You're watching...
Leadership expert, Peter Bregman, says you need to change the reality around you or your expectations.
Also in this playlist...
Auto-advance: ON
Auto-advance
This transcript is automatically generated
Listed -- little bit though and talk about technology because most people -- technology is very good thing makes things faster makes them more efficient.
But our next guest says technology is also stressing people out Peter -- -- -- contributors here with us now Peter.
If technology makes things easier than how is it also making us.
-- -- you know I I've wondered that myself -- right because I could do a much more efficient with techno it's done you could do much faster than that ends up being the problem.
Right which is that I can get so much more done.
That I start the ball rolling on a bunch of different things people get back to me suddenly you know it used to be when I would go down in my mailbox or -- you know when I got the mail at my door 34 pieces of mail and that's it -- right and I check it now I have.
Hundreds of pieces of mail and -- -- and that mean it Annie well well that's the problem one of them does.
Could you don't know which one bright that you go through all 200 to figure out and then one of them would doesn't mean anything has a link.
And it's to a YouTube video which is kind of funny and then you start Sherry -- link with the effect.
And suddenly we're spending all of our time doing stuff that doesn't really matter how watching funny YouTube videos -- matter I'm know yeah I mean look Fox News casts some.
Matters but funny if you get something out -- and they make our life fun but soon enough what we find.
Is -- we've spent our whole day.
And we've been busy we've been nonstop we've been doing email which is work.
Right so we've been working all day but we haven't got our most important things done figure exhausted it that you actually didn't get all the work done that you your box actually wanted you to do you and you know life is just moving faster than we have so many more ways of accessing each each other ourselves.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- How bad and that -- is I'm on my Blackberry and my head at the same time -- -- look at the economy here's send an amount that's exactly right let's have a wife three of the one's for business someone's personal.
As a defense to then let's consider what I think he's one of the breaks down her.
I think it's like an and we get overwhelmed and and the problem as it stresses us out and -- -- itself because our expectation.
Is that you know it's gonna make us more productive and more efficient and we're gonna be more -- you say your gold differently because you think you can get so much more -- that's exactly right and then we never meet our expectations I think.
We've never lived at a time.
When we have so much opportunity.
So many expectations.
That we could have met.
But our expectations have risen even beyond that.
That we've never lived at a time when our -- when we're falling short of our expectations and so much and what does it do for businesses -- it tipping the scale of the expectations of the -- out there who now expect all their employees to be.
Plugged in all the time -- to get that much more done in an election absolutely so so there's a there's a couple of things of that right which is that.
I'm for -- all we're doing more with -- right we've been in a difficult economy for several years now and that and so that people are expected to work harder they're expected to just.
Kind of in a sense be happy that they have a job and and and you know and work.
Double.
Up and keep the -- you wanna work double -- for not campaign -- and that's exactly right and so the expectations are.
Although all unemployed is the expectation is that you're gonna work super super -- be very very happy -- a lot of couples.
But isn't that the product of just being in.
This kind of an economy -- not necessarily due to the technology available I think.
It's a double impact effect right because.
We've got we've we've we're supposed to be so efficient because all this new technology that we have and it never lets up and the idea was you could free yourself you -- do your email on the beach.
Right that's great you're not to be your office all the time.
But what it means that people are doing their -- -- on the beach drag and that and enjoy -- out of the office all the time but the office has just moved to virtually to wherever you -- to being.
It's probably like you know these vacations that you go on where they say we don't have Wi-Fi we don't have service you can't get itself on -- outcome -- next -- -- -- -- popular because people.
As much anxiety is it may give them going into within other once they get there they don't have a choice in the matter they -- -- Go that's exactly right now I'd just came back from vacation and I think interestingly enough I was on the airplane it's an eight hour flight it came back from Europe -- my wife.
And there was a point at which is the movie do list.
You know and I thought a home -- -- would have little watching that movie it's crazy and -- cicadas -- -- bit on the think comedian.
And it's likely.
I'm flying across a -- and I -- thousand right I -- there's a lot and I'm watching a movie and I.
Angry that my movie is not where and it -- that's my expectations I'm I'm stressed out because I'm missing.
A piece of the movie it should take me months to get from you know France threat.
But I didn't do any email when I was out there -- just sort of really kept it technology free vacation and I came back and it took me about two hours to go through hundreds of emails.
And I batch process -- -- just went super quick I went through went for a went through and I got rid of -- two hours.
If I was doing email on that vacation.
It would have taken me at least at least an hour day to process -- some things back everything so I'm a big proponent now bulk processing emails.
And there are.
Mean student to counter a little bit there are now technology.
Solutions to that problem you know there -- email filters now that purposely go out in a separate.
The important emails from the -- important with how they do that I have no idea but they worked brilliantly it saves you a lot of time from skimming through.
Every single senior -- is now you can just look at that little that little sort of start in about important in box and see the amount you actually wanna get.
Right it's a very fair point and there is technologies -- and I feel like I'm so busy I can't sort of understand which technologies and that's the primary -- and -- without the -- right got a -- that we're -- -- writing and there's there's technologies and it makes it a lot a lot easier.
If you can sort of find ways.
To segment doubt what you don't want to be looking -- so what should people do in order to combat this problem.
So the first is to shift our expectations that we've got all of this great technology.
But have not actually making our lives less stressed it might make them easier.
But it expanding.
So much of the time that we're working that it's not making it less stress on Trent take on the world -- day if I didn't thank you -- only thing you know what I I believe that the biggest myth of time management might.
-- wrote a book about time management and and I wrote it because every other book on time management of looking -- Sad to basically you can get it all done.
Then -- and I felt that that was a myth.
That in fact we can't get it all done and and we have to admit to ourselves that we're limited resource we're not going to be able to accomplish everything.
And we need to be incredibly strategic and intentional about what we're gonna do and what we're gonna ignore and ignoring things is gonna really help us.
Ignore things they go that's that's it from Peter Bregman -- like that -- that the person ever heard that.
You can read more about Peters theory here at the Harvard Business Review and we -- article going up on foxbusiness.com.
-- -- -- about that Peter thanks so much for being on my -- Clinton.
