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Procrastination Face-off This week’s trek is inspired by author, Leo Babauta’s work on procrastination. As a self-proclaimed regular guy, Babauta has applied his “Face Everything Technique” to focus more on what he needs to get done and less on indulging in ways to keep from doing it. What are you really good at avoiding? Whether it’s sorting mail, going to the gym, weeding the garden, or washing the dishes, we all have things we’ve got on procrastination lock-down. While prioritizing a little Netflix binging over doing laundry never hurt anyone, cases of extreme avoidance can leave us feeling overwhelmed and powerless over our own obligations. Introducing Your Procrastination Face-off Exercise What It Is A way to check yourself when you are feeling procrastination taking over. Why We Love It  Sometimes you just need to get sh** done and as much as you try, you’re keeping up with the Kardashians more than your own life. This exercise helps you refocus your energy on your own stuff. How It Works 1. Set a reminder in your calendar at three points over the course of a day -- in the mid-afternoon, midday and at the end of the day. When the reminder goes off ask yourself, “What am I doing right now?” The goal in answering this question is to bring awareness to how you are spending your time. 2. Once you’ve brought more awareness to what you are doing, ask yourself “What might I be avoiding by doing this activity?” Babauta talks about how we often “switch to something else” and go into avoidance mode when something feels like a lot to handle. The key here is to identify what triggers your avoidance mode. Is it fear, discomfort, having to think in depth about something, or work..etc? 3. Now, take this thing that you are avoiding and face it. Allow it to manifest as a physical feeling in your body and stay with that feeling. Ask yourself, “How bad is this feeling?” Give it a little time and recognize that it might not be as bad as you thought it would be. 4. Take action. Once you’ve given the feeling you’ve been avoiding some space, take one small step to get your task done. For example, if you've got a pile of mail you've been putting off, don't worry about the whole pile; try opening a few pieces at a time. Want to dig deeper into this topic? For Babauta’s full deal exercise, read this from LifeHacker. To learn about the five reasons we tend to procrastinate, read this. To watch a hilarious video on what procrastination feels like, watch this by Tim Urban. Have a favorite trek?  Hit us up at treks@lifetrekkers.me and tell us which one you liked and what you learned! Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks:   "Inspiration Reservoir was one of my favorite treks. It helped me understand the many sources of inspiration (many of which are in my own backyard) that I can draw upon when needing to unlock the right side of my brain." -Liz Tverskoy, Account Manager @ Google Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@trekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Six Thinking Hats This week’s exercise is inspired by Edward de Bono's work in the field of creative thinking and innovation. You know that moment when someone asks a question that totally blindsides you? Moments like that are often followed by a lot of "hmm.." and "um..." and awkward silence as you fumble your way through a response. Part of handling these situations involves practicing your off-the-cuff response skills. But for those of us that still get flustered even with plenty of improv experience under our belts, it's helpful to have another trick up your sleeve.   Introducing Your Six Hats Exercise What It Is A way to look at any problem or solution from six different perspectives to make sure you are considering all the angles of your challenge. Why We Love It  The more experience we get, the more we tend to see things from the perspective we know and are comfortable with. This exercise forces you to mull over multiple perspectives to make sure you aren't limiting your thinking and running the risk of being blindsided by something you hadn't considered.  How It Works 1. Select a problem you've been noodling on at work and outline your potential solution. 2. As you think about your solution, take 12 minutes to consider each of the following points of view, or what deBono calls "thinking hats". Keep in mind that this works best if you spend at least two minutes on each one - resist the urge to consider them all at once: - White Hat is all about data. Ask yourself, what do the facts tell me about my solution? Where might I need more data to understand if this really solves the problem? - Red Hat is intuition focused. What kind of gut reaction do I have to this solution? How might others react to this emotionally? How can I anticipate and prepare for the range of potential emotional reactions others might have? - Black Hat provides a healthy dose of pessimism. Where are there weak points in this solution? How might things go wrong and what can I do to prepare? - Yellow Hat rounds out the black hat with optimism. What is valuable here and how will people benefit from it? What are the benefits of this solution to all my major stakeholders? - Green Hat represents creativity. What might be a more unexpected solution? What might the solution look like if we considered the impossible or removed current constraints? - Blue Hat looks at the overall process. What might the process look like to roll out this solution? Which thinking hats might be critical at which phases of the journey?  3. Take 3-5 minutes to re-evaluate your problem and solution. Given what you learned by considering the six hats, how might you modify your solution? How might you present it differently to your team? What kinds of questions might emerge if you consider the POVs represented in de Bono's six thinking hats?  Source: The de Bono Group Want to dig deeper into this topic? For the full deal on de Bono's six thinking hats, check out his book. To learn more about how to apply the six thinking hats to teamwork, check this out from HBR. For tips on how to train your brain to be more innovative, check this out from FastCo. Have a favorite trek?  Hit us up at treks@lifetrekkers.me and tell us which one you liked and what you learned! Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks:   "Listen Up was one of my favorite treks. It helped me rethink how I engage in conversations and understand what it really takes to actively listen." - Shankar Desai, Group Manager @ Google Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@trekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Team Standards This week’s exercise is inspired by Navy SEAL officers Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. In their book, Extreme Ownership, they translate their Navy experience to real-world business and life lessons. Are there moments when you can't count on your team? Willink and Babin would argue that your team’s subpar performance can only be explained by your willingness to tolerate it. In Extreme Ownership they state, “When leaders who epitomize extreme ownership drive their teams to achieve a higher standard of performance, they must recognize that when it comes to standards, as a leader, it’s not what you preach, it’s what you tolerate. If poor performance is accepted then poor performance becomes the new standard.” Introducing Your Team Standards Exercise What It Is A way to understand if your team is truly practicing what you preach. Why We Love It  When work gets busy we sometimes forget to focus on the basics that keep things running smoothly. This exercise gives you a chance to take a step back and assess whether your team is adhering to your success standards and identify what you can do to get things back on track (if needed). How It Works 1. Make a list of the top 5-10 things you preach as a leader and believe are truly critical to success. These are the one-liners you drop all the time -- the standards you are constantly reiterating to your team. Examples include things like, "being on time is a sign of respect" and "inclusion is a top priority." 2. Review your list in #1 and identify instances where your team's behavior is inconsistent with each of the items you preach. Ask yourself:  - Are there any situations where I am tolerating behaviors that don’t align with these standards? To build on the example above, one might think: "Being on time is important but I tolerate people showing up 15 minutes late without a reasonable excuse." 3. For items identified in #2, examine whether YOUR behavior is consistent with what you preach. For example it’s one thing to expect the team to be on time and stay silent when they’re late. It’s another thing when you expect your team to show up on time and you are always late. 4. Based on your analysis in #2 and #3, select one thing you can do differently to make the things you preach a true priority for your team. Ask yourself: - How am I going to personally change my behavior to be more consistent with our success standards? - How am I going to respond to my team differently when their behavior doesn’t align with our standards? Want to dig deeper into this topic? For tips on how to build a high-performance team, read this from Forbes. To learn more about Willink and Babin's work, check out their book. For details on what sets high-performing leaders apart from the rest, read this from HBR. Have a favorite trek?  Hit us up at treks@lifetrekkers.me and tell us which one you liked and what you learned! Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks:   "The Wake-up Call trek really hit home for me. My best days are the ones when I avoid email until as late as possible and this reminded me to stay mindful. It's key to make sure I get grounded first so I can give important things the attention they deserve." - Vijay Rajendran, Director, BBVA New Ventures Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@trekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.