A CEO to CEO Newsletter
from the desk of Bob Wilson

Relax; Focus

Dear Fellow CEO:

Relax. Focus.

Seldom are two words more often invoked in the giving of advice. And of all the advice that's given, there probably aren't any two words less often heeded. It's just so hard to do in today's world. As CEO's, we need to take note and act in order to remain purposeful and effective.

It's the world we live in that does it.

On a macro level, there are 24-hour news channels, web news, news sent to our phones, gotten from our phones or sent to our email accounts on topics of interest (and others that aren't). One step lower on the macro level, we've got the news of our businesses into which we're constantly plugged - email, vmail, fax, phone, pager, satellite phone - they're all beckoning us to make decisions, respond to questions, or just simply know what's going on. We've got friends, neighbors and family getting closer and closer and closer to the most micro and intimate levels of our awareness - asking, beckoning and informing - demanding our time and attention. Our bodies and the spaces around us are buzzing, beeping, blinking and singing; all tugging at our sleeves beseeching, "WE NEED YOU! NOW!"

Relax. Most of them don't. Focus, you've got more important things to do.

Just last week, two salesmen bemoaned to me that because clients have their cell phone numbers and email addresses and know they have their cells on at all times, it is impossible for them to ignore a call. Watching them both over the course of a day of meetings was unnerving. They twitched as though being administered shocks at every beep, buzz, and song coming out of their laptops and phones - feeling "out of control" because they were stuck in a meeting and unable to respond until breaks. Their gradually more intense paroxysms were making me more nervous as the day went on.

Outside of work, I am surrounded by friends and relatives who can't go to dinner or a social event without being plugged in. At a group dinner, rather than relaxing, several of the adults regularly check their cell phones for calls and / or emails. One mother feels her buzz, checks to see who's calling, excuses herself and takes the call at the table while the rest of the party either talks around her or waits. The mother's excuse / explanation was that she'd been waiting to speak to the daughter (who lives locally) about their trip to New York next week.

Relax. Unplug. Focus on what matters.

The reality of the world in which we live is that it is incredibly easy to lose our independence and purposefulness to our imagined need to respond to the baying hounds of technology. If we don't take heed, we will.

As you all know, the people most in demand aren't the sales people or the moms. It's us. We're salespeople and moms (or dads). And we happen to run businesses too. The ringing, beeping, buzzing, blinking, chirping and singing assault us with their cacophony. Who could possibly be needed more in today's world than those at the top of the food chain of leadership? And with all of that insistence from the outside world demanding our attention, how is it possible to not be responsive? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?

No. It's not. And for several very important reasons:

1. We need to live in the present for the sake of our people. Responding to the immediate needs of others when we're involved with someone in the present sends a message that the person in the present isn't worthy of our time. It's rude as well as off-putting. We should do our best to set good examples by unplugging whenever we're previously engaged.
2. Constantly being pulled by the demands of others raises both our tension level and our temperature. The more tension / stress we feel, the more the people around us feel it. Both trickle down. Both have a negative effect on the morale of our troops
3. Most importantly, the more responsive we are, the less purposeful we can be. But let's face it, being responsive is the easier road to follow (I think that's why we're prone to follow it). It's much easier to respond to an email or phone call than it is to start thinking about the problem or task for which we've got to craft a solution that's not on our immediate horizon. Forget the reality that crafting solutions happens to be our job. Responsiveness keeps us from getting to the important things we've got to do to be successful as leaders

What can we do to fight off the demands of others on our time? How can we not be dragged down into the whirlpool of responding to the insistent demands pulling at us?

First, I'd suggest you be purposeful about what you won't do with your time. Turn off your cell phone when you're working - no buzz, beep, nothing. Leave it off except during those times where you're planning to use it yourself for outgoing calls or to check messages. Turn off those things that beep, chirp or blink to let you know that email has arrived or just minimize that folder on your computer to assure that it won't be available to distract. In both cases, leave yourself the appropriate amount of time at the right times to respond to both - purposefully. Email and cell phone calls can drive us all to distraction (that's what they do) if we let them. Don't let them.

Then, plan your day around what you need to do and get done (as best as you can) what you plan. Low C's, in P. I. language, love to be drawn into whatever is hot and put off those things that aren't. The problem is that most of what we're drawn into is not even slightly lukewarm. When the email chirp goes off for SPAM we still (too frequently) check it out on receipt (only to delete it) when our focus should have been on whatever we were working on. We feel, at the end of the day, as though we've been extremely busy and our result is we've accomplished nothing. We're amped up for action because we've been exposed to fires all day long. It's just most of them weren't even smoldering. They were just there. And we just responded.

Don't. Turn off. Tune out. Purge your distractions. Relax. Then Focus.

And get some work done. You and those around you will appreciate it. It will be good for your business.

Thanks for reading.

Bob Wilson  

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