Multi-tasking is an essential skill in the current corporate world and cannot be ignored as I had pointed out in an earlier post.

Your challenge then is how to do it without adversely impacting your Executive Presence or productivity.

But Multitasking does have its drawbacks.

According to The Harvard Business Review, this behavior can lead to as much as a 40 percent decrease in productivity. It takes workers time to switch mindset from one task to another, and doing so may not be in the best interest of your work group. In addition, it can negatively impact your company’s bottom line.

An article I read about the impact of multi-tasking in the workplace, points out how this can raise stress and anxiety in a worker and even possible burnout.

I’m not surprised. Clients who engage me as their coach for building their Executive Presence always have time management issues.

The side-effects of multi-tasking also have to be addressed.

That’s because multi-tasking over stimulates your brain function and you lose your ability to differentiate between the important and not so important tasks. It also blurs the line between tasks that are urgent and not so urgent.

Priority tasks get mingled with activities that aren’t really urgent and sadly, the Covey Quadrant or Blanchard Quadrant approach to prioritization of tasks doesn’t work for these professionals because they aren’t able to think with a clear mind.

Having said that, there’ll always be jobs where this skill is essential for completing tasks, like customer service representatives, nurses, bank tellers, bartenders, receptionists, and other front-end roles for examples.

To serve customers better, they must attend to several tasks at once.

But this same skill can become a hindrance for professionals who need a high level of concentration at work such as accountants or data entry specialists, to name a few.

I mean, have you ever heard of a surgeon multi-tasking on patients in the operation theater?

Focusing on one task at a time is necessary for these roles to produce quality and accurate outputs.

The era of multi-tasking has generated a disturbing phenomenon – our inability to focus on just one thing at a time and experiencing scattered brain syndrome.

Even if we aren’t willing to admit it openly, most of us feel scattered a good portion of the day. That’s because we’re always juggling many things at once and never have our brains entirely concentrated on one task at a time.

5 Tips to stop feeling Scattered & start feeling in Control

While I have an entire course on effective time management for professionals, here are 5 tips to help you learn to focus.

#1. Remove Distractions

Before you embark on becoming more focused, identify the things that are most likely to distract you.

Do you find yourself always looking at the notifications on your phone? Turn them off.

Do you constantly browse social media when you should be working? Install a plugin on your browser that limits how much time you spend on specific sites.

Turn off anything and everything you can that can be a distraction, including ringers, pop-ups, and other noises or visuals that pull you out of your zone.

If you focus better while listening to music, put your headphones on and select your best tunes before you start working.

Whatever it is you need to do, get your environment set to be as distraction-free as possible.

#2. Prioritize Your To-Dos

This one is often on the top of lists related to productivity for a good reason. The act of writing down what needs to be done helps to declutter your mind and get a handle on everything rattling around up there.

After it is all down on paper (or your phone) prioritize what needs to be done first. These are your tasks that MUST be done today (or by lunch, etc).

Prioritizing also tells your brain to stop worrying about those pesky things way down on the list and to focus on what is essential.

#3. Pick One and Break it Down

Start with your most pressing goal. Simplify it into its most basic steps or actions, which should take no more than 20 minutes for each.

If a step will take longer, break it down even further. Once you have a clear outline of how to accomplish the goal, you are ready to begin.

#4. Start Working. Focus on One Step at a Time

Since you know exactly what needs to be done and how long it will take, you do not need to rush, and you can focus on one thing at a time. Focus on getting that first step done.

It will take less than 20 minutes, which means your brain can concentrate for that long without interruption. Do each step deliberately and do not try to do anything else while you’re at it.

Once you are done with that step, evaluate how you feel. Do you need a break? Are you ready for the next step?

#5. Break up the Day

If you start to feel agitated or anxious, it is okay to break up your time by getting up to move or doing another very small task.

But do one little thing and then come back to your priority.

The more you neglect the important stuff on your list, the more scattered your brain will feel. After you have completed four steps or tasks, you should take a real break.

During this time, you can check your social media, read blog articles, or indulge in your guilty pleasure that you have been avoiding while you were working.

Bonus Tip: Focus on Tasks, Not the Clock

It doesn’t matter what time it is or how long you have been working. Focus on checking off the steps in your list or the tasks you have prioritized.

If you need some boundaries, set a timer for 20 minutes and work consistently until you hear it go off. Take a short break, and then return and start again. The more you practice this, the easier it will become as you build your stamina for focus.

Retraining a scattered brain takes time and diligence, but it can happen.

Be assured that you will slowly but surely start feeling like your mind can focus and you do not feel so scattered all the time.

A good leader knows their true success in that role requires finding the balance between team members achieving their individual goals while working on important team goals that flow into achieving organization goals.

Targets and goals flow top down through the management chain of command to operational level. As a team leader, it’s important you support your team to reach its targets and goals.

You will be put in charge of a group by your managers. The reason being so you can help them to get the business to where they think it needs to be.

This will most likely translate into earning a certain amount of profit, taking on a certain number of new clients, or perhaps turning over more work.

It could also include creating more effective and efficient processes that raise productivity and margins.

Your ability to deliver results will advance your career and open the doors to a leadership track.

Whatever the case, you need to decide how to help your team to get there.

So how do you do that?

Break the Big Goal into Smaller Achievable Goals

As with all big goals, your 1^st step is to break those overarching targets down into smaller and more achievable goals. This will help you to see whether or not you are on track to meet the targets at any given point.

Set up milestones to mark each step towards the big goal within an expected time frame.

Always leave a time margin while setting up the milestones. Tight milestones leave little space for error and leeway.

And as we all know, even the best plans can get derailed when we’re working on them. We are required to take into account new information and events that might occur.

It’s not a good idea to try and race toward a deadline as it creates a stressed atmosphere. It will likely lead to you getting behind schedule which can be very difficult to recover from.

Instead, set SMART Goals and then break into milestones that mark progress towards that big goal.

Sometimes a project requires a multi-talent team with members joining from different departments with different skill sets and expertise.

As a good team leader, it’s your job to get every individual in the team to work together as a unit. I go into more detail in my post 5 ways a good group leader improves individual goal achievement.

Assign roles to members of the team and placing them correctly to do their best work. That means further dividing the work you need to do into small and precise chunks.

Think about who is best to tackle each of those chunks, and how best to motivate them to tackle them.

Apply Process Kaizen

The next thing to think about is efficiency.

This is sometimes referred as “process kaizen,” which essentially means honing in on small changes you can make to daily processes, which can save large amounts of time and energy in the long run.

