I read a press article this week which made me more aware of a skill that all professionals need but which is not always recognised or valued. The context was the ability of the former American president Bill Clinton to “compartmentalise” issues so that, for example, even though he was in the process of being impeached he was still able to deal with the leader of the house and keep US government business moving along.
So, in any given business day we all have many issues to manage, but what does not work is to let one dominate the others to their detriment, even though that may be something that particularly annoys or upsets us or makes us angry.
This skill is even more important in balancing work and private or family life. Bringing work cares home from the office is I have found rarely welcome or constructive and just distracts from other important priorities. And if like me yesterday you are walking your dog through beautiful early summer woodland with the trees all fresh in their new greenery, take the time to appreciate and enjoy your surroundings without thinking about the latest business issue.
This ability to place issues into different “buckets” and then deal with them appropriately seems to be recognised as a skill more generally. Here is an interesting Forbes article which discusses compartmentalization and suggests that in dealing deal with extreme challenges while running a business first Compartmentalize it. Isolate the issue from all the other challenges you are dealing with.While this blog How to compartmentalize your thoughts to beat stress says I vigilantly divide up the tasks I need to do and the conflicting responsibilities I have so that they can’t slam into one another.
This Harvard Business Review article broadly discussing emotional intelligence points out how Many of us now work in constantly connected, always-on, highly demanding work cultures…which requires resiliency skills including compartmentalization commenting We receive 11 million bits of information every second, but the executive, thinking centers of our brain can effectively process only 40 bits of information, according to Shawn Achor, co-founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and author of The Happiness Advantage.
As the American footballer Larry Fitzgerald says When it's time to focus in and play ball during the season, 100% of my focus is on that. When it's the offseason and I've got time to be away and I can do other interests - they don't conflict. I'm good at compartmentalizing. I can put everything in its appropriate box at the time and open it up when I need to at a later time.
This is also about helping to prioritise – there is an old Russian proverb If you chase two rabbits you will catch none, or as the German writer and statesman Goethe (1749 to 1832) observedThings which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
So, in any given business day we all have many issues to manage, but what does not work is to let one dominate the others to their detriment, even though that may be something that particularly annoys or upsets us or makes us angry.
This skill is even more important in balancing work and private or family life. Bringing work cares home from the office is I have found rarely welcome or constructive and just distracts from other important priorities. And if like me yesterday you are walking your dog through beautiful early summer woodland with the trees all fresh in their new greenery, take the time to appreciate and enjoy your surroundings without thinking about the latest business issue.
This ability to place issues into different “buckets” and then deal with them appropriately seems to be recognised as a skill more generally. Here is an interesting Forbes article which discusses compartmentalization and suggests that in dealing deal with extreme challenges while running a business first Compartmentalize it. Isolate the issue from all the other challenges you are dealing with.While this blog How to compartmentalize your thoughts to beat stress says I vigilantly divide up the tasks I need to do and the conflicting responsibilities I have so that they can’t slam into one another.
This Harvard Business Review article broadly discussing emotional intelligence points out how Many of us now work in constantly connected, always-on, highly demanding work cultures…which requires resiliency skills including compartmentalization commenting We receive 11 million bits of information every second, but the executive, thinking centers of our brain can effectively process only 40 bits of information, according to Shawn Achor, co-founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research and author of The Happiness Advantage.
As the American footballer Larry Fitzgerald says When it's time to focus in and play ball during the season, 100% of my focus is on that. When it's the offseason and I've got time to be away and I can do other interests - they don't conflict. I'm good at compartmentalizing. I can put everything in its appropriate box at the time and open it up when I need to at a later time.
This is also about helping to prioritise – there is an old Russian proverb If you chase two rabbits you will catch none, or as the German writer and statesman Goethe (1749 to 1832) observedThings which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.
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