Read "6 ways to Manage Overload," Transcript below then explain the ideas and details presented in the transcript below.
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I think no one would disagree with the fact that in today's workplace, there's an incredible amount of work overload that just that everybody is grappling with. There's the increased demands of work, there's the internet, there's the 24/7 lifestyle.
Well, I'm joined by psychologist Eve Ash, who's going to tell us about the six ways to manage overload that she has discovered. Eve, tell me a little bit about the research, first of all, about managing overload that you've read.
Well, I should really be a case study for this program because I thought I managed myself quite well, but as I started to really get into the depth of this program, I realized there were so many more things I could be doing better.
OK, well what are of the discoveries? What's the first major discovery that you made from reading the research that you could apply to your own work situation?
OK, well there's a number of physical, environmental things that you can do. For example, there's been research to show that having a larger screen with your computer makes you far more efficient. In fact, a woman did a study-- called Mary Czerwinski-- we found that office workers completed tasks 44% faster with larger screens.
Why is that? Because they can just see?
The ease of navigation, and having their documents, and being able to do that. So immediately, that's one. Another one is the chair that you have. In fact, I found the most amazing chair, which I'd like to order, that really accommodates an ergonomic position far better than even all the ones in the last 10 or 20 years that people have been saying. Because you really don't want to get back ache, and you don't want to get RSI, so you want to be in the best possible position. And I'm assuming that a lot of people have sedentary jobs. So with the time at the computer, you want it to be terrific.
Also there's things like the right temperature to work in. For example, 22 degrees Centigrade or 72 degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature.
Is that so? Because often you see people or you see workplaces where it's much cooler or much warmer.
And people get quite stressed or they're not working. In fact, they've done studies which show a 2% drop in productivity for every degree of temperature change.
Up or down?
Up or down. So things like that. The clean air. In fact, they're now doing buildings to really make the air and all the way in which we work at our best. Because they were finding that people were having Sick Building Syndrome.
Yes. I believe that's not just related to the air quality, but also carpets and paint on walls give off certain chemicals that can cause problems. In fact, there's a building near to where I live, in downtown Melbourne, which is the first six-star office building. And they've done an incredible amount of very innovative work to circulate air and do all sorts of things. So I guess that's the way the future.
There's even evidence to show that the more daylight you have the more effective you'll be. And I've found this particularly interesting, because, as you know, I like to do a lot of my work at night. But I'm finding that the quality of my work, in daylight is actually very good, but why I haven't liked it is because of the interruptions during the day.
But, in fact, there was a study that showed that students in classrooms with more daylight progressed 20% faster on math comprehension tests and 20% faster on reading comprehension.
And that's if they've got daylight as opposed to--
As opposed to less daylight-- a lot less daylight. So the more daylight the better.
What about colors? Because I've read a bit of stuff that colors very much affect your mood and your productivity. I always remember-- and I thought this was kind of funny-- that apparently they often paint the inside of prisons pink because pink has a kind of calming effect on people. I'm just picturing all of these pink prisons.
But what are the best colors to have in a workplace? And is it actually not just the walls, but also the paper or the screens? Are there some optimum colors?
Yes. There are some colors which are not optimum, which are, for example, yellow, although it's great to highlight things. Which would really put into doubt the yellow legal pads that are used in America a lot. Contrasting colors-- white on black is not good. But there's actually not a lot of evidence that certain colors are better than others. But there's one overriding fact, and that is that white is the least productive environment.
You're talking about, as in, walls--
White.
Is that so? OK. While we're talking about colors, and I'm thinking mainly of computer screens here, is there any evidence that you're aware of of text font size or font style that is the best to work with?
Yes. In fact, a lot of people work in size 10 font, but there is actually a higher degree of accuracy in size 12 font. And on computers,
Sans Serif-- without the little bits-- is easier to read, but in print, it is the other way around.
OK, so obviously, if there's less errors and it's easier to read, by definition, there's less overload. So these are all very practical things that we can do.
OK. Let's get away from the building environment and talk a little bit about your immediate work environment. And, once again, let's assume that we're talking about a situation where people are in an office, they've got some sort of desk or workspace. What have you learned about what you can do there to manage overload?