According to LeanProduction, Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) is a strategy where employees at all levels of a company work together proactively to achieve regular, incremental improvements to the manufacturing process. In a sense, it combines the collective talents within a company to create a powerful engine for improvement.

As a leader, you can build a cohesive efficient team by encouraging them to think outside the box . Offer suggestions and implement improvements that enable tasks to be completed in time and achievement of milestones for the project.

Sometimes we don’t even realize we are applying the Kaizen philosophy or implementing the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act) approach to achieve team targets and goals.

For example, at the start of an audit, the Team Leader holds a planning meeting where the audit team including specialists from other departments like Tax and IT. Their skills will be required to plan the strategy and approach for a successful audit in order to issue the Auditor Report for the client.

The team can make suggestions on how to achieve this goal within time limits and budget. The Tax and IT experts might give suggestions to reduce their charge to the audit. They’ll ask for specific documents or information to be collected by the audit team who would be onsite before they commence their work.

A good leader will encourage the team to use their creativity and also follow up on the progress with regular checks and change in work plan if required.

Process Kaizen would also be seen at the end of the audit during the debriefing meeting where the team would assess what went right and where they can improve the process for the next audit.

Be the human equivalent of a Force Multiplier

I’m sure you’d remember this phrase from your Physics class back in school!

A force multiplier is anything that you can use in order to get more work done more quickly, without putting in more energy.

An example is a forklift – this multiplies the amount of palettes that a single person or a team can move exponentially!

Computers are also force multipliers, and making sure that everyone’s works to the best of their ability is a huge way to make sure they’re able to work as quickly as possible.

I’d venture to say your television remote control device is a force multiplier too!

When it comes to work and leadership, according to Liz Wiseman, Author, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter there are 2 types of leaders – Intelligence Multipliers and Diminishers.

Leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the capabilities of people around them are Multipliers of intelligence.

because they inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. They assume that their team members are intelligent people and will figure out solutions on their own.

This core assumption is at the root of the five leadership practices that distinguish Multipliers.

As a result, Multipliers get better results from their people. They give opportunities to their team members to improve their skills and learn more.

On the other hand, Diminishers see a limited number of smart people. They assume that no one else will figure things out without them. It’s not their fault, really.

These leaders are promoted based on their skills, but management often forgets that the skills that helped them get the promotion is not sufficient in a leadership role where soft and people skills like Emotional Intelligence become key to their success.

Even if you as a team leader find yourself playing the role of a Diminisher, it’s never too late to change provided you’re ready to shift your mindset and do what it takes to become a Multiplier.

The choice rests with you.

How to Get the Most Out of Team Members

Being a leader is truly about taking a step back, and about allowing your team to really perform their best work.

Rather than “taking the bull by the horns” or attempting to micromanage your staff, allow individual creativity and talent of each person to shine. That’s why they were hired in the first place, after all!

So how do you do this? How do you go about getting the most out of each individual team member?

Here are some useful points to keep in mind.

Make them Feel Safe

One of the most important roles of any leader is to make the team feel safe. In a work place environment, this will often mean that you are taking on responsibility, such that they don’t take the blame when things turn sour.

This requires some practice and knowing where to draw the line.

If your team know you will blame them for every mistake that they make, then they won’t be able to take creative risks.

Likewise, if they are terrified of layoffs and higher management, then they’re not going to work well either!

Know their Skills

Consider is how each of your members operates as an individual and how best they can be integrated into a team.

Different people have different skill sets and work better in different capacities. This means that different people will work better in certain groups and in certain positions within those groups.

If you have someone who is a born leader, then of course that person is an asset to any group. That is, unless that group already has a born leader in place in which case you are going to cause friction.

I remember a project where I had a team with not one but 3 born leaders!

It was a challenge in the beginning figuring out how to give each of these talented individuals a chance to shine in their work while keeping everyone in a team format.

It required thinking about how each new member fitted into the dynamic of the core team and then choosing how I assembled the mini teams based on this.

Being sensitive to the entire team and presenting the mini team break down was important. Everyone had to understand how we were dividing the work in order to save time while allowing each person to play on their strengths.

It made life easier because doing this allowed me to know who to assign to each task when they were required to work independently and help them discover their blue ocean for career progression.

Give them Ownership over their work

One of THE most important tips for any leader, is to give members of the team a sense of ownership over what they are doing.

While it’s your job to take responsibility when things go wrong, you should also make sure that they have something to show for their hard work, and that they have control over. If it goes well… they get all the credit!

When someone isn’t working their best, it normally isn’t because they are “bad workers”. Instead, it’s because they don’t feel intrinsically motivated by the work they’re doing.

Give them a project that they can do on their own with their existing skills that can be further developed in the project along with some creative control that they can add to their CV.

You’d be amazed at how well the person will perform. An intelligent professional will know they are being given an opportunity to shine and advance their career.

In my younger professional years, I was lucky to work with team leaders who took their team along with them. We were given opportunities for further development. They doubled up as mentors too.

Those were the role models I emulated in my later years and achieved a lot more than successful project completions.

Bonds of mentorship and long-lasting relationships are developed that continue even after the project or change in job.

That’s what true leadership is all about. Being remembered with high regards by a team member long after they’ve ceased to be a team member and become a leader in their own right!

Additional Resources for Leaders who want to create great Teams

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Good leaders actually know the effect of Do as I say Not Do as I do

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, Liz Wiseman

The Force Multiplier: How to Lead Teams Where Everyone Wins, Tony Chatman

Karmic Ally Coaching’s Complete Leadership Toolkit

My previous post on commanding presence in a room led to some interesting insights related to the use of silence to raise one’s presence. (You can read that post here)

For one, it was a favorite tactic and for another, I discovered what appears to be a universal phenomenon. Moms are good at using this particular form of communication!

Why is Silence so powerful?

Growing up, do you remember your parents or teachers telling you ‘Silence is golden’?

It’s actually part of a much older proverb, “Speech is silver, and silence is golden” and praises the value of silence over speech.

Digging a little deeper into this proverb or phrase, I discovered it probably originated in the Arabic culture. It was known and used as far back as the 9^th century.

In modern times, we all know the virtues of silence when one is lending a sympathetic ear to a distraught friend or colleague.

It’s one way of letting them know you’re fully attentive to their need and accept them as they are as of a given moment.

It’s also a useful tool to help calm and diffuse a situation instead of reacting when someone starts yelling at us.

It’s a technique that demonstrates Emotional Intelligence.

One caveat though, never use silence to avoid a conflict where your own feelings are ignored because it can lead to resentment and negative feelings.

It’s always good to talk to the yelling person once their anger or situation is under control. Then tell them how you felt without being confrontational. Not every situation needs to become a battlefield.

Which brings me to another benefit of silence.

