Saturation Point – Handling Stress

While out walking last week I noticed how saturated the ground was. The grass was waterlogged and as I walked on it, it was like squeezing a wet sponge with water rising up over my boots. Drains were overflowing, puddles of water were lying everywhere and riverbanks were struggling to contain the swelling flow within.

Any more rain falling would have nowhere to go.

Normally the water would drain down through the earth eventually flowing into natural watercourses, ditches, streams and rivers. Some of it would evaporate from the natural effects of the sun and the wind. Our manmade solutions would take some away through drainage systems. None of these are enough to cope with such heavy quantities.

Reflecting on this made me think about how sometimes we can feel saturated by information raining on us or demands being made of us. Under normal circumstances we are able to handle these and then sometimes they all seem to come at once.

We probably all react in different ways to this pressure, some with external outpourings like a river breaking its bank and others internally like the wet sponge.

So what are some of the natural and ‘manmade’ tools we can use to cope when we are being saturated – when we are under stress?

• Recognising what is really important
• Prioritising – focussing our mental and physical energies on the most important first
• Action – sometimes thinking about things can take more energy than actually doing them
• Sleeping on it – some things are so urgent that we have to deal with them immediately and others will either wait a while or we will find a simple solution if we put it aside. Sometimes things will even disappear just like the sun and wind evaporating the water
• Delegating – to colleagues, friends and family
• Sharing – talking to someone can help either by just allowing some of the water that is saturating you to flow out or by helping you to find a solution
• Breaking it down into manageable chunks just like emptying a puddle of water drop by drop

What else can you think of?

Can you feel some of that water draining away now?

Take Control of your Mind and your Heart

I am in the middle of reading Bill Clinton’s autobiography ‘My Life’ and I have been struck by one of his conversations with Nelson Mandela.

On a visit to South Africa, Mandela took Bill to Robben Island where he had spent many years in captivity. Bill asked Nelson Mandela if he hated his jailers to which Nelson replied that yes he did because “They took the best years of my life.” He then went on to say “Then one day… I realised that they had already taken everything from me except my mind and my heart. Those they could not take without my permission. I decided not to give them away.”

They then talked about what it was like leaving prison for the last time and Nelson Mandela said that he did feel the hatred again “Then I thought to myself, ‘They have had me for twenty-seven years. If I keep hating them, they will still have me.’ I wanted to be free, and so I let it go.”

What thoughts, feeings and emotions do you need to let go of?

What do you want to see in your world after the snow?

While writing this blog, the big thaw is happening for many of us around the country and soon our normal landscape will be revealed.

I have been looking out at my garden this morning partly to capture in my mind how beautiful it looks under this blanket of snow and partly to recall what the garden underneath looks like. What will be revealed underneath? What will be different to before the snow: what will have developed and improved and what will have suffered and need attention?

I am hoping to see shoots from some spring bulbs to bring promise of the fresh colours of the changing season from winter to spring.

Many of you know that I often use the metaphor of a garden for my world, my life and my business and I am now wondering what if my garden was covered in a blanket of snow, what would I want to be revealed underneath when the snow thawed?

Also in the garden of my life and especially my business I hope to see some shoots appearing representing existing clients who are coming back for more and new potential clients appearing for the first time.

While thinking through other sights, sounds and smells that I hope to see, I realise that many of these elements are influenced by me.

If your world was covered temporarily with a blanket of snow, what would you want to see when the snow thaws? What would you want that is different to your world before the snow? What can you and will you do to influence that?

Lessons from snow – leading change

The snow is thawing and most of the roads are back to normal so that we can travel once again at the sorts of speeds we are used to. The temperature is rising and it is not so bitterly cold.

Change is happening and it feels like we can progress quickly and with momentum.

As I have been driving and walking around I have been noticing these changes and then also see that some of the smaller roads are still icy and dangerous and the pavements are slippery and hazardous.

As we move in these places we need to still proceed slowly, cautiously and thoughtfully. Perhaps some roads we should not venture down at all.

When we are leading and managing change in business and have started on our journey we often reach the point where we want to move into fifth gear to travel at maximum speed. Perhaps others around us are not confident yet that the road is safe and not icy. Perhaps some are joining us from a side road or are walking along the pavement where it is still slippery and hazardous.

How can you as a leader ensure that you are aware of where your people are in this landscape, checking that they are confident to travel at the same speed as you and clearing the ice, snow and other hazards away for their comfort and safety? Perhaps you can give them the tools to do that for themselves and also give them the support, guidance and time that they need.

The lessons:

1. be aware that your team may not be as ready to move forward with the change as you are
2. know where your people are, how they are feeling and what they need to help them through the change
3. remove as many barriers to change as you can
4. give your team the tools that they need
5. support, encourage and motivate them

Have a safe and successful journey!

