Organize Your Mind, Organize Your Life (20 page)

My contribution to this was to suggest to Megan that she collect all these ideas and physically lay them out in front of her. By studying these options, ideas, fragments of thoughts—whether on a piece of paper, in a scrapbook or in a file in her computer—Megan is
building a rich working memory.
The information here can now be molded and examined. It's from these pieces that the big idea can come.

(As a quick aside, this technique is used in other fields as well. Roy Peter Clark, a nationally known writing coach from the Poynter Institute—a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Florida—recommends what he calls “composting” as an important step in the writing process. By this he means gathering any pieces or scraps of information that might be related to the topic you're going to be writing about and keeping them together in one place, physically or digitally. What he is advocating is exactly what we're talking about here; a marshalling of information that can later be examined, considered, “molded.” It's a sort of woodshed filled with kindling that will in turn provide the spark for the idea that will “light up” the story or the article.)

So now we want to foster insight. Now we want to get to the place where an original idea arrives. This will require being ready to jump on the opportunity, as the insight is sparked by the molding
of your information. This is, as we discussed in an earlier chapter, set shifting.

I wasn't looking over Megan's shoulder to see the lightbulb go on over her head. It might have happened while she surveyed the notes and pieces on her desk. It might have happened when she was out for a three-mile power walk, training for that fund-raiser. It could have even happened when she was puttering around the house or relaxing with her legs up the wall.

The point is it happened. Memory provided the spark, which enabled her to demonstrate some cognitive flexibility—to set shift—into a whole new way to look at the problem.

The result was not one, but
two
big ideas.

The first was an “image” ad campaign, in which real customers of the bank—individuals who had been able to put their kids through college, thanks to some suggestions made by the bank's financial manager or who had saved their homes because the bank was willing to restructure their mortgage—talked about why they were loyal. Apparently, this kind of thing had never happened before—but during one of her morning focus sessions, Megan came across a file, almost lost among all the background material the bank had sent her, that contained a number of e-mails from customers. A surprising number of them were positive, even heart-warming. That became one of the “pieces” of her working memory; when she remembered an ad campaign for a credit card company that talked about celebrities who had used the card for years, the set shifted. The bank, like most, advertised in local media. But maybe instead of just advertising rates, why not advertise relationships with customers?

She had a second idea as well. The client had told Megan they were interested in trying to get more college students—of which there are many in the Boston area—to open up accounts with the bank. Megan
assigned one of her junior staffers to research the ways that banks around the country were trying to communicate to this audience. The staffer sent her links to a couple of Facebook pages from other banks.

This, too, became a piece of working memory.

The idea Megan had was to create a Facebook page, sponsored by the bank and with their special student rates advertised in a banner ad on the side, but one in which the emphasis was not just on talking about how great the bank was but rather the sharing of financial tips and advice among young people. An expert on this topic that Megan had found by Googling the topic (another piece of the working memory) would periodically post some tips on financial management for young people, and the bank could provide free, no-hard-sell seminars for students.

The insight for all this came from seeing connections between things that were previously unconnected: Advertising as a vehicle to tell customers' stories, instead of simply selling bank products. Social media to reach the student population. A Facebook page to provide information as opposed to just trying to “sell” them. This is the building of new connections in the brain. This is thinking out of the box. This was not just being more efficient, but being more innovative and more creative.

That's what happens when you really get organized.

Let's be honest: if Megan wasn't talented and experienced in her career and if she hadn't had a good staff, a more-or-less supportive boss and a client willing to listen to new approaches, none of this would have happened. But along with those prerequisites came Megan's newfound organizational skills. This strategy and the subsequent campaign (which went on to win some awards from the Boston public relations professional association and eventually garnered Meg a nice, fat bonus) might not have come off so well, or even at all, if frenzy wasn't tamed and if
Megan didn't have a sense of focus and traction in her day. The ideas would probably not have been nearly as dynamic had they not been the product of a rich working memory or a nimble mind ready to shift and make new connections. And she pulled it all together. That's the feeling of an organized brain, not necessarily one that knows exactly where everything is in your closet, or that can account for every pen in your desk drawer—although all those things can help. What we're really talking about here is the brain that knows the steps to take to achieve the goals that are important to you; a brain that uses the Rules of Order—first to sweep clean and calm the chaos and then to achieve productive, new problem-solving insights.

That's the organized brain. I was so proud of Megan that she used hers to achieve a great professional success—one that, in turn, enriched the rest of her life as well.

Stu: Taking time to improve home and health

Stu, a forty-five-year-old sales executive and father, needed me to help him make some positive changes in his lifestyle.

He had heard that I was an executive wellness coach and, I think, had at first assumed that I was some sort of personal trainer who would take him to the gym and show him how to do a proper push-up. I explained to him that I was really there to assist him in making the cognitive and behavioral changes he needed and wanted to make.

What I was also doing was helping him get his brain organized.

Because, for many, it is not just laziness or lack of motivation that keeps them from following a regular exercise program or healthy diet. It's disorganization. The most common reason cited for not doing these things that we all know need to be done is lack of time. “I don't have the time to get to the gym. I can't possibly find the time to prepare healthy meals.”

I hear this complaint about lack of time all the time.

It's really the cry of the distracted and disorganized, and I could immediately see that Stu was one of them.

