Recently I was asked to help out a friend's son. He is doing a project at school where he has to get some experience away from school and spend some time with an adult outside of his school environment.
We met up and discussed some of the things we could do together. Ben is interested in cars and has an understanding of mechanical principles.
So we decided that we will do some jobs on some of my cars. Things like checking brakes, changing wheel bearings, taking wheels off and on etc, nothing too difficult but still interesting.
It has been great to see Ben in action but it has also allowed me to show him some of the things that he can do to stay safe whilst working on cars.
I have him wearing a pair of mechanics gloves to protect his
hands; when using air tools I make sure he wears safety glasses and hearing protection; when we jack the car up we always make sure to use a jack stand and chock the wheels.
It’s pretty basic stuff but it’s important to show Ben that there is a safe way to work on vehicles and it’s also good for me to go right back to the basics of what safety is all about, doing a job safely.
Now keep an eye out for Ben when he is running his own V8 Supercar Team.
Throughout my working life, I have always used task lists to help keep track of what projects need completing and the level of priority. My task lists can be short and others can reach the bottom of the page.
Most people will cross off the tasks as they complete them and follow up the remainder of the list either the next day, week or month. Importantly, they are usually happy and content with what they have achieved and not "sweating the small stuff" as we say.
For many years, my task lists, whether large or small, were a reminder
to me that this list was written for a reason and if it was important enough to write it down then it was important enough to finish…today!
Such task lists would place so much pressure on myself to get the work completed to the point I would go into self-sabotage mode. My anxiety and stress levels would rise because I would believe I wasn’t working hard or efficient enough. In actual fact, I was just setting unrealistic targets for myself.
So how did I change?
I started splitting large lists into several smaller lists and also breaking these lists down to make sure that such lists were achievable in the time that I had available in the day. Now whilst this worked for me, it wasn’t the answer or the solution that I really needed.
What I needed was not just to create smaller task lists that provided
sufficient and reasonable time to complete them but I really needed to start being kind to myself. By this I mean that if my task list is not completed within the timeframe that I set myself, then that was okay. Whatever the reason for not completing a single task, two or three tasks, then it was important for me to change my way of thinking and believe that what I have achieved in the time I had was okay and that there is still tomorrow, the next day, the next week, next month etc.
My mindset now is that if I only complete 30% of my task list but have given 100% effort, then I should celebrate and be content with this effort.
No matter what you have achieved today, instead of going home and saying “I feel like I have achieved nothing today”, change your narrative by reflecting on what you have achieved today and celebrate those wins. The fact is, nobody achieves nothing / zero in a day so focus on the good, be kind to yourself because tomorrow is
another day.
Have you noticed any changes to the new post-covid world? Have you seen people behave and interact differently? How has it changed your life?
I ask this because I have noticed some changes to my world.
I have always traveled. For many years it was due to sport and I was able to travel the world. Later, it was for work and I have enjoyed years of traveling in Australia and overseas.
Today traveling has changed, as covid has changed the airlines. They have lost staff, experienced staff who knew what they were doing and got it done. They have replaced many of these staff with contractors who will eventually get the job done, but it’s going to take a while for them to gain experience and work out their own ways to “Get it done”.
I recently had a bad experience on a flight. It was due
to poor customer service and a lack of available staff. You can see my whinge on the various platforms below...
A big thank you to James Wood and his team for organising this presentation for our project toolbox. Woody’s story was very raw, real and touching which left a big impression on others and brought a different perspective of safety to the team. We
look forward to working with your team in future to bring on board more speakers.
It’s not a list of statistics. It’s not an instruction manual. It’s not a how-to guide. It’s not a lecture. It’s not a pep-talk.
It’s a real story about choices and how the ones Woody made left him in a wheelchair for life.
If you get to choose what ends up in your workers hands, give them this story so they have the chance to make better choices.
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