enables us to understand what it needs to function smoothly. 

• Know where stuff is. The organizer’s mantra: a place for everything and everything in its place. This goes for paper and digital files, supplies, keys, your wallet, deposit slips, everything!
• Set up systems for recurring actions and stick with them. Systems are only good when they are used thoroughly. Checking messages means: check voice mail, write down messages on designated pad, identify what actions should result from these messages and put those in your action or project lists.
• Take time to take care of yourself. Be nice to you! Remember to ask: “How can I make this easier on myself?”
• Be clear on your purpose. A good question to ask yourself regularly: “What am I doing right now?” If you aren’t sure, stop and decide what is the best thing to be doing based on your priorities.
• Understand the goal of the task at hand. Identify a measurable completion point, be it time-based or achievement-based.
• Use your schedule to assist you. Look ahead for big weeks—what can you do beforehand? What’s going on tomorrow—what can you prepare tonight?

Tips, tricks, and ideas 

• Do the super-important or hard stuff first to get it off your plate and off your mind.
• Schedule activities in appropriate chunks of time. Work within the limits of your attention span.
• Make a sign to post in your work space for when your mind gets frantic: “CLARIFY: WHAT AM I DOING?” (Here’s a PDF file with this message to post on your wall.)
• Biorhythms - Just as you probably wouldn’t expect yourself to run three miles right after a huge meal, schedule mental activities at the right time for the activity. If you’re a morning person, you’ll probably want to reserve mornings for high-caliber thinking projects. If you are a night person, figure out how you can structure your day accordingly.
• Be rested.
• If you have an unpredictable schedule, use a “short list” for the ToDos that absolutely must get done today. 
• Give yourself adequate time before appointments for preparation and travel. Likewise, allow time in your schedule after appointments for processing. 
• Leave less for the last minute. Challenge yourself to make more decisions sooner so you’ll keep moving forward. 
• Take breaks to minimize repetitive actions, don’t sit in one place for hours at a time, and give your eyes a break from the computer regularly.

Taking the time to evaluate and make adjustments to your Doing strategy helps you stay in good spirits and get everything done on time. You may well find that you spend less time on maintenance and recurring activities, too. You can think of it as putting your computer brain on “energy save” mode. Take it easy on your mind, body, and spirit—you already get enough action to keep things interesting!

Freeing yourself with Doing strategies gives you more space to explore the more subtle expressions and guidance of your journey. We’ll talk about this in the next article—the 5th and final part of the introduction to the 5 Core Concepts.

—

Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.