Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: routine

  • Loving Monday: Shake It Off

    loving_mondayI’m out of my routine.

    Not that I’m much of a person of routine, but even I feel adrift.

    This week was already structured. It was structured around an out-of-town visitor who is not coming to town after all. It was structured around certain tasks from last week being completed… which they are not.

    I find myself having to practice what I preach… I have to adjust.

    I could let it be discombubalating (yes, that is a word). Or I could quickly settle on a new structure.

    It’s easy to allow oneself to be thrown for a loop by unexpected changes. The mind is still trying to figure out what happened, trying to recover what should have a happened, and speculating on what might have happened next.

    The sooner we can settle on what we choose to happen, the sooner we can be on our way and back to effectiveness.

    I don’t need to start my planning all over again. I simply need to make an adjustment. I simply need to make another choice. I simply need to make my next choice.

    The longer I dwell on the changes and their effect on me, the greater their effect will be and the longer it will take to return to effectiveness.

    I‘m going to shake this off and begin a different project now.

    Let me know how your Monday morning adjustment went.

    Loving Monday is a weekly column designed to encourage us to step into our weeks with an intention to show up authentically, engage fully, and choose to make it a good week for ourselves. Explore past columns here.

  • Loving Monday: From Milestone to Mundane

    loving_mondayReturning to one’s daily routine after a momentous weekend can be anti-climactic… to put it lightly.

    We celebrated a university graduation this weekend. A major milestone in the life of our eldest. A major milestone for my wife and I having an eldest who is celebrating such an achievement!

    Some events are huge, momentous, once-in-a-lifetime and/or dramatic. Most of work is routine, daily, repetitive and/or cyclical.

    The experience of the milestone is usually markedly different than the experience of the mundane.

    Getting back to minutiae after experiencing the momentous can be incredibly difficult.

    Even if we are returning to a relatively good job, it can feel like a big let down.

    It’s quite normal to have the let-down or come-down experience of descending from the mountain top. The valley floor is simply not the mountain top.

    The question, though, is are we bringing others down with us, or are we sabotaging our own re-entry into the routines of work by continually comparing the mundane to the milestone?

    It’s simply not a fair comparison. The mundane will always lose.

    Returning to the routines of work is not a bad thing because it is a disappointing thing. Routines are simply not as sexy or meaningful or intense as our milestone events.

    Let’s cut ourselves some slack here. It is possible to acknowledge the authentic let-down of re-entry without succumbing to the false and extreme conclusion that a bad thing has happened to us having to get back to work.

    A simple tool for making the adjustment back to work is to write a thank-you note to someone from the milestone event. A simple thank you note gives you an opportunity to articulate your gratitude and what you found meaningful from the event.

    Once written, sealing, addressing and posting the letter is a physical way to close the door on a momentous experience. Now you are in a better position to shift your attention to work without making endless and defeating comparisons.

    The mundane and routine can be a good thing again. As work should be… good, that is.

    On your side,

    – Karl Edwards

  • Routine as a Resource for the Imagination

    Could routine be a resource for the imagination?

    It’s a lot of work to pay attention to all things all of the time. In fact, there may be no room left over for anything else. Anything new. No room for the imagination. No free space for the unexpected solution or unanticipated brainstorm to emerge.

    Routine allows certain core components of your life to fall into the background without falling off the map by deciding at one point in time where and when you will take care of those components all of the time.

    By routinizing certain things you don’t have to pay so much attention to them anymore. Your mind is freed up. Freed up for other things. Freed up for new things.

    If you tend to resent your routines, this is your chance to turn it around and make them your friends. View them as on your side instead of against you.

    What other regular responsibility could you remove from your radar screen by putting it on your map? You’d have a shorter to-do list if you had a longer regularly-done list.

    Imagine where you could go with all the additional space you just created for your imagination!

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Loving Monday: Stairs and More Stairs

    loving_mondayI recently discovered a new staircase that took my breath away.

    Literally.

    Several hundred steps rising from the floor of the Los Angeles Basin to a 360 degree view of the entire city 511 feet in the air.

    Los_Angeles-viewWhether you experience the climb as inspiring or intimidating probably depends on how you view heavy breathing and aching muscles. Or how much you enjoy seeing the mountains that surround the city or identifying city landmarks from miles away.

    I may have just discovered a form of exercise quirky enough to bring me back for more.

    For my fellow Angelenos, I refer to the new Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook recently opened just off Jefferson Boulevard in Culver City. Pleasant walking trails once you reach the top complete with nature center. (Yes, there is also auto access.)

    I‘m writing, though, because it felt so good to start the day with an intense climb. Any exercise would probably have a similar effect, but given the fact that I don’t do “any” exercise, this is an exciting discovery for me.

    Vigorous enough to give my heart a work-out. Inspiring enough to get me to the top.

    There are so many “shoulds” out there about health, life, relationships, work, etc., etc. As accurate as the “should” might be, we must face the fact that not all of us are motivated by all “shoulds.”

    We need to find those good things that we can “want” as well. When it comes to exercise, my final list is strikingly short.

    I think I found me a new one! Back to the stairs and then back to work.

  • Loving Monday: Missing Important Routines

    I’m shutting down after an unusual day and just now realizing I missed my Monday morning routine… writing about Loving Monday!

    How’s that for irony?!

    Maybe the topic this week should be routines. Routines that facilitate regular, important activities versus routines that stifle, quench creativity and merely fill space.

    The distinction comes when deciding when to “violate” a routine in some manner. Or, in this case, deciding how to interpret being distracted into inadvertently missing a routine.

    Negligence or freedom? It could be either.

    Key to being able to welcome the unexpected, confront crisis, and respond to what cannot be anticipated is being able to operate out of freedom. Freedom to choose routine. Freedom to vary routine. Freedom to abandon routine.

    Are your routines blessings that facilitate consistent attention to what you value most? Or are your routines chains that bind your time and energies from attending to what you want?

    Two very different sorts of work weeks result. It’s the difference between loving Monday or dreading it.

    Would you share a routine of yours you value highly.

  • School Starts Today… What Else?

    School starts this week here in Los Angeles. Varied summer activities yield to resuming Fall routines.

    Whether or not we have school-age kids of our own, this massive shift in schedule is going on all around us.

    The opportunity lies in riding the wider shift in attitude to give a boost to our own plans. Is there a project you’ve been meaning to begin? Use the team’s return from summer vacations as a launching point.

    Has work effort been flagging? Then use the Fall to regroup and refocus. Has communication been rare? Use the season shift to gather everyone and discuss some important aspect of your work together. Is the office a mess? Schedule a “Back to School Work” day for everyone to get organized.

    If you designed your own “Back to School Work” initiative, what would be its focus?