It can help you with difficult conversations.

Silence can be uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s just what is required to enable the other person to process the information that is being given to them and a chance to react appropriately.

In my story about missing an important promotion there is one part that I left out. In between telling me why I was being overlooked for the promotion round, my Group Manager did offer moments of silence during which neither of us spoke.

In fact, he was ‘holding the space’ for me to understand what was being said and why. He then created a viable solution instead of a knee jerk reaction and conflict.

Wielded correctly, silence can be a powerful conflict management tool.

With all these powerful uses of silence, I wasn’t surprised when I discovered during my research that silence is a therapeutic tool in clinical psychology.

Silence as a powerful leadership skill

It’s the use of silence to demonstrate leadership that fascinates me.

Now that I think of it, there was a Managing Partner in one of the audit firms where I worked whom we had nicknamed Silent Assassin. He’d take a round of the entire office in silence during the afternoon stopping only to smile at an employee if the eyes met.

The best part was, he knew his nickname and loved it – definitely more than the Partner who was called Penguin! (I won’t articulate why :))

The key lesson I learned from observing this Managing Partner and other effective leader bosses is that they all knew the power of silence.

Being a leader means many things. One of the most important skills for anyone who is in charge of other people, is the ability to command a room and to gain attention.

You can be the best leader in the world in terms of your strategy and your people management – but if you can’t get anyone to listen to you, then you won’t be effective!

One of the greatest tools in your arsenal when it comes to getting over this obstacle & commanding that audience, is to use silence.

Many of us think that the best way to gain attention and to look in control, is to shout and make a lot of noise. The truth couldn’t be further from this, and I wouldn’t advise it.

Why is that? Because when you shout and make fuss, you look desperate for that attention. Most of us have been conditioned to learn that if someone is desperate for attention, then we probably shouldn’t give it to them!

Conversely, someone who is seemingly calm and indifferent to you, will instantly become more intriguing and dynamic. Because they are trying to impress you, the power dynamic shifts and you find yourself trying to impress them.

Silence combined with your Signature Voice -the right words and inflexion -provides powerful results.

When someone stands up to talk and starts with a moment of silence, this makes them seem extremely confident. That’s because most of us are constantly anxious that even a moment of silence will mean we lose our audience!

In fact, back in school when we had to prepare for debates and extempore, our teachers taught us to start our speech with silence for a good reason.

Starting a sentence or a speech with silence ensures everyone needs to lean in and listen to what you are saying. This will set the tone for what you’re about to say.

Watch an actor or a politician who is known for being charismatic. That could be Will Smith, Dwayne Johnson, Obama, Narendra Modi etc. What you will find, is they tell a lot of stories.

And when they do this, they leave moments of silence in between their statements in order to create suspense and drama.

This is one of the biggest differences between those confident and charismatic speakers, versus someone who comes across as nervous and anxious.

How can a story have a dynamic ebb and flow if you try to get it all out in moments?

And when someone uses silence in this way, they come across as supremely confident and in charge of the room.

Recognize the power of silence.

Don’t be afraid to ask a rhetorical question and then let it hang. Don’t be afraid to build some suspense for what you’re about to say next!

Too many of us feel a constant urge to rush everything we have to say out at once. In fact, though, it is often the silence between the individual statements that really has the most impact. It shows poise, control, patience, and confidence.

Try using more silence the next time you speak to someone and see just how powerful this can be!

Do you believe self-promotion in the workplace is for braggarts and good work speaks for itself?

This isn’t a trick question because that belief won’t take your career places. That’s what this professional who delivered 100% of the time realized at a crucial point of her career track.

To be honest with you, I felt bad for her. Really bad because I knew what had happened. There wasn’t much we could do about it other than consider a new option that would give her the validation she sought.

This competent high achieving professional was paying a high price for not doing enough self-promotion.

The background story was a particular position promised to her 2 years down the line if she met the goals her manager had set for her. The Key Performance Indices were challenging but achievable.

The lady was not only on target but had achieved more in year 1. But sometime in the course of year 2, there was a change of plan.

Her manager apologetically informed her the prize position at the end of the year was going to a relatively new employee. He hadn’t yet earned his stars but the top boss was impressed with him. Nothing could be done about it.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this.

A few years back one of my coaching clients asked for a session purely focused on this topic. Again, it was about colleagues who made complete fools of themselves in meetings without having complete data or facts. Yet they seemed to shine while she stayed in the background.

What neither realized was that their colleagues knew how to get others to notice them and stand out.

It’s something Bonnie Marcus discusses at the very beginning of her book The Politics of Promotion.

In fact, those competitive colleagues were demonstrating Executive Presence. Get your copy of this checklist by clicking the below image.

Nobody likes a person who boasts, brags or shows off. Especially when its done to make other people feel lacking or less competent.

In fact, the Oxford Dictionary definition of self-promotion is “the action of promoting or publicizing oneself or one’s activities, especially in a forceful way”.

But I have a question for you.

What does it cost you if you claim credit for something you have achieved?

Nothing at all, and it can actually open up opportunities. However, many of us are afraid to take credit for our successes as it feels uncomfortable. We may feel we will be seen as bragging or tooting our own horn.

These feelings can be related to our feelings of self-worth, but other aspects can have an effect too.

How we were raised and the expectations put on us in our formative years can greatly influence our relationship with ‘going public.’

Many families, societies, and cultures express disapproval with outward expression that is considered healthy or even admirable in others.

Self-Promotion is an art worth mastering for the sake of your career

 A person who is good at self-promotion enjoys taking credit for his or her valid accomplishments. Self-promotion is an art. It is an effective leadership skill.

Self-promotion can be learned, which is great news for those who are not comfortable with it. It is a skill that can be greatly improved with practice and application.

Self-promotion is not showing off. Speaking up about accomplishments made and contributions you can deliver does not mean you are egocentric or self-absorbing.

It means being noticed by the right people for the right reasons and in the right manner.

Think about it. When you state your accomplishments in your Resume or on your LinkedIn Profile, you’re promoting yourself and letting others know about your strengths and capabilities.

If it feels alright there, then why not in the workplace?

5 Signs you are bad at Self-Promotion

I’ve already told you about 2 professionals who were poor in promoting themselves. Now let’s check if this is you?

You work hard, you go the extra mile and deliver beyond others expectations. However, you do not take credit for your success. Instead, you allow others (especially with seniority or longer tenure at work) to be recognized.

You do not use ‘I’ but ‘we.’ You share the credit for your own diligent effort among your peers, groups, teams, and other people, which does not necessarily help you, particularly when it comes to your career. This makes you feel good at the time, but you may regret doing so later and wish you had been able to confidently claim the achievement as your own.

