time to reflect
It is so important to be able to step back and take a look at yourself, or think of the bigger picture. So often we can get caught in minutia, right?
I meditate in the morning before I start my day, that is very helpful. Often, I forget to pause between one activity and the next, equally helpful.
What about you?
Before I became a consultant and executive coach, I was in the corporate world as a vice president of Human Resources, running leadership development programs, and leading teams of people. I became very intimate with overwhelm and stress at work. The US Department of Health reported that 70% of physical and mental complaints at work are related to stress, and stress-related claims are costing corporations over $300 billion dollars annually.
People at work are constantly being told they don’t manage their time well and it’s no wonder why more and more people every day are left feeling exhausted, unfocused, unproductive, unhealthy, and burnt out.
We often hear “You need to manage your time better and learn to juggle more.” This is the conventional reply to getting more things done faster. What more and more business leaders are finding is instead of doing more things faster, you need to learn how to prioritize your attention and do the most important things really well.
So whether you’re trying to be more effective and less stressed at your current job or schooling, or more effective at finding a job because you just got laid off, attention management is the key to being effective in today’s business world.
Helene is right on! Meditation is very helpful - why? When we learn how to refocus our attention on what is most important, we become more effectlive, less stressed, and seem to have more time.
Try these self-questions:
o What are some simple things you could add to your daily schedule that would make an important difference in your "way of being" in life?
o How might the ability to control your attention and influence the attention of others be the most important leadership (and life) skill of all time?
This is such an important topic nowadays. So often we forget to relax and to reflect, to make certain our goals are still in order. Remember when you were in school you would sit down to write a paper and halfway through to completion, you would actually have to read your first paragraph over again because you forgot what you were even writing about?! This used to happen to me all the time. And in life, it still does. Sometimes I find myself working so hard on day to day tasks which come my way that I completely forget and neglect the big picture. We need to always remind ourselves why we are doing what we are doing and if these things still coincide with our goals. If they don't, we've got ro reevaluate our choices. We all know there are just not enough hours in the day to get done what needs to get done, so if you're spending precious moments on things which are unimportant, start thinking about what you can do to eliminate these things from your schedule. Concentrate, meditate and clear your mind of the nonsense which fogs your head everyday. By doing this you will be able to understand what things in your life need to go.
JanieLynn