There were a number of things he talked about at our first session, in addition to his health. He told me about some home projects that he started and never seemed to finish and how his wife, Diane, was getting angry at him about that. It was also Diane—not to mention Stu's primary physician—who urged him to lose some weight and start eating better. When I met him, the football-sized bulge in his shirt suggested that Stu was carrying some extra pounds. He sat down gingerly in the chair in my office—complaining about a sore back and a bad knee and was absentmindedly sipping soda from a cup emblazoned with the logo of a well-known fast-food franchise.

When I couldn't help looking at that logo, Stu hung his head theatrically, like a kid caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. “I know, I shouldn't be eating fast food, I'm a bad boy,” he said. I had to laugh. Stu was charming and funny. I could see that he had probably used these attributes to avoid the things he knew he was supposed to be doing.

Stu had a lot going on in his life, like most of my clients. Business was challenging; there were big clients to please and new technologies introduced to his office that he felt pressured to master. But I got the sense from talking to him that the thing that was really causing him stress right now was his relationship with Diane. Again, I'm not a counselor and I certainly didn't try to offer marital advice, but it was clear that Stu felt that his wife was constantly, in his words, “on my back” about finishing the home projects and about getting himself into better shape.

I got a feeling that if he could get a handle on those things, he would feel better and more energetic, his marriage would improve and then he could function better on every front.

Tame the frenzy at home, so the big picture at work becomes clearer

Frenzy presents itself in different ways. Megan's was almost palpable. Stu's frenzy—like a lot of men—was quiet, balled-up tension that occasionally was released in a spate of yelling, and occasional kicking or throwing of things or drinking a few beers. Despite his congenial exterior, I also could tell that inside Stu was worried about what the doctor told him. His father died of a heart attack in his early sixties, and he was afraid that he was traveling down the same road. He was dejected because of the extra pounds he was carrying around. He lacked energy, didn't like the way he looked and couldn't get things done as effectively as he used to, which made him feel even more under the gun and disorganized.

Our overall strategy for Stu, then, was to help him get a better handle around two of the most important domains in his life: his home and his health. This will help tame his frenzy in several ways. Diane would be pleased, and a healthier diet and physical activity regimen will simply make him feel better.

Stu needed to find time, and—since his wife is one of those pushing for him to make changes—I suggested that he and Diane do some time bartering, working together to come up with a better timeline, starting with Saturdays.

He needed to carve out time for exercise—so Stu suggested that he get an hour first thing Saturday morning to exercise. He'll get up and go for a walk in the nicer weather or go up to the local gym in the winter. After his workout, instead of stopping at the nearest fast-food joint for some junk food, he agreed to help Diane prepare the healthy breakfast that they both need—and that they will eat together (and—bonus!—maybe even persuade their teenage daughter to try; although at 9:00 am
on Saturday their fifteen-year-old is usually still sleeping). Stu agreed that he will devote his energies after breakfast to a home project.

While it's not a cognitive skill like the rest of our Rules of Order, don't underestimate the effect of nutrition in helping with your organizational issues. With a breakfast of egg whites, oatmeal and a piece of fruit, Stu will be making his doctor happy, but he'll also be fueling his brain. The brain frenzy from a high and fast dose of sugar is terrible. You also feel guilty from eating that donut, you don't feel satiated, your head aches and you crash later.

To keep up his part of the bargain for Saturday morning, Stu realizes that he will have to change his Friday nights. He and the boys at the office had a long-standing tradition of meeting at a local watering hole after work, to drink a few—a “few” as in three, maybe four drinks. Now he's going to have to cut that down to one drink and probably leave the bar early, if he even needs to go at all.

After the first two weeks of the new schedule, Stu admitted to me, “I felt better when I got up last Saturday. I was less sluggish, more clearheaded.” That was due to the reduction of alcohol and the fact that, by getting home earlier after work, he was also getting into bed a little earlier.

Meanwhile, they're tweaking the schedule, with me on the sidelines—like a real coach should be, offering some reflection, encouragement, brainstorming and the occasional suggestion. He and Diane decided to spend ten minutes after breakfast each week planning how he's going to use the task hour (during which Diane goes to a Jazzercise class at a studio near the house—so she's getting her exercise in the morning as well). It's a collaboration—which also means they're cooperating instead of fighting over this. Instead of conflict, they're in a partnership. This, I know, is reducing Stu's tension and frenzy.

What about our second Rule of Order, sustaining attention? We are achieving this through the scheduling and allotment of certain times for certain things. Each hour has its purpose. Now Stu has focus; distractions are controlled. When he (finally) fixes the sink in the guest bathroom or paints the garage, he will do so without being distracted by worries over upsetting his wife or tension over his sedentary, junk-food eating ways. He can apply the brakes to any impulses to plop on the sofa and watch television, because he knows that—thanks to his more organized, consensually structured morning—he will have time to do that later if he wants.

He has a plan now; he's doing something about the issues that were overwhelming him. He's tamed the frenzy. He and Diane are cooperating, not crossing swords, over things around the house.

After about six weeks of this, Stu dropped by my office. He'd lost weight, he looked better and he felt better. This was obviously because of his exercise and improved diet and healthier lifestyle—but that was all made possible through his and his wife's organizational efforts. And, he told me, they've added to that agenda. They've decided that on Sundays they'll walk together first thing in the morning, after which they'll go to church as a family—something they often missed because Stu was usually running around trying to finish up the home projects he had left unfinished the day before.

After church, he told me, he and his wife have decided to have lunch together at a local restaurant that has an extensive “healthy choices” section. There, Stu said, they plan to review the progress of the home plans, which, I noticed, he seemed to be speaking about with greater enthusiasm than when he first came in to see me (he excitedly talked about the new home office they're creating out of a spare bedroom).