Trying to juggle elephants can be VERY painful!

Ouch!!! See if you can determine the common factor involved in the following accidents:

• A 30 year old walks into a stop sign
• A 15 year old girl falls off her horse, suffering head and back injuries
• A 13 year old suffers stomach, leg and arm burns while cooking

Here's a hint: SSINF. That's right. They were all injured while texting with their cell phones. It's not just a habit of teenagers. An adult aide to a presidential candidate fell off a curb this Summer while texting. There are also documented cases of adults being killed due to being hit by automobiles while texting and crossing the road. You can get the entire article from the Greensboro News and Record here.

Dr. Patrick Walsh, an emergency physician in Bakersfield, CA is a texter, but sums up the dilemma quite nicely: "We think we're multitasking, but we're not. You're focusing on one task for a split second, then focusing on another one, and with something moving 40 miles an hour like a car. It just takes a couple of seconds to be hit."

I often laugh at others who struggle to get everything done, and I have highlighted the physical, mental and emotional dangers of overextending yourself in previous blogs. I have also been in situations more than once where someone's texting was quite distracting or even unsafe. I got an employee at a fast food restaurant in trouble because I reported him to his manager for trying to text and take my order at the same time!

The act of texting while driving, walking, biking, etc. however is one that is much too dangerous to make a part of anyone's lineup. If you are too busy to stop and focus on one task for even a few seconds-you're just too busy.

A quote in Juggling Elephants is, "There is no shortage of acts for the circus." Just because you can add it, doesn't mean you always should. I can't imagine anyone starting their day or week by saying, "My purpose is to put my life in danger because I want to text someone anytime I want."

Our goal is that you always be AAS. If you need some help with texting vocabulary, click here.

Turn Right Into A Better Lineup

Turning right instead of left. It might not seem like a big idea, but for UPS, it saves about 3 million gallons of fuel per year, as the software used to calculate their routes sets routes up with mostly right turns. Limiting left turns also increases the time efficiency of their routes because so often when you are turning left, you have to wait for a light to turn green or until traffic allows you the opportunity to make the turn. You can see the live report by clicking here. Need more proof of the value of this strategy? According to UPS officials, they would need an additional 1000 trucks to complete the routes without the calculated, efficient routing. WOW!

After hearing of UPS' great find, I started thinking about my own daily "lineup." What "left turns" do I need to limit in order to be more productive with my day? Here are a few that come to mind:

• Turn off my e mail notifications or close my e mail program so I can better focus on a high mental tasks without being interrupted.
• Move to a less interruption prone area to better focus on key tasks.
• Move the tasks I really like to do to later in the day, making them a reward for getting the less enjoyable tasks done.
• Educate family and friends about my work schedule and that I will check voice mail and e mail at 9 AM, Noon, 3 PM and before leaving the office.
• Insure that my employees have the resources they need to make as many decisions as possible on their own and minimize their need to get my approval for minor decisions.

While these ideas may not give me a monumental amount of increased productivity on a daily basis, over a year they could make a huge difference. Just ask UPS.

Teens and the Juggling Elephants Routine

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were extremely frustrated with our teenage daughter (I said teenager so you are thinking... and you're surprised?). She is an outstanding young lady, but had become quite distant, aloof and downright cranky at times. When we had a discussion with her a few days ago, the reasons she gave for her disposition were somewhat surprising. She said, "I just feel so much pressure to get things done-I don't have alot of time to do what I want. I just would like not to be so rushed." And she is only 13.

While my wife and I consider ourselves to be "good parents," we sometimes don't do an adequate job helping our daughter learn to be the ringmaster of her circus. We might set a poor example or just expect her to jump into the lineup. We also haven't spent enough time helping her to better learn how to manage her time and energy.

Teens today face enormous pressures from all sides. Somehow in the midst of the chaos, we need to teach (and model) the behaviors that will help them deal with the rush of more complex acts that will come their way as they get older. What's the old saying, "An ounce of prevention......"

I am happy to report that after a family "performance review" our daughter is more like herself. And mom, dad and sister better understand what acts they need to have in their lineup to make sure it doesn't happen again soon.

Personal Strategic Planning

I recently did a Juggling Elephants training program where in the audience there were a group of strategic planners for the corporation. It was their job to work with executives to create the strategic blueprints for their business and measure the progress in accomplishing specific goals. They had tools and spreadsheets they used to lay out metrics, create milestones and measure movement.

As I was talking about purpose and setting goals one of these strategic planners raised his hand and said that he had created a spreadsheet that he uses for his Personal Strategic Planning. "There's an idea!," I thought. Why not create a "strategic plan" for your personal life? Lay out metrics, create milestones, gather feedback from your "customers" (significant others, co-workers, etc.) and measure advancement towards your personal goals and how you are aligned to your purpose. You could even graph it! What a great visual a personal strategic plan would be to see how well you are progressing towards achieving your dreams.

Good Better or Best

I like the concept of "Good, Better or Best." The idea is that each day we have a lot of "good"choices or acts that we can perform. However, even though something is "good" we sometimes need to forgo those acts for something that is "better" or "best." As I look at how I spend my time I realize that I am busy doing good things but I can do a better job and raise the bar by trying to focus on better or best activities. A few examples:

Several years ago my young family went to Disney World. It was an expensive endeavor not to mention that the weather was hot and the lines were long. At the end of the trip we asked our kids what their favorite part of the trip was and they all agreed that it was the time that we all were together playing in the hotel swimming pool. It was good to be on a trip to Disney World, it was better to be together as a family and it was best when we were simply playing and interacting collectively. Sometimes simple can be best.

I love my cell phone. It is good that I can call someone almost anytime that I want and that I can be reached if I am needed. But sometime it is better if I don't have my cell phone on so that I am not interrupted when I am trying to focus on an important project or best if I don't derail family time with calls about work after hours that 9 out of 10 times could wait until tomorrow.

One more thought. Entertainment is a good thing. I enjoy going to movies, read, play an occasional video game, watch TV and surf the web. But sometime entertainment can get in the way of the better things in life and isn't worth the precious time that we give it-especially when taken to excess. It is important to me to evaluate what I do in my spare time. I am not saying that we should be robots continually working on a task list of meaningful purpose driven acts. What I am saying is that when we select entertainment we should make the best choices and apply some limitations so that we don't spend too much of our time doing things that don't contribute to what ultimately matters most to us.