Slowing down at work

It's been a long old week and next week will feel longer - lots going on at work, which is a mixed blessing. On the one hand it's interesting work, and I'm really enjoying the sense that I'm increasingly competent and increasingly confident in what I do. On the other hand, long hours mean tired Nickie with no time for housework, crafting, or quality time with friends and family.

A few months ago it got very busy and I started showing early signs of burnout, so I've been working on several tips and tricks recently to try to manage the stress so it doesn't have such an impact on my health. I thought I'd share a few tips for slowing down in a busy work life here with you:

1. Tortoise not hare.

When you rush because you're busy, you make mistakes and have to go back and correct them. (Or at least I find this). This is stress-making for you and your colleagues. When it's super busy, it's even more important to take an extra moment just to check you haven't made any silly mistakes or typos. I'm finding that by telling colleagues I'd like a little more time to get it right and then delivering a better document, they are more relaxed with me about deadlines because they know they can rely on me. I know the work is piled high but better to do it once well than several times badly.

2. Avoid stimulants.

Coffee and sugar make me jittery and I find myself navigating peaks and troughs of energy. I'm finding that limiting the coffee and drinking green tea and water really helps me maintain a steady focus and keep a good pace of work. Eat fruit, raw vegetables and nuts as snacks if you get hungry, and avoid a heavy lunch. (Some people at my work eat pizza or lasagna every day - I have no idea how they avoid falling asleep afterwards.)

3. Tune out the stress.

Offices are noisy places, especially open plan offices. People are talking on the phone, having impromptu team meetings, receiving text messages and tap-tap-tapping on keyboards. Block it out. Bring a pair of headphones and listen to something online or on a music player if you have one. Music is good - programmes like deezer or spotify allow you to stream music free. Radio is also possible - BBC radio is available anywhere in the world for free. Personally, I'm preferring the many youtube videos offering 10 hours of the sea washing up and down a beach, of crickets or birdsong, or meditational noises like wind chimes. I can almost feel my heart slow down as I breath more deeply.

Squaring the circle

So I tried to slow down, but I didn't manage it. I'm not sure how much is my skill (or lack thereof) and how much the line of work I'm in is inherently incompatible with slowing down and simplifying.

There's just so much and I'm just so far from getting it right the first time. Redrafting the same document four, five, six or more times is so down-heartening. Today I was in the office from 8.30 in the morning until 8.10 in the evening, with about twenty minutes to eat lunch. I was almost nodding off at my desk but when certain things just have to be done before you leave, what choice do you have?

It's frustrating because I know that the later I stay, the more tired I get, the worse and less I sleep, which means the next day I'm less focused and less productive. It's a negative cycle but I don't know how to break it. I've reached the tiredness point - I haven't been here since just before my exams when I was 18 - when I find blank walls utterly captivating because they're so calm and my brain gets to rest.

I still think it might be possible - I still want it to be possible - to have a full-time ambitious career in an area I care about (public policy) without sacrificing all other areas of my life. I so want there not to be an irreconcilable conflict, but I'm beginning to doubt this.

It's not all bad news - tomorrow I have the day off and my father is visiting. I'll have time for a little housework, a little baking perhaps, and some gazing at blank walls. I've got a cup of tea next to me (my own home-prepared combination of chamomile, calendula and lavender) and you lovely people to talk to. And I'm indulging in one of the most comforting and least taxing books I know - 'Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer' by Jane Brocket. It is technically a recipe book, but each recipe is introduced, talking about who eats/drinks it and in which book, musing on memories of reading them, and taking me on a delightful tour of childhood memories. They are all recipes as enticing in imagination as in reality, especially as the imagination supplies the environment - on Wild Cat Island after a midnight naval battle, or in front of the range wrapped in a shawl in the Little White Cottage With The Thatched Roof.

Picture nicked from amazon.com

I'll be back tomorrow with a more positive frame of mind.

A Jonah week

I'm having one of those weeks, and it's only Tuesday. I keep making mistakes at work - silly little mistakes, and several big whoppers. Of course this happens the week of my review. Of course.

One of the principles that we strive for - whether we are simple living, homesteading, minimalist or any other related philosophy - is resilience. It's in many ways a more useful concept even than sustainability, in my opinion, focusing on building the ability to absorb shock locally. Resilient food chains focus on local rather than organic, for example.

Resilience is a personal skill too - the ability to adapt to a changing environment, to dust oneself off and keep on putting the nose to the grindstone.

Today I am practicing resilience at work. I'm taking a deep breath, making a cup of tea, and taking a few minutes to be warmed and cheered by the early spring sunshine. I'm slowing down - rushing means more mistakes - doing each thing that comes my way carefully and checking it before sending.

