After recently completing yet another Myers Briggs profile test and once again getting confirmation of my “J”-preference (judging) for structure, order and time-boxing I can’t honestly say that I fell off my chair backwards when I got the result. I’m a planner, prepper or whatever the fancy word is for it nowadays and love nothing more than having a list of activities and things to do, even lists of things to plan, prioritise and put in a logical order. I often get comments from people telling me to chill, take it easy, “You’ve always got something on the go, Helen!” but if I didn’t have any structure or planning then nothing would ever get done and to be honest life would be pretty meaningless for someone like me. A friend and former colleague of mine was a list-a-holic and would stress out at having a list but would still do other stuff not on the actual to-do list. Her nifty solution was to add the extra task she’d done and then strike it off the list. Blood pressure levels dropped and a sense of accomplishment filled the room followed by hoots of laughter. My lists reside in my head, on Trello and in MS Project. In fact I probably need a list to manage the lists that I manage.
I was reading an interesting article in the Guardian newspaper about making lists and why the brain loves structured tasks. However, it’s not important to just have structure if you can’t prioritise and you can’t prioritise if you don’t have structure. With burnout levels almost at fever pitch in our society we need tools to help manage work, home and life obligations. I wish project management methods of task planning, breakdown, prioritisation and time estimation were taught more to our kids and other non-project managers in general. Project management is a life tool that is valuable for everyone and it doesn’t have to be completely off the J-scale. At least as a project manager I’ve already got the tools needed in my toolbox to manage the fine juggling act of home and working life, but even that’s not easy and craves a lot of energy.
The psychology of lists and structures play an important part of a project manager’s role. Like any information system the brain needs a way to structure up its contents in order to efficiently access and disseminate information, make decisions and, for some of us, relax. But what about those not on the J-scale? I’d love to hear how those with the opposite “P”-preference (perceivers) manage their projects and general day-to-day activities. Do they find it easy to structure plans and tasks or is it a burden and stressful experience? A J-predjudice is that P’s don’t like structure or order and rarely get things finished, but I don’t believe it for one second, however I have seen P’s get rather stressed at looming deadlines that they’ve consciously “ignored” and wonder just what their coping mechanism is. The brain loves structure, it’s how we react to structure and form our behaviours around it that highlights differences between the J’s and P’s.
Anyway, at least I can now tick this post off my to-do list and carry on with my next activity. What a relief!
