Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I explore the changing relationship between work and our personal lives. Every week, I share something I’ve written, a few things I’ve enjoyed reading, and something great to listen to. If you find it interesting, please share it!
The Writing:
What was your biggest achievement at work last month?
Can’t remember?
Ok, how about 2 weeks ago?
No?
Last week?
Alright, was your highlight of yesterday?
Great, now we’re getting somewhere.
It’s good to capture the high points in your working day. It reminds you of the challenges that light you up and the contribution you’re making, whether to your team, your clients, or your own projects. Tracking your progress gives you an all-important feeling of momentum in your career.
And that forward progress really matters.
Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer of Harvard Business School have done some fascinating work on the positive role of progress in our 'inner work lives' – the internal emotions that reflect our day-to-day experiences. They analysed the relative impact of progression and setbacks on the psychology of a wide variety of people in different job functions and seniority.
In all cases, the single biggest influence on a sense of fulfilment in their role was a feeling of making progress.
And while significant events like closing new client deals, winning awards, or successfully launching products positively impacted their feelings about their work, size was less important than you'd think. Even small wins are enough to provide a tremendous positive boost to your 'inner work life’. Unfortunately, our brains are wired to convey negative emotions even more than their positive counterparts, which is why we experience loss aversion – a tendency to prefer to avoid loss rather than acquire something new. Amabile and Kramer found that this is also true of our work/lives, overriding any positives by a factor of two.
This being the case, it's worth trying to reframe setbacks as learning opportunities and as necessary steps in supporting our progress.
For example:
I didn't get the promotion I wanted, but now I understand what I need to improve on to be successful next time.
We didn't win the deal, but from the feedback I've received, I know that we need to quantify the product's value better next time.
The presentation didn't go to plan, and I know now that this type of role isn't for me, so I need to look for something that will bring me more joy.
Aside from mitigating the risks of negative emotions, how can we harness the positive, to create forward momentum?
Let's start by clarifying that the work you're doing doesn't need to change the world to be meaningful. It just needs to matter to you. This is why being clear about your values and goals in the first place makes a huge difference. Every time we complete a task or receive feedback that aligns with our purpose, however minor, we give ourselves something to cheer about. So, make sure you do it!
How?
Start small.
Micro-journaling is one habit that has changed my life over the past couple of years. At the end of each day, I spend five minutes noting down answers to the following questions:
How do I feel about the day in general – was it productive, frustrating, exciting, sad?
What's the main reason for feeling this way?
What was my biggest achievement at work?
What was my biggest achievement in my personal life.
I then note down the answer to the question:
5. What were the most story-worthy moments of the day?
The goal of an exercise like this is two-fold – focusing your attention on the things that matter most and recognising your progress each day.
As we scrutinise what's happened during the day – however large or small – we acknowledge the significance of our work. We're placing a marker down by identifying a highlight that demonstrates our progress.
Five questions in five minutes, which have had the following five results for me:
Reduced stress and anxiety: Why? Taking a moment to pause helps me unwind before laying down to sleep.
I can see I’m making progress: It's easy to get caught on the treadmill of life but tracking my highlights shows me how far I've come.
I can spot patterns: After a while, it's easy to see the activities and people that give you energy and those that suck it up. Do more of the good stuff!
I see a positive connection between work and life: I do better work when life is good. I'm a better dad, husband, and friend when work is good. I no longer dream of work/life balance. I design my work/life to work in harmony.
My memory's improved, and time's slowed down: I struggled to remember key events in my children's lives for years. Everything seemed to be flashing by. Now I have a memory log, can recall even the smallest moments, and I feel like I have more time to play with.
Breakthroughs keep your Work/Life Flywheel spinning in the right direction but require rest, reflection, and acknowledgement of your progress.
So, to gain perspective and recognise you progress, take a step back from life’s craziness and start tracking your achievements today.
The Reading:
One of the biggest problems I hear from leaders and workers when it comes to hybrid work? Managers don’t have the skills needed to manage hybrid teams.
This article from WorkLife shares some interesting insights from people trying to fix it.
An interesting Work Futures interview with Liz Fosslien, whose brilliant illustrations you’ll recognise (example below). Her day job is head of content and communications at Humu, where she helps ‘teams and leaders develop the skills and habits that allow them to unlock their full potential’. On the above point above managers, she explains:
The biggest change organizations will have to make is in how they train and reward managers. The traditional approach to management focused largely on productivity-focused behaviors: setting clear expectations, keeping team members aligned, and outlining specific roles and responsibilities.
To improve employee wellbeing, managers have to become much better at the interpersonal aspects of management: offering personalized support, rallying remote team members together, and ensuring that employees find their day-to-day manageable and meaningful. This means organizations will need to find ways to equip managers with soft skills—and incentivize them to act on what they’ve learned.
(Liz Fosslien)
Are you a future founder? If so, you might find this research from Mosaic Ventures on the ‘typical’ profile of a successful European founder interesting. Of course, we should always be mindful of historical data and be aiming to give more opportunities to people from less traditional backgrounds, but for now, here’s the TLDR on the common traits and backgrounds of founding CEOs of European unicorns :
They were most likely to have:
Prior experience as a founder (~65% were repeat founders)
No previous industry experience in the sector of their unicorn business (~55%)
A Master’s or PhD degree (~55%)
More than 10 years of work experience before founding the company (~35%)
Perhaps even more interesting is who and what European unicorn founders/CEOs tend not to be. They are:
Very unlikely to have worked for another unicorn (only ~10% had)
Very unlikely to have worked for a FAANG or Microsoft (~5%)
Unlikely to have skipped college, including dropping out (~10%)
Unlikely to have studied at a small set of highly represented universities. The top 5 alma maters accounted for only ~15% of founders in the sample
Unlikely to have a technical background (~35% of founding CEOs are technically oriented)
The Listening:
There are plenty of lessons to be learned from this Marcus Wareing interview on The High Performance Podcast with Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes. Marcus is suitably intense in his work ethic and ambition, but it’s a great example of how someone can evolve throughout their career, learning about their weaknesses and adapting their behaviour to become a better leader.
Incidentally, Damian has written the foreword to my book, Work/Life Flywheel, including these kind words:
"Ollie’s excellent book will show you the practical techniques of reimagining your life and career and reveals how much better things could be for you, if you can adopt his hard-earned wisdom.”
If you fancy pre-ordering a copy, then you can do so here.
Also, if you’re interested in buying copies for your team, I’ll be free workshops later this year, so get in touch for more info.