Anna Addison, 30, set up her own PR and copywriting business three years
ago.
I work from the home that I share with my husband in Middlesbrough. I get
through the day on a lot of nervous energy. Eating well and exercising are
important to me, but I have a tendency to be very highly strung and lose my
temper with my husband when I get stressed. Although I refuse to take on
more than a manageable 20 clients, my desire to please means that I often
end up working seven days a week.
The computer is always on and I’m checking e-mails from the second I get up,
even at weekends and on holidays – which my husband hates.
I’m also always running late. I try to do too much. I act like there are more
than 24 hours in a day and of course there aren’t.
Anna’s typical working day
7am I mean to start the day by exercising in my home gym, but the first
thing I do is check all my e-mails at the computer in my office.
8am I then exercise for an hour. I do have a bad habit of taking my
phone with me. I know I shouldn’t but I feel I need to be there 24/7 for my
clients.
9am I get ready and have breakfast and go through all the newspapers.
10am I’m officially at my desk from 10. Although I’ve been on the
computer earlier, it’s often for time-wasting things such as going on
Facebook or internet shopping (which I do in the day too). I get distracted
easily between the computer and papers and magazines. I’m usually writing
press releases and copywriting for clients and liaising with different
media, putting together PR proposals or going to meetings – I have meetings
at least three or four times a week with clients.
1.30pm Lunchtime is flexible, but I always make sure that I take an
hour for it. The company that I previously worked for was very anti-lunch
break – I am much healthier for taking a break.
2.30pm I get meetings out of the way early so that in the afternoon I’m
replying to e-mails and cracking on with writing. All this is in an ideal
world, though. Four days out of five add about 15 to 30 minutes to all of
those times. I am disorganised and generally panicking and always running
late.
7pm My husband comes in from work and we always cook a meal and eat
together. It’s our time together but it’s also how I switch off.
8.30pm We watch TV.
10.30pm To bed. I read to unwind.
11pm Bedtime. Going to bed is the only time I’m on time.
Ginger says . . .
Anna uses nervous energy as her primary driving force and works until the last
minute and leaves late for appointments so that she experiences a high from
that. By putting herself always in a rush, she’s often short-tempered and
frustrated.
Recently, when leaving for a meeting, she discovered that she was out of
petrol and experienced anxiety and even panic about meeting a client. I
asked her to take a first step in reducing the dependency on adrenaline by
leaving ten minutes early for every meeting for two weeks. She was up for
it, but had difficulty seeing how it was possible. She is so accustomed to
leaving late and using adrenalised energy that she couldn’t imagine changing
that.
Anna has committed to take an adrenaline test that I often use on stressed
clients. My aim is to help her to create an adrenaline-free 2008. She talked
about how hard it was to do a great job with her clients when being
distracted in her office. I asked her about how she manages her time, and
she explained that she stops what she is doing and reacts to every e-mail or
phone call. We talked about having a time-management system where she would
focus time working on important client projects and marketing, buffer time
where she took care of e-mails and admin, and then free time each day for
herself. She agreed by putting focus time on her calendar where she would
not be distracted by the phone or e-mail. She especially liked the idea of
having some time to herself each day where she was free of her work
schedule. Another key to moving from her adrenalised lifestyle.
She also committed to creating a distraction-free zone in her office by
removing all the personal things and the clutter of stacks of magazines and
newspapers around the edge of the room. This distraction-free project, she
said, could be completed that afternoon. She laughed about how great it
would feel to see all that clutter gone.
Summary: Anna is a wonderfully “can do” person, who quickly found value
in the awareness of how her current lifestyle was not working well for her,
or in her relationships. By using a more effective and relaxed
time-management system, she can start shifting from constantly reacting to
distractions and focus on the things that are most important in her business
and her life.
How are they faring . . .
Before Christmas, John Anderson, 44, who runs a property development company,
asked Ginger for advice. An analysis of his work/life balance found that he
runs on adrenaline. He wakes at 5.30am every morning with his mind racing,
and arrives home more than 12 hours later exhausted – with nothing left for
family or for himself. She suggested that he commit to something that will
allow him to experience what may be missing from his life. She asked John to
“dedicate one day to accomplishing nothing”.
What was the outcome?
John: “I failed completely. I woke up as normal at the crack of dawn,
my brain spinning with issues to be dealt with. The guys at the office were
looking forward to a Sunday off, but were bombarded with e-mails!
“Once I had cleared my mind however, I went to the gym, took the family for
some lunch, went for a walk, rented a DVD and then spent an hour in the
evening on e-mails. Having said I failed, I failed in ‘achieving nothing’,
but succeeded in having a relaxing Sunday, which I think was what I needed.
“In my view, ‘achieving nothing’ fails to respect that the problem is spending
too much time ‘thinking work’ as opposed to anything else. If doing
something else other than ‘thinking work’ distracts you from work and
achieves a more peaceful frame of mind, then this is an achievement.”
Ginger: “Actually, John succeeded admirably. Without his awareness and
commitment to a day away, that lovely Sunday wouldn’t have happened. As he
said, it was an achievement for him not to think of work for most of the day
so that he could relax and enjoy his day. I think the term, ‘accomplishing
nothing’ surprised him enough to consider doing it and putting it on his
calendar held the space for that day. I honour his achievement and encourage
him to replicate it.”
— If you want to be coached by Ginger, e-mail worklife@the
times.co.uk with name, address, phone number and a brief outline of what
you do. You must pay for a 15-min call to Texas
