What environment do you need for creativity, focus, and deep thought?

I think I am getting the hint. Notifications, emails and messages aren’t making me more productive and they greatly reduce my ability to be thoughtful. This is true for many of the people in our organizations too.

Daniel Sih is an author and productivity guy. I reached out because of his Spacemakers book, but I was curious about productivity and he delivered!

He’s a physiotherapist and accidentally became a productivity consultant over a glass of whiskey.

Now he is going to TedX and his ‘idea worth sharing’ is that we need to put down our phones to be more productive and have better relationships.

He used to think productivity was about getting better at email and prioritization. That is helpful, but, to truly be productive, you need to think about who you are and what is important to you. Then be productive at THOSE things.

Notwithstanding the importance of knowing our priorities, we can teach employees to manage email, set priorities, and maintain good habits. Organizations have a better chance of getting a lot more of the right work done.

Spacemakers: How to Unplug, Unwind, and Think Clearly in the Digital Age

You can find more about Daniel and Spacemakers on https://spacemakers.com.au/.

You can find Elissa Lok for Spacemaker or Email Ninja training in North America at elissa@spacemakers.com.au.

The post Productivity in the Workplace – And Feel Better Too! appeared first on HR West Consulting - Elevating Success.

Think about your favourite online escape.

Is it making you happy?

Connecting with people is overwhelmingly shown to create happiness. That doesn’t really happen when we are spending more and more time online. And, if we’re honest, so much is a total waste.

Digital wellness in the workplace is becoming an increasingly important aspect of wellness. As we spend more and more time on our devices, it’s helping drive burn out, stress, and anxiety. Obviously this will have a negative impact on the well-being and productivity of workplaces.

The first of my guests, Daniel Sih and author of Spacemaker, has been invited to speak at TedX and his ‘idea worth sharing’ is that we need to manage our use of tech. He laughs, a little amazed, because most of us remember a life before this level of tech and yet we have become so dependent so fast. And now it’s an idea worth sharing. Elissa Lok, my second guest and HR Consultant, helped Daniel develop a Spacemaker course and reflects on the impact in organizations.

Some other ideas:

Boredom is not bad even if we do anything to avoid it. In fact, a lot of creativity happens when we are bored. When we give ourselves time to be unplugged and disconnected from technology, we allow ourselves to have new ideas, and think more critically. It’s hard to underestimate how valuable that is.

Our tech is powerful and useful – and addictive. Addiction can be defined as the repeated use of something even though it causes substantial harm. Of course the irony of this topic and how I am delivering it is obvious.

Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids use ipads or iphones.

The relationship between tech and productivity is an inverted U curve.

If employers are interested in employee productivity and wellbeing, they should investigate digital wellbeing. It’s the right thing to do do, but there is also tremendous benefit to the workplace, to ourselves and our humanity.

Spacemakers: How to Unplug, Unwind, and Think Clearly in the Digital Age

You can find more about Daniel and Spacemakers on www.spacemakers.com.

You can find Elissa Lok for Spacemaker or Email Ninja training in North America at elissa@spacemakers.com.au

The post Digital Wellness In The Workplace appeared first on HR West Consulting - Elevating Success.