Well, one of the things that causes a lot of stress is the piles of things that are around you. And a lot of people like to work in that way, where they've got everything that they have to do there in front of them. But, in fact, it is better to keep your workspace fairly clear, but have things within reach and so that there's less stress, and there's a cleaner feeling, and it's more organized. And yet, a lot of people don't do that.
OK. It always amazes me that a lot of people, particularly younger people, work while listening to music on some headphones, and maybe playing games, or chatting at the same time-- doing multiple tasks. What would you suggest about this over-stimulation and whether that helps or hinders people's ability to work effectively?
Well, unfortunately, they've found now that people are usually distracted after about three minutes on one task, especially on the computer. So they could be doing something and then divert to check email. or go into something else. And really, a lot of evidence says that whilst multi-tasking is a very good thing, and supposedly efficient, we're not actually built to multi-task very well. So it's actually better to focus on one task rather than being distracted by a range of others. So it's important to really minimize those distractions.
So are you suggesting that people should not work with music? I know, for example, some designers who like to work on the computer and they like to have soothing music in the background.
Well, I think music can be, definitely, and aid to some people, and the right choice of music. So it really depends what job you're doing.
Right. Well, let's talk a little bit about time management because that's topic that's been around for quite a while, and I'd be interested to hear what you discovered for yourself about how you can manage your time better in order to manage overload.
OK, well one of the things is to bunch tasks. And it's strange, because no matter what people say, they're still not doing that. So they're suddenly in the middle of it going, oh, I must call such and such--
Then they do this and--
Yeah. But, in fact, to plan and say, I'm going to do all these calls between 9:00 and 10:00. And then I'm going to do all of these-- you are far more efficient.
And it makes sense, because every time you do a task, and then if you go and do another task, you've got to set up for that task. So you're saving all of those set-up times so if you do similar tasks at the same. So you're talking about bunching similar tasks.
Exactly.
OK.
The other thing is planning a day before what you will do the next day. So if you complete your day with a plan and you feel good about it, it's actually much easier to start the next day rather than leaving something stuck in the middle of its task and not having a plan of what you will actually tackle.
I always remember when I read books on time management one of the things I loved most was the advice about starting difficult, unpleasant tasks. Because I reckon that one of the reasons people have trouble with overload is they actually spend a lot of time procrastinating-- and being busy, and doing stuff, they're busy, they're working-- but they're actually procrastinating starting the really hard tasks.
And I always love the salami technique, which is that you slice a task into thin slices. And a slice is, I'm just going to do five minutes of that task. If I still hate it, I'll stop and go on to something else. But, of course, the reality is that once you've done five minutes of a task-- well, I'll just do another five minutes. And before you know it, you've actually got going. Is it something that you did before or are you finding that you're doing that with renewed vigor now that you've done this research?
I am doing it with renewed vigor. And I think the thing that really is fabulous is to get rid of what I call a backlog task. And it's probably one of your unpleasant tasks, but it's something that you have had and you've been torturing yourself with it. So you keep telling yourself, oh, I must do this and I must do that, but in fact, you don't. But you take up a lot of brain space thinking about it.
I've worked with you for over 25 years. One thing that I've often found with you, and I'm curious to know whether you've changed this, is confusing urgent with important. And often, I know with you in the past, you've tended to put off important things by doing urgent things. And there's always this, quickly, we've got to do this. And spending time on a whole lot of tasks which may be urgent, but not that important. And what happens is the important tasks kind of get pushed towards the end. Has that changed?
Oh, yeah. I've definitely improved that .
How did you do that? How did you make that change?
Just focusing on it and by looking at what causes more stress when you haven't done those things and to really plan better. But part of it is also having a "do it now" mentality. And so you really set your mind to I'm going to do it now, it has to be done, and it has to be done by this time. And just getting it done. And you can compete with yourself. You can say, OK, how many things can I get done in this period of time?
All right. Let's move on to another area because at the end of the day, your body's got to be in good shape for you to manage overload. What are some of the things that you've learned from the research that you've done about how to make sure your body is in good working order?
