The Butterfly

The Butterfly has a short attention span, fluttering from one task to the next, alighting on a leaf for a moment before spotting something brighter and more colourful and flying off to investigate.

Projects are initiated with energy and enthusiasm and a sudden flurry of activity.  It’s common for the Butterfly to have several projects on the go at once; it suits their need for variety and appeals to their short attention span.

Tasks often drift without much significant progress being made and the Butterfly finds that much of their energy is used up by starting and re-starting projects – having to review what stage they’ve got to each time they pick up a project to spend some time on it.

There are a few tips we could offer the Butterfly.  

One might be to practise concentration, building up the length of time focussed on one task over a period of time.

Start with some self-study to work out the existing attention span.

Some people find it difficult to focus for just 10 minutes. Others delude themselves they can focus for 2 hours but in reality find themselves experiencing the pull of the outside world every 30 minutes, feeling jumpy and fidgety and needing to check emails or make a phone call.

Once the threshold is established, begin to build it up, little by little, until you can focus for a full hour.

In the meantime, break tasks into chunks that you can realistically achieve in the 10, 20 or 30 minutes that you can concentrate. That way you‟ll experience the joy of completion, that sense of actually getting something done.

Harmony Seeker

The kindest of the bandit gang, Harmony Seeker wants to please other people and always puts their needs first.  A great person to have in the gang; smoothing over any conflict, always happy to help out, Harmony sounds everybody out before any big decisions are made.

Sounds great, doesn’t it, the ideal person to have around, but this bandit puts themselves under tremendous pressure and at some point is likely to go off like a shaken bottle of pop.

Harmony tends to shy away from conflict and confrontation and unless really riled will avoid any behaviour that might result in friction.  Rather than rock the boat, Harmony will accept unreasonable deadlines instead of simply saying “no” or asking for more time and this can often disadvantage (and irritate) other members of the gang.

Fellow Time Bandits often take advantage of Harmony’s kind nature and sympathetic ear, unburdening themselves both of worries or problems and often of workload!  Poor Harmony often falls behind and finds it hard to prioritise; after all, prioritising means putting one person’s needs above another’s.

The need to involve people and solicit opinions means that decisions go unmade for quite some time, to the frustration of the bandit chief and those bandits of a different disposition.  Harmony might find that certain responsibilities are taken away and given to someone who can make snappier decisions and isn’t so “soft”!

So what words of wisdom can we offer to Harmony Seeker?  It’s important that someone cares about the needs of others and a character like Harmony can add balance in today’s somewhat ruthless and cutthroat world but maybe we could encourage a little selfishness now and then and also challenge Harmony to take a risk by making a decision without consulting everyone first.  Choose those occasions wisely and be surprised by how few and how little people are upset!  Just be careful if the decision affects other people pleasers too.

The Dandy

The Dandy is incredibly image conscious; it’s all about appearances for this one, needing to be seen to be busy.  On parade early in the mornings and staying late; only leaving after the Bandit Chief has gone home.

Their desk is covered in papers, their intray overflows and they walk around carrying lots of important looking files.

Work expands to fill the time available so they don’t actually get any more done than anyone else.

Of course, if they spent less time “dressing to impress” and focussed a bit more on the task in hand not only would they have more time to do the things they enjoy outside of work but they’d also impress the boss with how productive they can be.

People often complain to me that this is “just the culture here.”  And sometimes they’re right.  But cultures can evolve and change has to start somewhere.  Perhaps the Dandy should bring it up with the boss and encourage colleagues to leave on time occasionally.  Behaviours often shape company culture so even a small change in behaviour can have an impact.  Setting yourself target to leave on time one night a week, every week can work well.  When you come in the next day talking about what a great night you had last night, it becomes contagious.  People soon discover that the world doesn’t fall apart when they leave on time.

And if it does, if people are genuinely so busy that they have to stay late to get the work done, then developing some effective time management strategies will help.

My November 2010 newsletter tackles those perfectionist tendencies that often cause people to feel the need to work late, every night.  If you think it will help you then follow the link on the right and sign up.

The Action Junkie

Ramp up the pressure, this one likes it busy; in fact, the busier the better. Wham - they like an action packed day – it goes by much faster that way. Go, go go! It’s all about output; how many things can they manage to cross off their to-do list (if they've even prepared one in the first place) and will they beat their own record?

This need for speed often has a negative impact on the quality of the work being produced.  The Action Junkie tends not to have an eye for detail and dives in to a task without exploring options or considering consequences. Having to re-work things is a common occurrence and so is the feeling of despair that colleagues have when they have to pick up the pieces or fill in the gaps.

Incredibly driven, they could achieve so much more, ironically by slowing down to think things through.  A slightly slower pace would enable a little more focus on the detail and the chances are that others would be inspired to match their work-rate.