Happy New Year

I am sending you Happy New Year wishes on a beautiful cold, crisp and bright morning here in Berkshire. As they say “ring out the old and ring in the new” and today feels like a fresh new start for those who want it.

Bring forward the best of last year, let go of what you don’t want and be who you want to be today and throughout this year.

Now I am off for a walk through the countryside to breathe in the fresh air, see the bright winter sunlight and sharp shadows and to feel how good it is to be in this world in 2010 and in this new decade.

Happy New Year and may you have and be all you wish for this year!

The Ghost of Christmas Future

As we start to look forward to a new year and a new decade, how do you want the next year or next ten years to be?

Imagine that you are reading this in December 2010 – or perhaps even in December 2019. What is going on for you now? What have been your successes and highlights of the last year or the last ten years?

What are you seeing around you at home and at work? Who are you surrounded by? What are others saying about you – friends, family, colleagues, and clients? How do you feel?

How have your qualities, skills and attributes that you have identified from your earlier successes (see Ghosts of Christmas Past) contributed towards this? What has changed about you for you to be doing what you are doing right now? As Gandhi said “be the change you are trying to create”.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The Ghost of Christmas Present

Many of us spend our time living in the past or the future and rarely in the present. Where do you spend most of your time? Are you always looking back over things that happened in the past or are you constantly planning and looking forward to the next event or task?

I heard someone recently say that life is a collection of memories and that suggests to me someone who is living their life through the past. How rich our lives would be if we could embrace all three aspects of time – looking forward to something, enjoying the actual moment and looking back on it as a memory.

If you are rushing around in a frenzy with lists that you are frantically ticking off so that you arrive at Christmas Day in an exhausted heap and then at the end of the day say “well that was all over very quickly”, STOP!

Enjoy each moment of your preparations because they are part of the joy of Christmas. Feel the connection that you are making with your friends and family as you write their Christmas cards – perhaps with a glass of mulled wine in your hand and some Christmas music in the background. Hear the delight of someone you love as you shop for their Christmas present and smile at other shoppers to share some Christmas spirit. Take time out from cooking the turkey and watch as the presents you give are opened – Christmas dinner will be ready when it is ready.

Give yourself your own Christmas gift this year and that is of being present and enjoying every moment.

Look out for the Ghost of Christmas Future in the next few days…

Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future

On the 14^th December a group of us gathered at Savill Gardens, Windsor for our Christmas Breath of Fresh Air® – one of the regular sessions for individuals that we run during the year.

We walked in a circuit through some of the parkland feeling the crisp, calm air, looking at the contrasting colours of the winter landscape – lush green of the grass, dark browns of the bare tree branches and the reddish-browns of the bracken and fallen leaves. We heard the stillness in the air disturbed only by the occasional squawk of a bird or the crunching of bark and leaves beneath our feet.

As we walked, we explored our theme of celebrate, review and learn.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

We began by looking back at our successes and achievements of the past year. As you are reading this take a few moments (or better still go for a short walk) and think backwards through 2009 and acknowledge all your successes. Then:

Identify at least three things from this year about yourself that you are proud of.

1. What qualities, skills and attributes do you have that contributed towards these successes? What is it about you that enabled you to create these successes?
2. Now write them down somewhere safe.

Look out for the Ghost of Christmas Present in the next few days…

Celebrate, Review and Learn

Now December has arrived, we are busy with Christmas preparations and business plans and budgets for next year. At the end of the month we start to think about New Year Resolutions and in all this we often forget to celebrate our successes from the past year, to review our achievements and the challenges we have faced and to consider what we have learnt that will help us to be even more successful in the future.

For many 2009 has been a tough year and in dealing with tough times we bring out the best in ourselves, we develop and grow and we should spend a little while reflecting on our successes as individuals and as teams to build strong foundations as we enter 2010.

I will be facilitating such a review at our Christmas Breath of Fresh Air® on 14^th December. Come and join us for a wonderful winter walk in the inspiring location of Windsor Great Park while growing yourself and your business.

Find out more at www.breathoffreshair-winter2009.eventbrite.com

Wearing the right clothes – adopting the right mindset

As I was looking out of my window this morning at the trees being battered by the wind, the leaves swirling on the green grass and the grey clouds moving purposefully overhead like sailing ships cutting through the ocean, I felt cosy, warm and secure in my house. It was tempting to think – “I’ll just stay at home and work in my office all day.”

Then I remembered the walks I have had recently when I have wrapped up against the weather and returned calm, glowing and full of energy. I love walking at any time of year and in any weather provided I am dressed for it. As the saying goes “There is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes”.

My question for today is how is this also true for other parts of my life – and yours? When do you look at a situation or hear something and hesitate to get involved, to step into it because where you are currently standing is brighter, warmer and feels more secure than the other option?

What is the equivalent of wearing the right clothes? For me it is about adopting a positive state of mind, imagining how this fits in with my sense of purpose and calling upon the skills that I have to be at my best.

What is it for you?