You tell yourself that great work sells itself, so there is no need for showing off your outstanding performance.

You hope that the right people will notice your achievements. After all, it was you who did all the hard work.

Sorry to burst your bubble but it doesn’t work that way. As my mentor told me a long time back, you have to step up to the plate if you want your career to go places.

When someone compliments you for your achievements, you feel that you are just lucky and thank the universe for making it happen, rather than thanking yourself for your efforts and skills.

Here’s a truth bomb. Self-deprecation may be charming but it wont help you get that promotion or climb the corporate ladder.

Instead, Self-promotion in our context is the art of advocating for yourself.

It’s important to your career’s success because you get a chance to set yourself apart, showcase your importance to the team, get deserved recognition, and set yourself up for advancements and opportunities.

It’s a leadership skill that should not be taken lightly. It’s also a skill that will enable you to raise your Executive Presence in the workplace.

How to Promote Yourself the Right Way

Now that you know where you might be going wrong, how about doing the right things without feeling like a slimy braggart?

Self-promotion is one of the strongest skills found in successful individuals. Being able to self-promote has many advantages. It is vital to personal advancement, and if done well can place you in top positions within your workplace.

Here are some ways to more effectively promote yourself without being self-obsessed.

• Self-awareness is important to successful self-promotion. It is about knowing your attitudes, values, behavior, beliefs, feelings, and other personality factors. Take some time for self-reflection to understand why you think and act as you do. Question any beliefs or behaviors that are not supporting the actions you know you need to take. If you are self-aware, you can promote in an intellectual manner.

(Need help in developing your self-awareness? You want to check out this resource)

• We all have stories to tell, so if you tell them, make sure they are interesting and provide value. Ensure that your stories are appropriate to the achievement. Don’t embellish, but don’t be self-deprecating either. In fact, use your stories to demonstrate your point of view – all leaders know the art of storytelling.

• Deliver, and don’t make empty promises. Do what you say you will. You deserve merit if any achievement is truly yours to claim. Focus on ‘showing’ what you have done, rather than ‘telling’ what you will do. At work, it is easier to lead your team if your members see you fulfilling your responsibilities. Walk the talk so you can self-promote unashamedly.

• Show genuine appreciation and recognition if your efforts are not yours alone. There may have been individuals who contributed along the way. By showing genuine appreciation and gratitude to others, you will make them feel valuable too. It also demonstrates you’re a positive person who is self-assured and not afraid to acknowledge others for their work.

• Work on becoming an industry or subject matter expert. Use social media to demonstrate your knowledge, perspectives and point of view. This could be articles you’ve written or even curated content with a note on your observations. Comment with insights on posts related to your area of expertise and soon you will be noticed without having to worry about boastful. I promise you your efforts will be noticed both within social media but even your organization.

You can find more methods to achieve this goal in Get Noticed.

Self-promotion is not always easy, especially in the workplace, which is why it can feel uncomfortable to do until an event happens that compels them to understand the need for speaking about their contributions to the organization.

However, when done the right way, there are many advantages and can be life-changing. Effective self-promotion has helped many individuals unlock their true potential, overcome their weaknesses, and stand out from the crowd.

Isn’t it time you began promoting your achievements, the way they deserve to be celebrated?

I’ve been asked the question about including a failed startup or project on a CV or Resume on Quora not once but twice.

Both times, I’ve endorsed its inclusion because I believe it shows a lot about the calibre and qualities of the professional in question that might not otherwise be noticed including leadership skills and the willingness to pursue an idea.

For the professional who took on the adventure of a startup dreaming he would be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or even Jeff Bezos, worked the hours and then found certain things didn’t go the way he or she had expected and instead of an Entrepreneur of the Year Award, found they were saddled with a startup that had gone belly up, it is painful.

If you’ve been a successful employee and a star performer before your startup endeavour, having a pet project failing hits our sense of self-esteem, confidence and fear of lost credibility.

Nobody likes to be a failure – I don’t.

But at the same time, an initial failure can lead to a future success.

Edison’s story of untold success post startup failure

The prolific inventor Thomas Alva Edison was expelled from school because he was considered unteachable.

Imagine, if his mother had not believed in him, perhaps we wouldn’t have had the various inventions that provide essentials in our modern life or it would have taken longer.

If you think Edison got the light bulb to work on his first attempt, then guess again. It took lots more than a hundred.

In spite of all of his failures, Edison was a prolific inventor who had amassed several patents by the time he died, including the light bulb and the movie projector.

It’s all about the mindset, robust planning, getting help when required and having a mentor or coach who can guide you through the uncharted waters of a startup.

Not every startup is a success and many fail despite a successful launch. That’s the way it is.

According to an article in FastCompany, “Why Most Venture Backed Companies Fail,” 75% of venture-backed startups fail with 30 to 40 percent of those liquidating assets where investors lose all of their money.

In a more recent article, I read that according to Forbes, 90% of startups fail.

There are often various factors at play in a successful startup as well as in its failure. Some of these factors could be related to you while others are not your fault.

Predicting the success or failure of a startup is difficult even for seasoned Venture Capitalists so why should a budding entrepreneur take the full fall for failure?

I remember back in the early 2000s, when a number of highly respected colleagues who had years of experience in the banking and finance sector and enviable credentials lost money during the dotcom bubble.

It took them some time to recover the losses but the wealth of experience they acquired helped them bounce back with bigger and better ventures.

In case you were too young to remember the dot com bubble, here is a short 1 minute video about it.

Sure, it’s great if you were successful, but even an unsuccessful startups shows initiative, a variety of experience, and many other positive traits.

It’s not just a mildly positive thing to list; if you position it properly, it can become the best part of your resume and a point that might intrigue the interviewer to ask you about it giving you a chance to showcase your true experience and qualities that can be transferred to the job you’re applying for.

The same goes for professionals who start a business but find they cannot make it work and want to go back to a regular job with a steady income.

Here are 3 good reasons for including your failed startup in your Resume or CV.

Reason 1 – You have gained experience that you otherwise would not have gotten in a job

Let me explain, the experience in itself is a small success because you now know what works and what doesn’t and you would have a better idea of where things went wrong and what you could have done differently.

It could have been a good idea, perhaps even a great idea which sounded good enough on paper for a venture capitalist to invest seed money. But the market might have changed, or the product/service might have been ahead of its time.

Think objectively about the reasons why your venture failed.

Then consider and make a list of all that you learned and what you would do differently.

After that, decide how you will present this information in covering letter, curriculum vitae and interview. The latter is important because this question will definitely come up in an interview.

Make the most of the opportunity to shine.