One thing at a time - that's at the heart of simple living, isn't it? By doing one thing at a time, and focusing on doing it well, we get far more done than when we try to multitask, constantly connected to multiple inputs. One thing a time, one foot in front of the other. The weekend will get here, and with it my seeds for my new garden, a visit from family, and maybe even another batch of yoghurt.

Finding the balance

Welcome to everyone dropping by from Rhonda's blog Down to Earth! I hope you enjoy my musings.

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Most days, I feel that my simple living philosophy and my challenging job are in conflict.

Today, I feel that they are in balance. Mostly because I managed to take a half-day's leave, so I very much have the best of both worlds. (Maybe part time is the answer?) I had a very full morning at work, and then came home to hoover, put on a load of laundry and settle in with a cup of tea for a little reflection and some crochet.

I've been thinking a lot over the last couple of days why I feel such a sense of satisfaction from the few parts of homemaking that I am on top of - having a clean, tidy kitchen; having fresh bedsheets on the bed or in the cupboard - compared to the frustration of never quite being good enough at work. I think it's largely because I am my own boss at home - I set the standards, and I know (at least at the moment) that I am making slow, steady, sustainable progress. This in turn allows me to take pride in what I am doing right, without letting the areas where I still have so far to go from bringing be down (much.)

Even though I have a boss - or several - who set their standards of success, why not try to take the mindset I have at home into the workplace? Focus more on standards I set myself rather than those others set for me, think more proactively about what I want to give at work, allow myself to structure my workload and my day to help improve my focus as much as possible.

I know that I work much better when I am focused - the kind of focus you get in a competitive judo match, when you have to stay loose to be able to react quickly, remain somewhat detached to be able to pick up on subtle cues and read your opponent's body language, and think clearly on your strategy, without getting distracted by passing thoughts. I don't often find this mental place at work but I think in general I am far less likely to let small but essential tasks slip through the cracks, more tuned in to the details, and also contribute to a more positive atmosphere in the team. In contrast, when tense and stressed, I make silly mistakes, beat myself up over them, and get defensive when confronted on them.

The more I think about it, the more I see ways I could use work to practice some simple living skills. More efficient practices, better focus and mindfulness, less distraction and procrastination. Being organised, knowing where things are, planning ahead, doing today whatever I can to reduce tomorrow's workload, facing up to challenging decisions or difficult conversations and tackling them head on.

Today, I'm just enjoying a cup of tea on a relaxed, sunny afternoon at home with my boyfriend - a very rare but wonderful treat.

Live to work or work to live?

I work for a consultancy, which means that the workload varies hugely because each individual client will bring you ad-hoc projects which you need to do to their schedule, rather than asking them if they'd mind until you've cleared another client's work off your desk. 

This means that very very occasionally I have very little on my plate, and a lot of the time I am juggling multiple projects on very different issues on tight deadlines, while still having to complete certain daily, weekly and monthly tasks supporting my colleagues. (For example, I check a large number of websites and compile a summary email of relevant developments every day).

This is to some extent the nature of the sector, but the level of work we handle is also a reflection of the company in general and my boss in particular. My boss works crazy hours - 11pm on a Friday and 6am on a Saturday - and gets frustrated when I'm not immediately responsive. It should be noted also that senior staff are paid by the hour, while I get paid until 5.36 pm and every minute past that is unremunerated.

I think we have very different ideas of a normal workload in this sense - I am happy to muck in on a weekend if a completely unforeseeable crisis arises and we have to do damage control, but not on a regular basis or a matter of routine. I enjoy (most of) my work but I also enjoy time at home, and I need time to unwind, destress and switch off in order to carry on juggling the next day without dropping any of the balls.

I think in many ways we (society in general, not just my company) need to change things around. The goal should not be working until 11pm, but that all team members are stretched, challenged, envigorated and then sent home at a reasonable hour. Whether through taking on more staff or changing how the work is handled, the goal should be for everyone to leave at 5.30 or at the latest 6. When I leave at 6.30 I always feel I have to apologise to my colleagues for leaving so early, even though I know that working late means I don't sleep well and then work much slower the next day.

I don't want to have to choose between a fulfilling and challenging career, and being able to be home in time to eat dinner with my boyfriend, and do a little knitting. Why do they have to conflict, why is there a tension? And this is without having children - I can well imagine that being a far more frustrating part of life to be conflicting with workload.

I would like to see companies reward and incentivise employees who can manage their workload effectively within a shorter working day, rather than creating a culture that normalises long hours and effectively penalises employees who leave earlier.

