Article by Lewis Perkins, green corporate strategist and featured presenter at #shiftSXSW
When I speak about sustainability, I take the wide view of not only environmental, social and fiscal sustainability, but also the act of sustaining work, life and the balance of the two. Being an independent consultant for social and environmental change, I find myself working with a variety of businesses, organizations and types of people. Therefore, work styles and patterns vary widely. For the past two years, I have learned to embrace a more flexible work life and also not judge myself for the need to be flexible.
A great example is Mondays. As a child, we are conditioned to the flow of the week, with the weekend providing a rest from the normal school day schedule. But Sunday nights were inevitably about finishing those projects or tackling homework left undone. Sunday nights could present a certainly level of anxiety for a child who had left all of his work until the last hours before Monday morning class. It could also present relationship stresses as my mother or father would grill me about if I had completed my studies and why had I waited until now. No TV until homework was complete. And early to bed after two nights of an extended weekend curfew. And Mondays were always a struggle in the mornings to wake and return to the grind of school schedules and expectations.
Once I entered the work force, I found that those patterns were deeply engrained. Oftentimes Sunday nights were spent reflecting on the projects I had not completed by Friday afternoon when I was so anxious to leave the office and begin my weekend. And Monday’s presented me with a level of anxiety and I jumped back into the tasks which i had not completed. The day served as a reminder of where I was ahead or behind some schedule. With the advent of email, Monday’s were spent returning messages and calls and organizing myself into the week.
As a consultant who works from home, client sites, coffee shops and share office spaces – I find that setting my own schedule comes with a new set of challenges. And for me, I found that Monday’s are not the most productive day for me. Clients (both current and perspective) are oftentimes caught in their own anxiety of the day, setting schedules and finishing those items they left undone Friday afternoon. It’s not a day of great communications and for me, not a lot gets done in respect to others. Given this knowledge, I had the opportunity to view the start of my week as a frustration in how I was disconnected from the traditional work world, or to reinvent that day. So I chose the later. Today, I spend my Monday’s entering my week with a greater level of kindness for my work process. I usually make my lists for the week. I organize the communication I will commence with clients on Tuesday. I tackle any internal tasks, such as accounting, writing, and general organization – and then I take the time to catch up on my professional reading. Rarely do I call a client or reach out for business development. This only changes when we are in the middle of a timeline with clients where we have designated daily deliverables. And, given the ease of my Monday, I add a long run or yoga class to the mid-day schedule as well. Beginning my week with ease, patience, boundaries and respect for myself has given me an increased level of productivity and improved outcomes for the rest of the week. To me, this is human sustainability as I give myself permission and an increased level of grace in my professional life.
Image courtesy of 200 office
More about Lewis Perkins:
A long-time advocate for “doing the right thing,” Lewis Perkins is a champion for sustainability – personally and professionally. His sustainability consulting group, New House LLC, works with Fortune 500 companies as well as mid-size businesses to develop strategy and solutions to stay competitive in a rapidly shifting corporate landscape.
Prior to consulting, Perkins was the director of sustainable strategies for The Mohawk Group, a leading commercial carpet manufacturer. In this role, Perkins drew on this passion to help advance the company’s mission of environmental and social responsibility. Coupling strong leadership skills with his fervent commitment to ensuring a positive future for the world around us, he helps drive awareness for the importance of sustainable design through strategic marketing communications, and creates partnerships with non profit organizations such as Global Green USA and the U.S. Green Building Council.
Perkins has also served as a board member of GOAL: A Girl’s Journey of Growth (a former nonprofit organization in Atlanta whose mission was to promote self-esteem, self-awareness, and a respect for individual differences in girls) and volunteers with Eve Ensler’s V-day, Men Stopping Violence and The Captain Planet Foundation. He is also an advisory board member for Sustainable Life Media and The Green Chamber of The South.
Don’t forget to read part one of our conversation with Lewis Perkins about reducing your carbon footprint with technology, and to learn more about PGi’s support for the environment, visit the PGiGreen Blog.
