The Stuff that MattRs
Monday Motivation. Let this week be the one where you focus on improving your delegation skills. Only 30% of managers think they can delegate well. It’s a vital skill to help develop yourself, and grow your teams' skills. Here are some ways to improve your skills, and here are 50 micro-prompts to drive your delegation.
Meetings. Is working online causing a rise in meeting rudeness? Etiquette in meetings is definitely changing, lateness, distractions and downright rudeness is on the increase in both video and in-person settings. Bonus Stuff. No one minds the hours you keep, but there are some behaviours that your colleagues hate. Make sure you don’t do any of these five things.
Time. Saint Benedict had a good rule about time management. Oliver Burkeman believes a medieval monk might have an answer to our modern time management. Bonus Stuff. The hidden cost of any new commitment. plus, if you price your time, are you too generous with it?
Career. Do you have an anti-mentor at work? Having someone you don’t aspire to could be the key to unlocking the next level at work. I found this on the excellent Further Faster Fridays newsletter, a great source of Personal Growth insights.
Environment. Five years ago, I moved to Ireland and changed my life. Last week, I moved to a different location in the office to get a task done that I was struggling with. If you want to make a real change, maybe you should change your environment. Bonus Stuff. How the buildings you work in can affect your brain. Some fascinating science in here, and provokes the thought that offices may not be the best things for us.
Bonus Stuff. Try my 30 day Journalling Challenge.
Confidence. The two sides of confidence. I like the concept of self-efficacy. Some strong advice (and resources) for building your courage and determination. Bonus Stuff. 21 ways to build your confidence that you can start and use today.
Balance. Why Work-Life Balance is a lie. An excellent reframing of questions around work-life, and a way to rethink how balance works.
Models. Good mental models are a great way to enhance your thinking and decision making. This seven-minute video explains 30 of the strongest mental models and how they can help you.
Things. Discover the best things in cities around the world. This really savvy and lightweight travel guide has some good recommendations for the city I am lucky to live in, and many others. I’m off to New York in December, and have some great ideas already.
Finally. Scrambled Maps. Exactly what it says, a fiendish take on the sliding tiles puzzle you played as a kid, now with maps instead of numbers. I unscrambled Berlin in 33 moves before I wrote this. Brilliant!
🔈 Stuff to Listen to...
🎧 This week, my musical recommendation is from Sweden, in the shape of Mariam the Believer who has recently released 'Breathing Techniques'.
It's hard to describe the music, sitting somewhere between electronica and classical with sweeping melancholic vocals that are in one breath both delicate and powerful. There's a feeling of jazz in some of the songs, but I get a feeling of 'uneasy listening' that I'm enjoying. Standout track for me is 'Misty' - which sounds amazing with some lovely harp sounds and an outstanding violin/viola melody.
I've had this on heavy rotation for the last couple of days and I'm confident that this will end up in my top albums of the year. Which reminds me, that needs to be done fairly soon!
Highly recommended.
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