How to De-Crapify Work and Make Time to Think

According to Juliet Funt, the overburdening of busy tasks is fueling burnout in employees everywhere.

Funt is the Founder and CEO of the Juliet Funt Group, an efficiency training firm on a mission to “de-crapify” work and help business leaders unleash their full potential by unburdening their employees.

On this week’s episode of the Start With a Win podcast, Funt joins RE/MAX Holdings CEO Adam Contos to share how businesses and organizations can break free from anxious communication patterns and redesign how people work most effectively.

“The amount of meetings, emails, paperwork, decks, reports and just low-value junk that is sitting on top of most talented people while they [go about] their day is completely unsustainable,” Funt says.

She describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for anxious communication, extended work hours and the inability to disconnect for work-life balance. In turn, it’s time for employees to break free from working on autopilot and usurping valuable time with notorious busy work.

Funt uses the metaphor of building a fire to explain how free space in one’s workday is essential for optimal productivity. When building a fire, she says, a critical ingredient is free space for oxygen – and human beings operate in a similar way.

“[Employees] need to have space. Not only to recuperate, which is where people’s minds go first, but they also have to have space to step back, to be strategic, [and] to reflect or to let an idea cook,” she says.

With insight gained from the new business landscapes – expedited by the pandemic – now is the perfect opportunity to redesign how people work and manage their time.

“We almost have a blank page – it’s so thrilling,” Funt says. “We could take decades of annoyance and extinguish it right now because of the redesign opportunity that COVID has been a catalyst for, but only if we take space to think about it – not if we just charge ahead.”

“How do we really want to communicate? How do we really want work to feel? How can we teach people to be more empowered? How can we give more autonomy to people who have been craving [it]?” she asks.

Tune in to this week’s Start With a Win podcast episode for Funt’s proposed solutions to improve work and increase mental well-being with strategies like her interlaced approach for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs alike.

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