Reason 2 – Employers are looking for accomplishments

Accomplishments matter more than the job description because they indicate your caliber rather than what you have been trained to do.

Even in the days when I was in the corporate world, my CV highlighted what I had achieved in a particular position. The interviewer already has an idea about what the previous job would have entailed. They are looking to see if you added value to the previous organization.

For example, being able to say that you had reduced the debtor cycle from 180 to 45 days. This means you improved the cash flow of the company which adds more value than saying you managed the debtor list.

Likewise, in the case of the failed venture, not everything would have been a failure.  Focus on what you did achieve.

For example, the number of clients you acquired and closed successfully. The training and employment you provided during the startup. Or even the amount of investment capital or funding you raised in the market.

Reason 3 – Those soft skills are valuable to your future employer

Employers want measurable skills but in today’s world, soft skills matter as you rise up the corporate ladder.

The best way to demonstrate them is to incorporate them into your CV along with tangible facts or better yet, include them while wording your hard skills.

Let me put it into perspective.

The Davos Forum, also known as World Economic Forum, is held every year in Switzerland to discuss and analyze the main issues of international concern. This meeting is attended by the most important leaders worldwide.

The topic for 2016 was key competencies and skills that companies will demand in 2020. Based on a study carried out in 15 countries 10 top soft skills were identified.

These skills are relevant to any professional who wants to stay in the job market and get ahead in their career.

While formulating your CV or Resume, consider these skills and look for instances where you can demonstrate the skills while documenting your accomplishment statement (which is what we did in Reason 2).

For example, you could write about your skills of cross-functional co-ordination where you worked across departments to ensure that all contracts complied with business requirements.

The wording you use can incorporate soft skills like people management and co-ordination with others.

Update September 2023: What Skills are Relevant in 2023 and Beyond

The needs of the market change as we undergo technological advances and new industries. As professionals, while our existing skills are important, we need to be ready to upskill or upgrade our skills as required.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2023 report finds analytical thinking, creative thinking and AI and big data will be top in-demand skills by 2027.

Leadership and social influence and curiosity and lifelong learning are among other skills expected to see growing demand.

Six in 10 workers will require training before 2027, but only half of workers are seen to have access to adequate training opportunities, according to the report.

In the future jobs market, it will pay to have skills that are in demand.

The World Economic Forum has predicted these likely skillsets – and how demand for them could grow – in its Future of Jobs 2023 report.

The report further states that between now and 2027, businesses predict that 44% of workers’ core skills will be disrupted. This is because technology is moving faster than companies can design and scale up their training programmes.

Here are some key growth skills for workers and employers wanting to stay ahead of the change curve.

Final words

If I haven’t already convinced you that it is fine to include your failed project in your CV, then here is a statement of fact that you need to consider.

Your startup might have failed but, and this is an important but, you had the courage to step out of your comfort zone and take initiative on an idea. You worked to make it happen or at least hit some milestones. Your investors liked your idea enough to invest money in it.

You have already proven that you are a leader and can not only think of creative solutions but are able to do the critical thinking to plan and implement those solutions.

Startups have chaotic environments often requiring on the feet thinking. You’ve done it and survived.

Positioning this information properly, you’ll demonstrate many traits that employers would find valuable. If an upgrade of skills is required, they would sponsor it because you’re valuable.

Besides that’s the kind of hands-on experience worth sharing proudly, right?

PS. Want to polish up your CV? Click below to pick up my 19 tips with my compliments.

Does the phrase Mindful Leadership make you visualize a professional in an executive suit sitting cross-legged on the ground, eyes shut, chanting away in search of solutions for his team and organization?

I won’t be surprised if you answered yes. Many of us confuse mindfulness enhancing activities with meditation and similar Eastern practices.

Mindfulness is more than that. It is the end product of these practices providing us with the ability to be aware of both ourselves and our environment.

Put simply, mindfulness is the ability to see with clarity, free from habitual ways of thinking and reacting. The ability to see clearly on demand can be enhanced by cultivating attention in a non-judgmental way, insight, and skillful actions that create conditions to support mindfulness in everyday activities.

Mindfulness is about actively paying attention to what is actually happening in the moment, in order to respond with integrity and thus remain focused on our strategic results.

This enhances our ability to succeed in today’s ever more dynamic and complex world.

One of the best ways to develop the skill of mindfulness is indeed through the habit of meditation.

It should not come as a surprise that many corporate mindfulness training programs incorporate this technique and its variants to improve executive self-awareness, focus, ability to manage stress and other emotional intelligence skills that we need to cope with the changing corporate environment.

I’m a strong advocate of meditation for building resilience, stress management and improved focus, I benefited greatly from it during my accounting trainee days in London while holding down a full-time job and preparing for some of the world’s most difficult examinations.

I admit I was the butt of many a joke and playful ribbing, when I would use my lunch break to close my eyes for 20 minutes. My colleagues teased me about my ‘Om’ sessions.

Perhaps I should have told them I was taking a Power Nap like FDR instead. It doesn’t matter because they could see the difference in me and my high energy levels and focus.

20 years later, a study by J.C. Arias The effects of meditation on executives’ performance in business organizations (Business Intelligence Journal, 2008) demonstrated a relationship between meditation practice and stress reduction, change assimilation, conflict management, and leadership performance.

His findings include the following:

• Meditation practice is positively related to reduction of executives’ stress levels
• Formal practice of meditation is positively related to the development of changes assimilation capability on executives’ performance in business organizations
• Gains in executives’ capabilities to managing conflicts within business organizations environment increase, as the practice of meditation oriented towards cultivating compassion is introduced
• Gains in executives’ leadership performance within business organizations increase by introducing formal practice of meditation oriented to develop compassion

Please note this study did not put much emphasis on mindfulness or how meditation could enhance the quality of leadership.

In fact, most of the time, the reference to becoming mindful and exercising Mindful Leadership means developing Emotional Intelligence and a high Emotional Quotient (EQ).

Did you know that Daniel Goleman’s term and book by the same name Emotional Intelligence (1995) was inspired by Buddhism?

Goleman states that a low level of EQ usually stems from a lack of self-awareness.

Now here is where things get interesting because self-awareness is highly relevant to that of mindfulness, an attentive awareness of the reality of things in the present moment, which is a core element in Buddhism!

Mindfulness is typically cultivated through a practice of meditation, self-reflection and letting go of our egos and judgmental nature so we can see reality in front of us.

Mindful leadership is becoming more of a staple in companies’ leadership training programs and is considered a necessary topic in most management training classes.

