Tag Archives: energy

Break the Habit of “Scrambling”

As January picks up speed, I’m committed to consciously use my time and energy even more carefully this coming year.  As an extrovert, it’s easy for me to get involved in lots of activities and projects.  But as I get older and a bit wiser, I realize that “less is more” when it comes to managing my time on a daily basis. 

Leaders, managers and worker bees all do it . . . scrambling about to get multiple tasks done at work and even at home.  It easily can become a habit – a behavior that we expect of ourselves and as a result, others expect from us as well.  But the consequence is that nothing really gets done well.  We make silly mistakes and waste precious energy redoing tasks because we weren’t paying enough attention or we “didn’t have time” to do it right the first time.  Sound familiar?

“Scramble” Less to Get More Done

So here’s something to experiment with . . . simply slow down both your thinking and your actions.  Catch yourself when you start to scramble and coach yourself to do or think of only one thing at a time.  Concentrate.  That’s often a big challenge because of all the noise in our lives.  But when you do you will be pleasantly surprised by how much more effective you are.  You actually get more done.  And there is a ripple effect of feeling more in control, relaxed and focused.  It’s a great feeling – try it!

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New Choices in the New Year

I caught the newspaper headline just as I was zipping out of the gym early this morning . . . “New Choices in the New Year”.  I like it!  That headline captures the spirit, hope and energy that as a professional coach I hope to bring to all my coaching and training clients.  It speaks to recognizing our own personal power in creating a future that we truly want at this time in our lives.

And that’s what we’re all thinking about this first week of January as the new year gets underway.  It may be a renewed commitment to a regular exercise schedule; healthier eating; more sleep; better time and energy management or a different career path.  This is a natural time to look back over the past year to see what has worked well and what hasn’t; what changes need to be made to move forward and then to use that wisdom to proactively plan for a “prosperous new year”.

The Power of Choice 

Let’s be honest and recognize that it’s all about choices . . . and it’s all within our personal power.  Everyday we make multiple choices – some move us closer to our positive year-long goals but other choices are made when we are hurried and stressed.  These are the choices that often distract or even derail us from what we really want in our lives.  It can be tempting to blame these poor choices on other people or outside circumstances but in all honesty we always have control over how we respond to these situations – even though we may not want to admit it.

Slow Down to Make Good Choices

So what’s the secret to making good choices for ourselves?  Bottom line . . . slow down and think about your choice before you commit yourself.  Make it a habit.  Push the pause button and think about how this choice may support or distract you from a higher priority goal.  That brief pause gives you a chance to think before acting.

But since daily life does move fast, don’t be too hard on yourself for making a few snap choices that you later find yourself regretting . . . it happens to all of us.   The good news is that as we get older and wiser that pause button gets much easier to push!

 

 

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A Tip for Connecting During the Holidays

As we all roll into this holiday season, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed with the addition of multiple holiday events, shopping, errands and bills on top of our everyday work and family routines.  And it’s the expectations that we have of ourselves (especially women) that seem to be strongest at this time – all in the name of “tradition”.

But in the last couple of years, I’ve shifted some of these expectations of myself to something I truly enjoy – connecting with others.  I do this all through the year but it becomes a top priority to reconnect with business colleagues for the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas Day.  It doesn’t cost anything.  It’s a lot more fun than shopping and paying bills.  And it’s good business.

Set your intention to reach out to your favorite clients, customers or companies in the next couple of weeks. It can be for coffee, lunch or a simple chat on the phone.  Yes, it can be through email or social media but nothing is better than your voice. 

If you think you might be bothering someone, you may be pleasantly surprised that as it gets closer to Christmas Day there is often some down time in people’s work schedules – fewer meetings are scheduled, workloads ease off a bit and people can take time to catch their breath and talk to you. 

A Quick Phone Call is Perfect

I’ve learned a lot about staying in contact from Ray LaFleur, a biking & running friend from our old days living in San Diego.  Ray is a master at staying in contact with friends and colleagues. He calls every couple of months to just say “hi” and ask how work and the family are doing.  It’s not more than a 5 minute call but it reconnects our families regularly.

