An overflowing email inbox. Pointless meetings. An endless to-do list. Does this describe your life at work? It’s time to shift your mindset from busyness to thoughtfulness by embracing whitespace. Juliet Funt is the CEO of WhiteSpace at Work, a training and consulting firm that helps organizations, their leaders and employees reclaim their creativity, productivity and engagement. On this episode, she talks about the big difference between activity and productivity, the four thieves of productivity, and the huge cost of our culture of busyness at work.
If you enjoy this episode and want to experience The WhiteSpace Digital Learning System for yourself, our listeners get 20% off by using the code MFGCP (offer expires December 31, 2018).
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Show Notes
- Get 20% off the WhiteSpace Digital Learning System by using the code MFGCP (offer expires December 31, 2018).
- What is whitespace? Whitespace in corporate culture is a strategic pause taken between activities. (1:40)
- Shifting the mindset inside of organizational cultures to embrace whitespace (2:42)
- Understanding the cost of overload and busy work (5:10)
- The four thieves of productivity: drive (overdrive), excellence (perfectionism), information (information overload), activity (frenzied) (8:25)
- Turning the perfectionism switch off/on (11:13)
- The difference between whitespace and meditation / mindfulness (16:29)
- Two sides of whitespace: recuperative and constructive whitespace (17:14)
- How whitespace correlates with energy management (19:43)
- Implementing whitespace inside of an organization’s culture (22:01)
- These are the things you control that you should focus on to create more whitespace: email, cell phone, to-do list, impulses, communications, boundaries (25:47)
- The 50-50 rule: half of everything that bugs you at work is 50% your fault until you’ve asked for what you want (27:45)
- Advice for how not to lose your time to unproductive meetings (28:43)
- “Shouldn’t be here” (SBH): building awareness about what meetings you should / shouldn’t be part of (31:29)
- Three ideas to get your company to care about whitespace (34:05)
- Get free access to your team’s WhiteSpace digital course (39:16)
Resources / People Mentioned
- Whitespace at Work
- The Four Thieves of Productivity
- Patrick Lencioni
- Tony Schwartz
- Pomodoro Technique
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
- Project Time Off
- The Reinvention of Work by Matthew Fox
- Swamplandia by Karen Russell
- David Covey
Recommended For You
Did you enjoy this episode? Then listen to:
- Patrick Lencioni on The 5 Dysfunctions of A Team
- Laura Vanderkam on How to Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done
- Daniel Pink on The Science of Perfect Timing
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