Although mindfulness training is just recently being considered in today’s leadership training, it’s not a new idea. Mindful Stress Reduction programs have been used by some medical facilities to treat chronically ill patients and had huge success. Now, it’s being used to treat healthy people and to keep them from developing stress issues in their lives.

Mindfulness is gaining wide attention now because organizations are becoming more cognizant of what effective leadership is all about. Findings are that the best leaders are self-aware and centered in their self-confidence and capabilities.

When potential leaders learn how to focus on one task at a time and turn their attention to the larger vision rather than numerous small tasks, they tend to become much more effective managers and leaders.

Practicing Mindful Leadership teaches leaders to pay attention to the present moment, recognizing their feelings and emotions and keeping them under control.

Bill George, who is one of the major advocates of this subject, suggests that among several ways to practice mindfulness, meditation is the most introspective way.

That makes sense considering how many distractions we face in the modern world. Not to mention the human mind’s tendency to wandering thoughts, whether we’re commuting to and from work or even in the workplace, especially if one works in an open office space.

In such situations mindfulness can help us regain our focus for the task at hand and our interactions with colleagues. We can take effective decisions for enhancing productivity which ultimately leads to improved results.

Mindful leadership is complimentary to Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (EI) which is widely accepted as the best predictor of leadership success in business today.

2 equally good options if you don’t want to meditate

I’m a strong advocate of meditation for general well-being, reducing stress and taking back control of our thoughts and actions.

Yet, I appreciate meditation is not everyone’s cup of tea. It won’t work for folks who find it challenging to stay put in 1 place for a full 20 minutes on a daily basis.

I believe we need to find a method that helps us to stay focused and aware of our actions as well as of others.

Focus can be developed while still staying in the realm of meditation by using the power of breathing and observation. I’ve described it in my post Soothe your mind with nature walking meditation. (You don’t have to be in nature to do this, just improvise.)

In that post the exercise I’ve shared will help you to start actively noticing your surroundings. You might just observe something that will alter your perception of your experience.

With practice, you can transfer it to observing people’s behavior. I guarantee you will start to see things that weren’t visible before and adapt your behavior to get desired outcomes.

A second option is to invest your time and energy in raising your Emotional Quotient which will definitely aid you in demonstrating Mindful Leadership Skills. I suggest my course Emotional Intelligence – The Basics for Professional Success.

Your turn, what technique do you use as a mindful leader to bring out the best in you and your team?

When you’ve applied out of the box thinking and presented a solution that would also improve productivity at work, how many times has it been accepted or applied?

How many times has it been chewed up and critiqued before the team has been ready to give the idea a shot?

I’m thinking about a friend who had a major pan department project that had to be completed but nobody knew how scope it leave alone how to do it.

She came up with a brilliant strategy after doing some out of the box thinking and then her superiors finally ‘woke up’ and applied their minds to it.

The final plan differed slightly to her original one but was a good one because an entire team was finally able to visualize the end goal and the process to get there.

Using the outside the box approach helped her to inspire others to share their wisdom and experience and when it came up at Board Level for approval, the CEO growled down anyone who raised objections!

Her efforts earned her accolades as she also applied the helicopter view.

Tip: If you want to strengthen your Executive Presence – master thinking outside of the square!

My friend was lucky that her superiors were open to new ideas and provide space for their staff to come up with new approaches but it isn’t always so.

Sometimes the answers that we seek won’t come from using our logical decision making on the perceived problem or trying to ‘fit’ the problem into our previous experience.

It will come from abandoning our assumptions and previous experience and looking at the problem from a new perspective.

In my post on developing the skill of having a helicopter view, I talk about being able to stand back from a task or activity and engage in both abstract and specific thinking.

Sometimes I feel the phrase Think outside the box is bandied about by managers and team leaders because it’s the ‘in’ phrase to use without actually considering the actual meaning of the phrase.

Truth of the matter is, some managers and bosses do not even want out-of-the-box thinkers, no matter what they say to the contrary.

During my corporate career, I worked for bosses who wanted their people to be creative in problem solving while others wanted to follow the rules and frameworks even some of them made no sense in the situation.

I agree that certain positions require rules to be followed like those of auditors whose work involves checking for compliance and risk management of their clients as well as checking the accuracy of the finances of their clients.

The times when creativity has been allowed in has also been the time when corporations like Enron have fallen, top accounting firms have collapsed and regulations like Sarbanne Oxley have been enacted.

Closer to home in India, the Satyam case led to 2 partners in a Big 4 firm – one on the verge of retirement and one partner who was signing his first balance sheet- being put in jail and the Securities and Exchange Bureau of India revamping rules!

This post is looking at the need to be adaptable and think on one’s feet to find solutions where none seem possible. We’re addressing creative thinking.

What’s thinking outside the box?

According to Wikipedia, Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australia, thinking outside the square) is a metaphor that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective.

This phrase often refers to novel or creative thinking. The term is thought to derive from management consultants in the 1970s and 1980s challenging their clients to solve the “nine dots” puzzle, whose solution requires some lateral thinking.

Going against conventional wisdom or trying a unique approach to a situation can yield the desired results provided you are open to applying the brainstorming ideas that emerge from thinking outside the box.

In my blog post Problem Solving by Coco the Cock a Tzu 

the first problem solving tip that my furry friend shared was creative thinking, or what we call thinking out of the box.

Here’s an anecdote that I had read a few years back about how a bit of imagination and creative thinking can solve problems.

I’ve seen different variations of this story and even discovered some history about its origins (including it being an urban legend and dating back to the 1880s) but I love this version the best.

How creative thinking got a potato garden digging done

An old man lived alone in Minnesota. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work.

His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and explained his situation:

Dear Son,

I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison.
Love,
Dad

Shortly, the old man received this telegram: “For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden!! That’s where I buried the money!!”

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any money.

Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.

His son’s reply was: “Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad. It’s the best I could do for you from here.”

Moral: Just be a little imaginative and see what happens!

This is a good example of what thinking outside of a box is and if you can master that skill, then you gain brownie points for demonstrating executive presence – grace under fire and projecting vision – both important elements of the elusive gravitas.

So far I’ve focused on what it means to think outside the box. This is a skill that anyone can learn and apply, whether at work, at home or even for our own professional development.

Now we’ll focus on simple ways to effectively start thinking outside the box. Some are personal actions and others will require your ability to get active participation from others.

How to jump start thinking out of the box and improve your productivity

Step away from the situation or task and take a break

This is my favourite method and one of the hardest to apply when one is engrossed in problem-solving and yet it works wonders.

Creative thinking doesn’t flourish inside a silo and it’s important to get away from routine tasks in order to give the mind a chance to come up with ideas.