So this holiday season I’ll do as Ray does . . . I will pick up the phone each day and call three people to just say hi and wish them Happy Holidays.  I encourage you to do the same.  Keep it simple and genuine.  You’re not asking for anything.  You are just reconnecting.  People like to know that others are thinking of them.  It’s a human need – to feel recognized and valued.  I like it too – you can always give me a call as well!

 

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A Road Trip is Good for Your Spirit

As I get ready to head out tomorrow morning to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I’m reminded how good it is for us to take a road trip every now and then.  You may be driving, flying or even taking a train.  It doesn’t matter because it’s all  good for your body, mind and spirit.  And it is critical to helping stay balanced in this somewhat unbalanced world.

Getting Out the Door

Yes, it’s always a bit of a rush to clean off the desk at work, answer those emails, pay some last-minute bills and get that boarding pass before racing to the airport at “o-dark hundred” to catch your flight to anywhere. And sometimes I’ve felt like it’s not even worth it especially in past years when as a psychotherapist I had so many patients to care for before and after any trip.  But I always knew that it’s all worth it as the plane lifts off and you slip into that delicious space of being “in-between” the here and the there.

I like flying and I like airports.  It must come from the years of living overseas and going in and out of many European airports.  I usually had two small children at my heels or on my hip but it all seemed doable since we were are another “road trip”.  And after the darkness and steady rain of Norway any road trip seemed great to me!

Celebrating 11 – 11 – 11

So off I go in the early am to meet my twin sister, Diane, to celebrate our birthday 11-11-11 in this wonderful community of Santa Fe and Taos.  Why are we going there?  We’ve never been – it’s that simple.  We’ll make some fun memories (as we always do) and I think it will remind us of Carmel, California (where we grew up) and Italy/Portugal where we have traveled often.  Delicious food, a little wine and some shopping will be just perfect and when I return to the office next week my body, mind and spirit will be renewed and refreshed.  I recommend it highly for all of us!

 

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Rocks, Sand & Your Time

I’m delighted that Les Murray from the New England Chocolate Company, Salisbury, MA sent me the following time management tip this week.  Les is a regular reader of my blog “Conversations with Kit” and along with his wife, Jayne Murray, are chocolate extraordinaire entrepreneurs at www.newenglandchocolatecompany.com.

I’ve used this time management visual in my past training classes and totally agree with Les that this is a wonderful way to think about prioritizing your time and energy.  You may have even seen it done in a time management class – it’s been around for awhile.  I like visuals like this because we remember them better over the years and this truly is one of the best.

Here’s how it goes . . . the class instructor starts with asking you to think about what “Big Roles” you fulfill at this time in your personal and professional life.  These may be as a mother/father; spouse; son/daughter; business owner; employee; student; community volunteer etc.  Next, list for yourself several smaller things that also fill up your daily life but are not considered “big”.  Examples may be time you spend paying bills, doing household chores, doing errands, sorting paper clips etc.

The class instructor then takes out a big jar, some sand and some rocks.  He explains that the small things are represented by the sand and he then pours the sand in the jar.  It fills up quickly.  Now he asks the class participants to assign their big roles to each one of the rocks.  After that is done, he tries to put the rocks in the jar.  But there is no room – the sand has taken up all the space.  What to do?  The class discusses this and quickly decides to take the sand out and then put the rocks in to the now empty jar.  The rocks go in first – the big roles that each class participant identified that they most cared about.  Now the instructor pours in the sand and you guessed it, the sand fits quite  easily around the rocks.

And in Les’ words . . . “the moral to the story is that each one of us only has 24 hours/day, 7 days per week.  We sleep 8, we work 8 and there are 8 hours that we have for ourselves.  If we allow the “sand”  to fill our lives then we never have any time for our larger roles, those that we care most about.” Les goes on to remind us again to plan our time and energy carefully so that we are doing what is really important to us in this chapter of our lives – like  eating wonderful Belgium chocolates from the New England Chocolate Company!

 

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