Slow lunch breaks: A museum/gallery exhibition

Since setting out to do these slow lunch breaks, I've been trying to think about places to go and things to do within easy reach of my work. I thought: I wish there was a museum or an art gallery nearby.

Guess what? I had entirely forgotten about the sizeable museum complex in the middle of the park. Yes, the one I've been going walking and running in. They have an art museum, a military history museum, and even a car museum. (Yes. Random.) I checked it out, and their temporary exhibits are usually only €3-4 for under-25s, so I met a friend who was in Brussels on holiday and we went around a design exhibition during my lunch break.

It was quite hard to switch from full-speed to slower during the break, but I am really finding that taking a proper break at lunch means I come back refreshed, feeling more positive and more able to tackle whichever crisis or challenge has arisen in my absence.

Interesting too to find out about Henry van de Velde, who was significant in the development of Art Nouveau, was heavily influenced by the UK arts and crafts movement, and was pivotal in the recognition of design as a branch of the arts in Belgium. There were some truly hilarious pictures of his wife posing around their house as if cooking or doing housework in a medieval-inspired floor-length dress that looked like a huge potato sack, which they were promoting as a more rational and practical type of clothing than the contemporary restrictive corsets etc. I'm quite glad we ended up going another route, those acres of fabric and drooping sleeves would have been highly impractical for just about everything. The picture below is taken from the Boston University website, you can find the page here, and I think you get a pretty good idea!

Slow lunch breaks: Running

Does this count as slow? Only in comparison to the other runners!

I never get enough sport - a common thing among people in my line of work, I think. Especially in Brussels, where for some inexplicable reason swimming pools and accessible sporting facilities are open from 8 in the morning to something like 6 or 7 in the evening. I regularly leave work after 6.30 or 7, so paying to have access to the swimming pool for ten minutes never feels like a good plan.

I have of course tried to get up earlier in the morning and go for a run but, well, who wants to get up and go out for a run when it's dark, cold and drizzley?

A better option is to do some activity in the middle of the day. A colleague of mine is part of an informal running group who meet in the park by my work every day around lunchtime. I've been meaning to join them but have just not got it together. But this week I finally did get my kit on and get out. And they are FAST! Even their 'slow' pace to accomodate me (I am grateful they were so thoughtful) was waaaay faster than my usual jog. But they were very welcoming and it felt so good and alive - the wind in my hair, the rain on my face, the smell of dying leaves. Definitely one to be repeated.

(Oh. No picture. Trust me, you don't want a picture.)

Slow lunch breaks: Ice skating

Can you think of any activity which is a more complete break from sitting staring at a screen than ice skating? Wind in your hair, sense of exhilaration... I couldn't, so this was my next 'alternative lunch break' idea. I've got a long list, starting with going for a walk in the park, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you as I try them out.

I went ice skating with a colleague I want to get to know better. We found that timing is everything - timing with metro to avoid waiting for a train, and timing with when they kick you off the ice to refresh it - so my next trip will hopefully be better organised. It was also a fairly expensive lunch break - €9 - but as a rare treat, very lovely. It certainly blew away the cobwebs and woke me up for the afternoon. I noticed you can also get figure skating classes by the quarter hour for not much more, which would also be a lovely thing to try.

I didn't bring my camera so you'll have to make do with something nicked off the internet.

What is this life?

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stand as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see in broad daylight

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at beauty's glance

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her eyes can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

"Leisure", by W H Davies - photos from another lunch break in the park

Turning leaves

I've been thinking a lot this last week about balancing slow living with a fast-paced job, and have been thinking of ways to slow down at work. I'll be testing all the things on my list and sharing them with you, of course!

Absolutely number one has to be taking a real break at lunchtime. Like too many people, I eat lunch at work most days - either at my desk or in the lunchroom. While chatting with colleagues is good, too often I snatch a brief sandwich and dash back to my emails. Today I finally managed something I've been trying to do all week - I escaped to the park to jump up and down in a pile of dead leaves. Made me feel four again.

I took my camera so I could share the gorgeous colours with you. How does nature do it? Match the colours of the dying leaves to the pumpkin and butternut squash and other things in season?

The holly was covered in berries. I don't know how true it is but I was told that lots of berries is a sign of a very cold winter to come. I have no idea if there is any truth in that!

I love the colours that leaves turn at this time of year. I always think that it's at this time that you see the soul of the leaves - their true colours, underneath the veneer of the chlorophyll. It reminds me of Dylan Thomas's poem Do not go gentle into that good night - these leaves blaze and rage as they die, more glorious and more vibrant in their last stage before they fall and become mulch.