In my student days I found taking a shower whenever my brain got bogged down helped a lot during exam preparation time. The accountancy exams were tough and I had to strategize as well as learn information to pass those exams.

When I passed my exams, the other girls in my dormitory also adopted my ritual although essentially, all that I had needed was a break!

I doubt your firm will install an office shower area to encourage out of box thinking so another way is to take a break or walk around.

It could be to the coffee machine or even outside the premises to get away from the problem – anything to create a psychological distance between the task and time for creative thinking to set in.

My team and I used to do a lot of walking in the compound while discussing issues and I was pleasantly surprised to learn later that even Steve Jobs used to hold walking meetings to brainstorm ideas!

Change your routine

Sometimes a minute change to a regular routine can get your brain thinking differently. When we do the same chore in the same way, we get set in patterns that don’t allow us to think differently.

A little variation that changes the routine helps you get out of a rut and encourages out of the box thinking which can have bigger results later on.

Essentially, when you get outside of your comfort zone, you develop coping skills that help you to deal with new situations because you have already opened your mind to new possibilities, ideas and options.

Wondering how to change the routine? Here are 2 that instantly come to my mind.

If there are different routes to your workplace, try 1 route driving in to work and another while coming back. Think of using the metro on particular days if there is public transport access between your home and office.

Keep 1 day aside for pizza or some special meal with your family or friends instead of cooking at home.

View the problem from a different perspective

In other words, reframe the problem or question to see if you can discover a new solution, see the issue from a new perspective or re-conceptualize the problem.

One popular way is to decide if you wish to see the glass half full or half empty.

When the perspective changes from seeing something is missing to acknowledging that there is something already, new avenues emerge to take things forward using existing building blocks.

Another way is to work backwards. In the words of Covey, begin with the end in mind Popularized as ‘reverse engineering’, we look at our end goal and then work backwards to see how it can be best achieved.

For example when a leading top of the range beauty product manufacturer wanted to enter the Indian market a decade ago, they knew they wanted to capture a good market share.

But why would any woman want to spend double the price of other leading and equally good products, both local and international on a brand that was only known to women who had travelled abroad?

I saw this one in action. I knew the product range as I had used it before and loved the way they built up their reputation.

Knowing that the end game was to get the ladies hooked on their product range, they teamed up with a magazine that often held promotions.

One of my friends was the deputy editor there at the time so I got an invitation to a presentation at a 5 star hotel with high tea.

Each of the 100 women present were not only introduced to the products, but there were live presentations, mini-facials and a goodie bag with prescribed skincare products as well as an invitation to visit their parlour cum shop.

The entire event would have cost a fortune but the end goal was achieved. They got fans and clientele and I saw women signing up for further treatments without flinching at the price list.

Brainstorm ideas and don’t worry if some of them are weird

This is another great way to get those grey cells working!

In this exercise, we aren’t looking at what’s feasible and what’s not but getting out of our old thought patterns by thinking of different ideas, even the weird ones.

Got a challenging problem requiring a solution?

Take a piece of paper and pen and set your timer for 10 minutes and jot down as many ideas as you can without thinking if it is doable or not.

For example, if you’ve got low metabolism, want to shed the extra weight and need ideas to achieve your goal, you might think of low fat meal plans, exercising, joining a gym or even washing elephants at the zoo.

The last one might appear weird to start with but it is a good idea if your local zoo allows you to do it voluntarily – besides, you’ll burn those calories and learn about elephants!

Once you come up with the ideas then have a look at what can be done and what can’t. I know you’ll find some good ones in your list.

If brainstorming a list isn’t your cup of tea, then here’s another idea that works to get thinking.

We start with the pen, paper and problem and then change our strategy.

We write down a step by step plan on exactly how we intend to complete the challenging task.

Once that’s done, we look at this plan and the steps and think about how we can do each step differently and still achieve results.

Let go of negative thinking

It goes without saying that thinking negative thoughts doesn’t help in problem solving with 1 exception which I will share later.

The skill of thinking outside of the box benefits from positive thinking because when we think positive thoughts we step into the realm of possibility thinking and creativity gets a boost.

If you find yourself responding negatively to your ideas, replace the negative thought with a positive or neutral thought.

The next time you have an idea replace the inner talk of something not being possible with one that accepts the idea will be challenging but that you are still going to give it a shot.

Check out my blog post on negative thinking for more tips on letting go of negative thoughts.

Consider the worst case scenario.

Fear often paralyzes us from doing what we know we have to do and is a damper when it comes to thinking outside the box.

The best way to shove fear out of the way is to either accept it and plod on or better still, take the sting out of it by first imagining the worst case scenario and then allowing your creativity to take control.

In my blog post Take the sting out of Fear of Failure it’s only a Belief, I share the 3 step approach to overcoming fear and finding solutions that work as well as the inspiring Willis Carrier story.

Nourish your brain to be at its best

Exercising our brain helps it to enable us to find those previously un-thought-of solutions.

Like any skill, creativity too needs to be exercised so that it comes up with ideas when you really need them.

Here are 2 ideas for nourishing your brain and keeping it active.

Keep learning something new to broaden your horizons and perspectives and enable your brain to make new connections. The more information your brain has access to, the more it’s able to come up with unusual ideas. It could be a course in your field of specialization that adds to your knowledge, another field of study that is different to your own, learn a new language or even a hobby class!

The other tip is to reinforce your connection with other people who are creative. When we interact with other people, they offer us a different perspective on things and can actually inspire us to achieve more creative out of the box ideas.

It helps to befriend people who are from a field that is different to yours because they can give you perspectives on your work and life that you wouldn’t get from people in your own field when it comes to developing your skill.

No offense meant but unless they too are working on their creative muscles, you’d all be drinking from the same well and coming up with the same ideas. What you are seeking is ideas that would challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and try something unique.

Consider joining a mastermind or group of professionals who are either going through similar experiences or are trying to achieve a similar goal. Sharing experiences and learning often leads to our own aha moments and one of the reasons why group coaching is popular.

Out of the box thinking – Final Thoughts

As with all ideas, we need to test them to make sure they work. Sometimes, the out of the box solution might not be the right one or might sound good on paper but will not be doable in the real world scenario.

That’s why when my friend came up with her out of the box solution; it did undergo changes before the final version to make it workable based on the experience of her senior colleagues who brought their own experience into the picture.

But that would not have happened until she had brought in her ideas which inspired creativity in others and the emergence of a better idea and plan as a team.

And that’s what out of the box thinking is about!

How do you find solutions to sense defying problems?

Need more help? Try this resource to get your imagination working in top order.

In my Kindle book Get Noticed! 15 Insider Tips  guaranteed to improve your Executive Presence, Tip Number 11 talks about creating a Professional Development Plan.

