What is it?
All the engagement management stuff that takes up so much time and is a complete headwreck?
Zoom calls that go on and on?
Children who interrupt you mid-flow every 5 minutes?
Clients who don’t have their stuff ready when they said they would?
Staff who aren’t as committed as they could be and send you stuff for review that falls way short of what you expected them to send through?
Your Boss who doesn’t come down to land on the things he said he would and you have to keep circling back and following? (More on him laterto
The ‘so much stuff that there is to do’ that keeps piling up and up and up?
The answer is: None of the above.
The biggest time waster that there is, is Overwhelm.
Simply put, overwhelm is the inability to make a decision and move on.
It feels like Spinning out, Procrastination, asking ourselves the same questions over and over again without coming down to land on an answer or make a decision.
Here’s why it’s the biggest time waster:
The ease of flow of what we do is directly correlated to how we are feeling doing the work.
When we are feeling sure, grounded, focussed and clear, we make the absolute best use of the hours that we have in the day. Working from this place feels like we are ‘in the flow’.
Thoughts that muddy up our certainty, steadiness, focus or clarity of thinking are thoughts that slow us down. The more muddy our thinking, the slower we get.
It’s that simple. Certain thoughts that we think limit our ability to think other thoughts that we’d like to be thinking – the very thoughts that we do think when we’re ‘in the flow’.
Like this:
When you’re wondering why the people on your team just can’t do what you asked them to do, you can’t be thinking about the most elegant and simply way to wrap this thing you’re working on, up.
When you’re thinking about how much time you have to spend on calls today, you can’t be thinking about the most efficient, focussed way to get the most important things done today.
When you’re thinking about what a self-important Toad your Boss can be, you can’t be thinking about the best way to communicate with him so that he actually listens.
When you’re thinking about how annoying it is that the children are tripping in and out to you all day long instead of asking your husband for their million and one requests, you can’t be thinking about how to set things up to make it easier for them and you, for the next 4 hours.
If you’re feeling slow, stuck or not sure of your next move, I promise it isn’t you.
It isn’t that you don’t know enough, that you aren’t managing things as well as other people are at the moment, or that you just aren’t as good as some of the people you work with. It’s a thought or series of thoughts that you’re having, that you are engaging with and which are dragging you off the focussed and flowing piste of where your best work happens.
Finding the thought that’s tripping you up is your very first stop:
I’m feeling stuck right now because I’m thinking….
When I think this thought, here is what I do….
When I do that, I’m not spending time on this….
Here’s what’s true about the next step to take…
Here’s what I’m doing to do next….
Ask yourself these questions and cut overwhelm off at the pass, today.
Oh, and about your boss….
Here’s why he wastes everyone a heap of time and energy by not making the decisions he needs to make and has you circling back around and around to him wasting a tonne of time:
He’s overwhelmed, too.
He’s avoiding making a decision because he has a human brain that he hasn’t learned how to manage yet.
That is IT.
Figuring how to make good, timely decisions is one of the most important traits of solid Leadership and yet, one of the traits we’re trained in least.
Decision making is a simple matter of learning to drive through your mind. Learning how to navigate the twists and turns your mind gives you and stay on course to creating the results you want to have in your life.
I show you exactly how to do that when we work together.
Book a free consultation with me here if you are interested in speaking with me about how I can help you.
