At Box of Crayons our goal is to help organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work. So our focus is on the people and teams within these organizations. But sometimes, Great Work isn’t to be found for you with the walls of a company. If you’re one of those people, if you need to get out – then Pam Slim is the woman for you. Her book Escape from Cubicle Nation had its roots in an impassioned plea to organizations to let people do Great Work – or let them go free. Guy Kawasaki liked it so much he re-blogged it, and Pam’s path became clear. In our interview we talk about:

• What Jack Welch sees as the biggest trend in corporations now – and why that matters
• The story of John the baseball player (and his parents), and how his journey is one we can all learn from
• The role of evangelism in finding your Great Work
• Why prototyping can be the difference between success and failure

You can follow Pam on Twitter at @PamSlim and download the first chapter of her book at www.EscapeFromCubicleNation.com

Listen to my interview with Pam Slim

From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Time’s a-ticking

Can you believe it – the first 90 days of 2009 are almost done and dusted.

(As of Thursday 12th we’re at day #71 … almost exactly 20% of the year has gone and we’re charging fast towards the end of the first quarter.)

Things don’t seem to be slowing down any, do they?

What do the next 90 days hold for you?

The next 90 days beckon, and you’re going to be at the end of June soon enough no matter what you do.

So what if, instead of just getting through them, you decided that they would be extraordinary?

What if you lifted your game from now until June 30th?

What if you made this 90 days of more Great Work?

(Why 90 days?  It seems to be a perfect planning period.  Not too short so nothing can really be done.  Not too long that your plans don’t deteriorate into “5 year plan” fantasies. It’s the Goldilocks planning period… not too long, not too short…just right.)

How to make a plan

It’s all about focus.  Don’t try and plan the world.  Don’t try and “boil the ocean”.  Focus on “the valuable few”, the things that will really make a difference, the things that really matter to you.

Try following this structure to see if it helps.

1. Write down two things that you’d like to remember 2009 for.  Two things that, if you achieved them, would make 2009 an uncommon year, a year to remember.

2. Turn your attention to the next 90 days.  For each goal, write down a project or an action that would move things forward that would
=> Be the easiest thing to do
=> Have the biggest impact
=> Be most fun to do
=> Take the most courage
=> Be Great Work

3. Pick two of these.  Pick the two that would have the most impact … and that you will truly do. You should have four in total, two for each of the 2009 goals.

4. For each of the four actions or projects, list the two things that will mostly likely get in the way of you completing them.

5. For each of the four actions or projects, list the two things you need (eg resources, support) that will most likely help you accomplish them

6. Make a commitment to someone about what you will do by June 30th

Today my business partner (and as it happens, wife) will be sitting down to make plans.

We do this every six months or so, a time to hit the pause button, step out of the minutiae and ask ourselves just what the heck is going on around here.

We’ve already started sketching out the topics and issues we want to talk about, and I’m noticing how they fit on four different levels:

The immediate, everyday business level.  “What’s happening on this project?”  “Did you send X to Y?”  “Is it you or me who was supposed to do Z?”  This is all about tying up loose ends from the daily and weekly work we do.

That typically leads to…

The 2009 plan.  “What would be the two or three big wins in 2009?”  “What’s our Great Work for the year?”  “What other structures do we need to build?”  “What’s the right balance between travel and staying at home?”  This will involve calendars, figuring out what to say No to as well as Yes to, and committing to what I once heard someone call “the valuable few”.

Sometimes that then bounces down to…

The personal level.  “What do I want to achieve in the next little while?”  “What do I want to learn?”  “What will be my own adventure this year?”  “What’s my Great Work?”.  This is all about shifting the focal length and getting clear on your own agenda and what makes you tick.

And rarely, very rarely, you get to

The Meaning of Life level.  “What does happiness look like?”  “Where will we live?”  “What’s the life we’re trying to build?”  This shifts the focal length again and makes you ask whether the life you’re building is actually the life you want … or whether it just happens to be the life you’ve gotten into the habit of.

I’m pretty sure we’ll be bouncing around all four levels  … I can see that gleam in Marcella’s eye, and I can feel my own nervous excitement about it too.
=> By the by, what plans are YOU making?

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The other day a friend of mine was bemoaning the difficulty of staying focused on Great Work when he was continually side-swiped by the urgency of the day to day.

There is, sadly, no easy answer to this.

But here’s one tactic that might be of use.

At the start of each day – before you check your email – get clear on the one key thing you must accomplish that day that will get you closer to your Great Work.

At the start of each week – before you check your email – get clear on the three things that need to happen this week that will move you closer to your Great Work.

At the start of each Quarter (”Q4″ starts today by the way), get clear on the three to five key projects you’re working on that is your Great Work.

You need to keep resurfacing and taking your bearings on your Great Work.

(I’m also a fan of David Allen’s work – GTD or Getting Things Done – in terms of managing priorities.  And one of the reasons is that he sets out a process AND says “adapt it to make it work for you.”  The secret I think is to find the combination of tactics that best works for you).

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