Now everyone knows about personal development plans and self-improvement plans but what about professional development?

Advancements in technology, techniques, methodology and information take place rapidly. Skills or knowledge that you learned earlier put you in danger of being made redundant unless you keep upgrading your skills and enhancing your knowledge.

This does not mean signing up for all the training programs your organization offers or appearing in advertisements whether you read them in the newspapers or receive email alerts.

It also doesn’t mean signing up for every free webinar or Group coaching program offer that you receive by email.

It means recognizing a potential competency gap

Followed by upgrading existing skill sets or learning new skills to keep up with the world and your career goals.

Let me give you my own example. Last year, I started to notice something called an Infograph appearing on different blogs and websites. Then top leading marketing firms started giving free advice on how to create Infographs. A few weeks after I noticed the trend, I was invited to download some in an Infographic Giveaway!

The infographic business was a big thing and I needed to either learn how to create my own or hire someone. The hiring part meant shelling out USD 100 to USD 400 for each infographic.

So, I followed the techniques given in the free articles on online software and finally decided to give it a rest. It was quite challenging. My time was better spent in my coaching service most important of which was client service delivery.

I put it on my professional development list for 2014 when I would go looking for some easy software.

It must have been a case of Law of Attraction in full swing because my friend and go to person for technology, John Banks created a 30 Minute Infographic course. It included templates, icons and video instructions.

Sadly, this isn’t available to the public. A couple of black hat folks stole the content and started selling it on their own. (That will be a topic for a future post)

The best part about this course was that I didn’t need any fancy software or online activity. All I needed was the Power Point program in my computer and a bit of creativity.

Having nothing to lose and taking Dutch courage, I took up the course creating the below infographic in less than 30 minutes! I was keen to learn as I went along and used my previously created graphics.

It’s a first attempt and I am pleased to say that I covered a professional development competency gap. One that for me is critical given the change in technology and content management.

Role of Motivation in closing Professional Skill Gaps

Once you know your career goal, which should be SMART, compare your present skills and experience to that which is required for successful goal achievement.

Honestly look at your present situation and determine if there are gaps in what you need to be able to do and what you are able to do.  In other words, identify the skill gaps requiring to be covered by further professional development. I did.

I asked John later as to what inspired him to create this Infographic product. To quote him ad verbatim

“I created this Infographic course because the old saying a picture is worth a thousand words is true. I found people on the Internet especially through my social media channels are much more responsive to visual things. I have always been into graphics and Infographics but they are VERY expensive to get made.

I made this course so others can create their own and not have to fork out hundreds of dollars for one! I have also broken down the technical boundaries with this course, anyone can make these!”

This was how I enhanced my own professional development. I felt I needed to know how to create infographs (which are very popular on Pinterest) whether or not I created them.

Then later in 2017, video became the rage. I took my own video making skills to the next level and invested in my professional and marketing skill development.

Here’s a video that I created for Get Noticed.

Knowledge is empowerment. So now I have a question for you.

Do you regularly do you check to see if you have to update or refresh skills? Or learn new ones to stay on top of your game?

I’d love to read your observations in the comments box below! 

This post was originally published in February 2014 and has now been updated for fresh information.
Link for Get Noticed: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XHL2Z66

Remember to download your Executive Presence Checklist within the Kindle book – with my compliments.

Written By: Vatsala Shukla

Can a Tomato improve your time management?

Way back in the late-1970s, while preparing for my Matriculation Board Exams in Jakarta, my Class Teacher taught me a study technique that helped me combat the overwhelm of revising for my first major exams.

It was a good technique since I topped the Board Exams. There were no tomatoes involved but it was similar to the Pomodoro Technique developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.

Creativity has no age limits and I understand that Cirillo first used this technique when he was a university student.

His technique involved using a timer and breaking down work into intervals that were 25 minutes in length with short breaks in between.

Cirillo named the intervals “pomodori” after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that he used. Pomodoro is the Italian word for Tomato.

The Pomodoro Technique

From a learning perspective, the idea of taking frequent breaks to improve mental agility is similar to Distributed Practice Learning. That’s the method that my teacher taught me.

Distributed Learning Practice when you need to improve performance skills

In Distributed Practice Learning, the principle of work and rest is followed. The learner is not required to memorize the assigned material in one continuous time period. The learner is allowed intervals of rest.

Distributed practice is likely to be a superior method for performance skills like driving or typewriting. It is often though not always advantageous when verbal material is being memorized such as poetry or chemical formulas.

Shorter study periods are beneficial for young students, slow learners and particularly when motivation level is low or the material is complex and difficult to understand. It also helps to maintain attention, break monotony and reduce fatigue.

How to implement Pomodoro Technique in 5 Easy Steps

There are 5 simple steps to implement this technique:

Step 1: Plan the tasks to be done using a “To Do List” and then prioritize them. At this stage, make a realistic estimate of the time required for each task and note them down against the task. Decide on the task to be done.

Step 2: Set your timer to ‘n’ minutes (traditionally 25 minutes). This time interval is your ‘pomodori’

Step 3: Work on the task until your timer rings. Record your progress with an X , tick mark or even use a highlighter if colours motivate you.

Step 4: Take a short break of 3 to 5 minutes.

Step 5: Go back and repeat Steps 1 to 4.

When you have completed 4 “pomodori”, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The beauty of this technique is that every time you complete a “pomodori” and record it, you experience a sense of satisfaction that you have achieved something.

It enables you to get information on where you can improve your time management and how realistic you are about task times.

What happens if you are interrupted in the middle of a pomodoro?

Well, the bad news is that a pomodoro is not divisible. In other words, you cannot do a task for 5 minutes and then come back to resume it.

If you are interrupted during the task, then either you have to record that activity or abandon the pomodoro and move on.

In time, you will see how interruptions impact your time management. If necessary, you will learn how to keep distracters at bay.

Downloadable “Pomodoro Technique” software is available on the internet. I personally prefer the traditional method of using a timer, a paper and a pencil or pen.

I actually maintain a beautiful folder where all my To Do List tasks are recorded on a daily basis.

Somehow, just writing down the tasks and time required gets me motivated. The sound of the timer and the tick mark on my sheet makes me eager to get onto the next pomodoro.

What about you? Have you tried this technique? Share your thoughts with me in the comments box below.

The Pomodoro Technique is a good Time Management Tool. It works best when we know how to combat our time mismanagement and change our habits.

Learn more about Karmic Ally Coaching’s online course 5 Simple Steps to Win your Time Management Challenge  here or by clicking the image below.

Written By: Vatsala Shukla