Social Loafing

• Sensory distractions (External): The things happening around us, like colleagues talking, phones ringing, people moving around us, music playing, etc.
• Emotional distractions (Internal): The thoughts that make our attention drift from what we’re doing. For example, remembering a phone call you need to make or thinking about a future meeting.

“It’s not the chatter of people around us that is the most powerful distractor, but rather the chatter of our own minds.”

"Someone asked me where I get all my good ideas, explaining that it takes him a month or two to come up with one and I seem to have more than that. I asked him how many bad ideas he has every month. He paused and said, 'None.'"

Create a safe place, free from criticism, because we tend to clam up if we feel like we're going to be criticized.

Rather than criticizing what you don't like, focus on getting ideas out in the open so you can build on them.

In a remote team, you'll need the right tools to make sure everyone stays on the same page and can continue to execute without a physical person standing next to them.

You likely will need a tool in certain categories like group chat and video conferencing to make remote successful.

Good processes let you get work done in the absence of all else. They provide structure and direction for getting things done.

A few examples from Zapier:

• Weekly Hangouts;
• Weekly One-on-Ones;
• Bring the team together 2 times/year somewhere cool;
• Automate anything that can be automated.

This stage of teamwork is all about first meetings and first impressions.

What everyone needs most is a clear understanding of their part in the journey and a setup for building emotional connections. Setting goals together puts their skills and interests into the open.

Most teams go through the storming stage in some form or another because discord is inevitable. The key value to emphasize in the team is positive intent. 

A little conflict is needed to bring upfront weak spots in projects and to bring new valid arguments to the table. But constant storming leads to the destruction of productivity, projects, and ultimately, the team itself.

The brain creates shortcuts in order to make fast decisions when it hits information or inspiration overload. 

These shortcuts form unconscious biases so it’s easier for your brain to categorize information and make quick judgments over and over again.

This means that when something good happens, you take the credit, but when something bad happens, you blame it on external factors.

Self-serving bias may manifest at work when you receive critical feedback. Instead of keeping an open mind, you may put up a defense when your manager or team member is sharing feedback or constructive criticism.

Strong morning and nighttime routines increase your productivity levels, ability to focus, and improve your overall mental and physical health. Your routines can include a healthy meal, exercise, reading, meditation, enjoying time with your family and friends.

However you build your routines, they should be full of activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. Self-care is essential to dealing with job burnout.

It’s a syndrome that results from an extreme accumulation of improperly managed workplace stress that can lead to physical, mental, and social consequences.

1. Dip in energy levels: It happens when the team is not enthusiastic and is only taking reactive actions and going through the motion, exposing the mental pressure they are in.
2. Work quality is taking a dip: It happens if you see incomplete or sloppy work, along with decreased productivity.
3. Frayed emotions: If workers are terse and curt with their colleagues in their personal interaction and written correspondence.
4. Other unexpected irregularities: There may be some that move inside their mental ‘cave’ and others who become overtly extrovert.

If there are signs of team overwhelm, the manager needs to first see if the work can be shared with others, or if any deadline can be extended, providing some relief to the workers. A replanning of upcoming projects to lessen the intensity of upcoming work can also be worked on.

In many cases it is just a matter of giving the workers a day off to recoup.

A self-deprecating language that minimizes your expertise can backfire, depending on who hears it.

You need to stop giving your power away.

It means becoming multilingual by balancing the languages used among your team with the languages that the people above you grading your performance understand.

One solution to correct any potential wrong assumptions is to over-communicate about what you meant.

When we get rejected, our brains register an emotional chemical response so strong, it can physically hurt. 

We go through almost the same stages as if we were grieving (self-blame, trying to win back our rejecter because we hate being disliked, and feeling like a failure). These feelings are healthy and normal, so long as you don’t end up dwelling on them.

Rejection is personal, and it’s easy to start questioning your self-worth when someone makes it clear they don’t like you. 

But for the most part, being disliked is a matter of mutual compatibility. Keep in mind that likability has a lot to do with what you bring to someone else’s table, whether or not you realize it. 

• When you keep a journal, you can look back on important life events to read about how you felt at the time. You may also be able to learn from these past experiences.
• Writing about traumatic events results in physical and psychological health benefits. Journaling focuses on understanding traumatic events and makes people see these events with an extra level of clarity.

Start your daily journal off on the right foot by scheduling your writing for a set time every day.

• If you find your mind is most active in the morning, wake up 15 to 20 minutes earlier and jot down your thoughts then.
• If you prefer to record everything after the day is over, then make it an evening activity before you go to bed.