Sneaking up on work


	Alan Bodnar, Ph.D. is the Co-Director of Psychology Training at Westborough State Hospital, Mass. and a consultant in the field of leadership development.

By Alan Bodnar, Ph.D.

Sometimes the best coping strategies are the ones we aren't aware we are using. Freud made that clear in his description of defense mechanisms as automatic and unconscious movements of the mind away from distress signaled by the inaudible tinkling of the bell of anxiety. It's hard to improve on nature's silent alarm system but, over the years, psychologists have amassed an entire catalogue of conscious behaviors and strategies designed to help people cope with all manner of stressful experiences.

In the hospital and the office, we help our patients to recognize triggers, warning signs and danger signs of unpleasant mental states and to interrupt the progression from contentment to misery by applying individually tailored coping strategies. To name just a few, we have mindfulness, relaxation, distraction, improving the moment and, when all else fails, radical acceptance.

After living with a broken closet pole longer than I care to admit, my wife was beginning to wonder if I had resorted to radical acceptance of the status quo. Her question about when I intended to make the repair shocked me into a recognition of a coping strategy I didn't even know I was using. It wasn't exactly denial; I certainly knew the situation had to be corrected. It was more a matter of timing and something else - stealth. Quick to recognize the irrationality of not wanting to talk about fixing the pole under circumstances where we could be overheard by the broken, inanimate object, I suddenly realized that I was planning to sneak up on the work all along. And why not? Hadn't I been using this strategy successfully in other areas of my life? And, if it works for me, then it can work for anyone and I am morally bound to share my discovery with the world.

In this spirit, then, I set forth the principles of Sneaking Up as an efficient and effective way to get work done.

Principle 1: Do not confront the chore directly. To understand this directive, it will help if you picture the chore as an enormous, hulking beast, gorging itself on bananas and throwing the peels on your finest carpet. Once you've fixed the image in your mind, then the foolhardiness of a direct confrontation becomes obvious unless, of course, you habitually think of yourself as Rambo.

Principle 2: Practice reconnaissance. It is important to know what you are up against. Even time management experts suggest that you complete ten percent of every task as soon as it is assigned. This gives you a more realistic idea of how long it will take to accomplish your objective and helps you to schedule your work accordingly. The only thing I would add to this standard practice is the element of stealth. At least in the early stages of reconnaissance, don't let the chore know that you are planning to do it. Act relaxed in front of the broken object regardless of how annoyed you are that it gave out on you. Whistle nonchalantly as you finger your blank income tax return or examine yet another record keeping requirement at work. Examine the task from every angle to get a sense of what you will need to complete it but do not, repeat do not, look the chore directly in the eye. Pretend you are in the area to do something else and then steal as many glances at the situation as you need.

Principle 3: Remember that the chore will always resist being done. As psychologists, we all know that the Zeigarnik effect dictates that we tend to remember unfinished tasks. Maybe this is nature's way of reminding us to complete all the preparations necessary to stay safe in our caves before ferocious beasts begin their nightly prowls.Yet all it takes is a little empathic identification with the chore to realize that it is terrified of being annihilated once it is completed. This being the case, how can the chore not resist?

Corollary A: Forget everything you have ever seen on the House and Garden Channel.

Corollary B: Bring band aids.

Corollary C: Develop a system that works for you and stick to it only until you find something better.

Principle 4: Begin the work incrementally. Do a small piece of the task - a nail here, or, in the office, a sentence there - even while allowing for the possibility that you may suddenly and unpredictably throw yourself heart and soul into the enterprise and finish it in a frenzy. Eventually you will do this; just don't tell anyone when, especially not the chore.

Principle 5: Meet your deadlines. Just because you are approaching the task obliquely, you are not absolved from the requirement of getting it done on time. And what is on time? Just ask yourself how many banana peels you can stand on your carpet or, better yet, how many can your loved ones or co-workers stand.

Now this was a productive afternoon. The closet is fixed, the newly fallen snow has been cleared and I even managed to get started on this column. It was touch and go for a while, though, when my mother-in-law asked when I planned to shovel the driveway. Shh, not so loud.

Sneaking up on work (March 2008 Issue)

By Alan Bodnar, Ph.D.

Sneaking up on work
(March 2008 Issue)