Just One Goal

In a week, my new volunteer role should be official.  President of my neighborhood Community Council.  A neighborhood community council plays so many different roles:  supporting the business district, advocating for the neighborhood with city government, fundraising, using the internet to keep neighbors informed, publishing a newsletter, sponsoring community events such as holiday festivals and parades, and leveraging relationships with police, fire department, recreation centers, and a variety of other neighborhood and government organizations.

Am I crazy?  How can I juggle this new role with work and family commitments?  My last few blog posts have described elements of my strategy:

• Using a timer to ensure I spend no more than 30 minutes per day on this role (other than meetings).  If I don't get everything done in that time, that's got to be OK.  This is worth this much time and no more.
• Because most of the work is on the phone or on a computer, setting up my home office to hit the ground running whenever I start one of my 30 minute sessions.  The key for the computer is building a "wall" between this part of my life and the rest by using a separate browser for community council work.  Separate e-mail address that is always logged in.  Bookmarks, "cloud" storage, websites all set up just for this work with no Facebook or any other distractions.  I don't have a lot of time too "get in the zone" when I need to do this work.
• Probably most important of all, with an organization that touches so many areas, I've let the other 14 Trustees know that I have just one key goal and need their help with everything else:  My goal is to make a breakthrough in how this 50+ year old organization collaborates.  
• Leverage modern tools such as "Google Drive" to share files, "Teamviewer" for conference calls in which we can all see the same computer desktop, discussion boards in which topics are created and any trustee can post.
• Facilitate communication among the trustees by phone, internet, and provide more social interaction because I know that we'll be more effective if there is SOME kind of social connection.

I might get tempted to get heavily involved in an upcoming festival, in networking with government organizations, in fundraising, or in other areas.  But I have to resist these temptations, ask others to step in, and focus on the one legacy I want to deliver in my one year term:  a permanent improvement in how this organization collaborates.  Other than the absolute "givens" for my role that are written in the by-laws, improved collaboration is my only goal.

Timers and Trust

I use the "Joseph-Joseph" timer shown in this picture to control how much time I spend writing this blog and doing volunteer work.  A timer helps me budget my time.  Without a timer, I'm likely to drastically "overspend" my time on these interests, leaving insufficient time for family, chores, and fun.

The timer creates trust.  I set a budget:  30 minutes to write a blog about once per week, and 30 minutes almost daily on my new volunteer role.  Then I have to be strict.  When the "Joseph-Joseph" rings, I have to stop.  No rewinding, no "just a few more minutes".  Develop a consistent habit of stopping immediately.

When I'm consistent about this, week after week, lots of good things happen.  Most important, I gain trust.  My family starts to trust that I won't get carried away and forget about them.  And I start to trust myself that I'll limit my time appropriately.  Another benefit is that, when the clock is ticking, I'm extremely focused.  I know that this is the only time I'm going to get to do this work so I'm fully engaged and efficient.

I wouldn't want to be a slave to a stopwatch on everything.  Most things at home are free flowing, spending whatever time I feel like spending.  But some activities matter to me and to nobody else in the house.  These are the activities that need strict time management so that the time I spend on them is in synch with my priorities and values.

Browsers for Work, for Play, and for Volunteering

I find that it's best to build walls between work, family/fun time, and my volunteer work.   Whichever situation I'm on, I find it's best to focus at that time in that one area of my life.  Otherwise I can't concentrate; I'm overwhelmed with all the things that need to get done.

Recently, I've learned to build walls between my Internet Browsers. I use Internet Explorer for work, Google Chrome for family/fun/social browsing, and Opera for my volunteer work.  I set up each with different e-mail addresses and bookmarked websites so that, when I choose to engage in that part of my life, all the messages in my inbox and all my bookmarked websites are precisely targeted for that part of my life.  For example, my volunteer work is community related so every bookmark is geared to local government, local news, and neighborhood organizations.  And all my e-mails are strictly separated.

On your mark! Get set . . .

Whenever I've done volunteer work for the last 20 years, I've had a horrible tendency to get carried away.  I"ve spent WAY too much time on the volunteer work at the expense of quality time with my family.   Now that I'm taking on this new volunteer role starting in January, how will I avoid making the same mistake?  I'm not the only one worried about this.  My wife and kids are worried; I think even the dogs wonder if I'll remember to feed them.

I feel confident that it will be different this time in part because of how I'm setting up my work area at home.  I've set up my desk with two computer monitors and a phone so that I can communicate easily and can have as many files and websites open as I need.  But, more importantly, I have my "Joseph-Joseph" timer shown in the picture above.  Wind it up, work for 30 minutes, and walk away.  No more losing track of time.  When it rings, I stop and go back to my wife and kids.