Put it in a Box

Sarah's insightful comment to me at lunchtime: "you don't compartmentalise things". She had been surprised to find that my morning in the office had included so many apparently unrelated action points. She on the other hand is far more likely to say, "this morning is for x, this afternoon is for y". (If you speak Birkman, we are talking low and high Structure, respectively) She then reflected on partners in a very successful small business with whom she had done some work last week; this was a key issue for them as well. One (more like me) was highly situational, found it easy to change priorities and work longer or shorter hours as the moment demanded. The other (like Sarah, higher on Structure) saw working hours as a given, and would work in a more programmed manner.

Is one approach better than the other? No - once again, PROVIDED both understand the different dynamics and perspectives involved, having both is better than having just the one.

While I am happy to be me, I can see where there is a downside to my situational, non-compartmentalised approach to life; those who are more programmed can tell where things start and finish. For me, all demands - work, family, church, whatever - can end up being a seamless robe of "things needing doing" that can run from dawn to dusk - and frequently does. So I actually help myself when I do some broad blocking out of time and say "this morning I am doing x, this afternoon I am doing y".

And the opposite camp? It will take a braver man than I to tell any high Structure person I know that they should loosen up and just go with the flow more...