Accomplish Anything by Doing Nothing

Adventures in Businessing: Entrepreneurship, Small Business, and a Healthy Dose of Humor

Show Notes

• [0:01:00] Episode Summary | Intro

• Most “Excitingest” Episode Ever?
• • The Work Between the Work, Vacations, Etc.
  • The Most Neglected Topic in Business
• Margins
• • Lots of managers and leaders don’t like to talk about pausing.
  • We believe in margins so much that we’ve dedicated a third of our schedule to margins.
  • Without an emphasis on Margin, Burnout is a very real danger.

• [0:05:10] It Doesn’t Always Take Active Work to Make Progress

• Margin can facilitate progress.
• We think of progress as linear, but that’s just not realistic.
• • Progress has fits and starts.

• [0:07:59] Active Rest-- What is it? Why is it Necessary?

• You should be scheduling active rest into your calendar.
• You tend to lose focus on the importance of margin with age.
• • Which emphasizes the need to make margins intentional.
• If you don’t fill your calendar, someone else will steal that time from you, and fill that time for you.
• • Memorialize and protect your intentional disconnects.
• Is boredom the missing item in your workday toolkit?
• • You have to find incremental ways to schedule margin into your schedule.
  • • You won’t come out the gate a detox/disconnect professional.
    • • Regardless, you have to treat margin like it’s business, to keep it secure and sacred from the infinite things that could or would detract from it.

• [0:14:25] If Possible...

• Try a Week Out of Office Per Quarter
• Start Each Day With a Plan
• • Set aside planned time for others, whether that’s morning or afternoon.
  • • Bookend your day with margin.
  • Be present with your thoughts.
• Attempt ‘Boredom & Margin Interval Training’
• • You start with a lot of work time, and then gradually increase the margin and thought work time.
  • The time away from active work makes you better and faster when it’s time to run.

• [0:19:50] People Who Have no Margin Are Stressed

• Having no margin will have an unintentional negative run-off on others.
• Everyone needs different amounts and types of margin.
• A lot of us think we need less margin than we actually do.
• • Challenge: build in more margin into your schedule, and be retrospective about the effects.

• [0:22:43] How We Use Margin Intentionally in Our Business

• A tool for reflection.
• A tool to acknowledge what’s important today.
• • The world changes so fast, and what was important mere weeks ago, may not be important today.
• Margin can be the gateway to progress, and therefore margin IS sometimes the work itself.
• • Example: Circles Fulfillment Theory was birthed from the margin.
• Margin is a very real world tortoise and hare scenario.
• • Don’t let the modern world trick you and your organization into being burnt out hares.
• Group Margin
• • How we plan and execute margin together.

• [0:29:30] Parting Words

• Tips for making your margin and pauses more effective.
• Next time on AIB
• Recommended Reading: Seven Tips for Getting Unstuck - Ciircles