OK. Well, a couple of things are related to stretching-- stretching at the disk. Just being able to just stop every hour or so to really just move the shoulders, move the arms, do a stretch, stretch your legs, stand up. I even recommend to people when they take a phone call, which is where they don't have to be typing at a desk, that they actually take it standing up and be able to move around. Because a lot of times we're getting a sore back or a sore neck simply from not stretching.
Absolutely. I've always thought that water is terribly important. And you'll notice that we've actually got water here on the set. And we drink lots of water. And tell me a bit about why water is so good for you.
Well, it's interesting because a lot of people get dehydrated and are not aware of it. Because we think--
And then they'll go and have a coffee.
Well, and that dehydrates you more.
Exactly.
But the thing is that thirst is not the first symptom of dehydration.
What is?
In fact, you start to get a little bit headachey, a little bit dizzy-- just not functioning so well. So we in fact have to have water before we're thirsty. And people are confused. They think coffee, soft drinks, all of those things are actually hydrating them, when in fact, they're not.
All right. One of the biggest changes in the workplace, I think, over the last 5, 10 years, has been the advent of email. And I know, and I have to confess, I'm a bit of an email junkie. In the morning, I like to sit down at my computer. Oh, I think I'll just see what the emails are. And if I'm going along during the day, particularly if I've got something I don't like doing too much, I think, look, I'll just quickly check my emails. Tell me about what you've learned about the problem with emails.
The problem is that people tend to have it open and accessible the whole time.
Yes.
And so they're distracted the whole time. Some people even have a sound effect when a new email comes up, or the program shows a part of the email. So they think, oh, I must deal with that now. I need to deal with that now. And a very simple way is to set specific times that you'll check email. And it could be, depending on your job, hourly, it could be every half day, or whatever.
OK. So that's actually also another good example of bunching, because what you're really saying is, rather than interrupting tasks by always flicking back to the email, bunch your checking of emails. But gee, it's hard to do.
Yes. But it's not just checking of emails that causes the overload. Not getting rid of the emails causes people a lot of stress. And if you ask people how many emails have you got in your inbox at any one time, read or unread? You'll be astounded.
Yes.
There are very few people who keep the emails right down to say, 10 or less than 10. And yet, a lot of people are getting 100 or more a day.
Well, when the first time management books came out back in the '70s, one of the big points was when you get a piece of paper, try and only handle it once.
Same with email.
That's right. It's the same principle with emails. All right. Let's go on to the final point. And I think this is a really interesting one, which I'd like you to explain, which is recognize the 24/7 addiction. What do you mean by that?
Well, we live in a society and in a life now where we can do things all around the clock-- we can shop, we can shop online, we can do whatever we want. And it can actually become an addiction, where your hours are totally disrupted and you lose your sense of where is the end of work and where is my private life? For example, your mobile phone can be ringing the whole time. And people leave themselves plugged in to this lifestyle. And I think it's not healthy. I think people need times when they can switch off, and not be available, and not be connected.
I guess the other thing is, also, in a lot of organizations, the expectation is that you can be available even out of hours. And so you have bosses and work people phoning people late at night or even on weekends to discuss things. And I think people find it very difficult to manage those boundaries and push back and say no.
Well, it's interesting because there was a study done that shows that you're six times more likely to have a broken relationship if you work at night-- now whether that's shift work or you're bringing work home.
So a broken relationship in the sense of husband-wife?
Mhmm.
All right, Eve. So what's are the major things-- just to summarize. What are the major things that you have changed about the way you work as a result of the research that you've done?
OK. Putting in place time out. Just completely time out.
So switching off the phone?
Switching off, going for a walk, not having the phone, and not being connected. Taking more holidays. Taking a break from it. Because I am a 24/7 person, and I do like to have that, to actually have the counter-balance from that.
And people might say, well, it's easy for her because she owns the company. The point is, I know people who work for corporations who have months of unused holiday time. They just don't want to take the vacation time that they can. And that's ridiculous, really, isn't it?
Yes. Another one is to not have an instant messenger operating the whole time. Because of course you're going to see people coming online who are friends or who you even work with. But it's going to be a disruption, so you're just setting it up as a problem. So I don't turn it on unless I specifically want to see if somebody there that I want to find.
Anything else?
No. Just enjoy not having overload, because it really isn't a good thing for your health.
Terrific. Well, let's end by having some more water. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
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