Accelerate your decision making

We’ve all got plenty on the go. Our crowded to do list may not be just a sign of a lot happening in our life. 

It can also be a sign of some decisions yet to be made. 

Maybe we’re waiting on someone or some more information, or another piece of the puzzle to fall in to place. 

Other times we’re waiting for the “right time”. When is that exactly? 

It’s good to decide, to:
Choose the colour.
Set the date. 
Decide between the options. 
Select who to invite. 
Come up with the name or title. 

Many of our tasks require a decision first ... then action. 

Check through your to do list: which things are there because we haven’t yet made a decision about them? 

A decision made can ease some of our overwhelm and overload. 

We won’t need to carry the indecision around with us anymore. 

The decision is made. 

To use now ...or saving it for ‘best’

I bought a new notebook three months ago. And there it sits on the shelf. All new and unused. Just like the outfits in my childhood wardrobe, waiting for ‘Sunday best’. 

Similarly, when people buy my book ‘Visual Mojo’ I tell them it’s been designed for them to write in it. It’s a true work-book. 

But many people don’t write in it. They want to save it, for best. 

We save the best cutlery for special guests. 
We hold the best crockery back for the most notable occasions. 
And we save our best tools for the perfect job. 

But as we work on a rough draft or a first cut of something, it’s ok to use the good tools, the special equipment, the best that you’ve got. 

It builds our confidence when we use the good stuff. 

We become less fearful, less hesitant and we worry less about going for perfect. We learn to trust ourselves more. 

But most of all, if we can’t use the best stuff today ... when will we use it? 

In times like these, every day is a day for using the best!

Strange times call for new ideas

When the Institute for the Future called out ‘novel and adaptive thinking’ as one of those skills we’d need right about now ... do ya think they knew just how much we’d need it?

The use of the word ‘novel’ may have become a little tainted (you know, the novel coronavirus and all).

So could we say unique? Or clever? 

The thing is, these strange times call for new and quite different ideas. 

We know the clichéd group brainstorming thing doesn’t work. 

We’re better off keeping an ideas book, capturing flashes of brilliance as they arrive. 

Or getting hands-on with an idea and prototyping it, to see how well it actually works. Although getting as practical as we can as soon as we can is a totally new concept for some people. 

- Part of a team? 
Know how to bring your clever. 

- Leading a team?
Know how to bring the clever out in others. 

- Running your own show? 
Look for opportunities to use your clever .... anywhere, any time. 

Almost anything goes!

These strange times need our unusual ideas and thinking. Be braver about that. 

Hold on the judgement that what you’re thinking isn’t ‘good enough’. 

We won’t know the value of an idea ... until it’s put into practice anyway. 

When there’s just no space

Is there space in your schedule? 
◻️Yes
◻️No it’s jammed
◻️What schedule! 

When there’s no space, no breathing or regrouping space, we’re inviting overwhelm.

‘You’re welcome here overwhelm’, we say, ‘take up residence in my diary, my world, and let me struggle, wrestle and juggle with you.’

◻️When we have ‘back to backs’ all day, we’re letting overwhelm in. 

◻️When we don’t protect time, we invite more overwhelm. 

◻️And when we cave in on boundaries or limits, we let in still more. 

It’s curious how we use the word ‘overwhelm’, as in being overtaken, flooded, inundated. Space in our life is like the sand bag to a flood.

Space serves as a boundary, a buffer that cordons off and provides us with safety. 

And space is mighty valuable too; it may not be freely dispensed or offered up. 

Those who are rushed and pressured may try to squeeze your space ... to give them more space later on. 

When we give space away and yield to this pressure, we have less space. 

Check you schedule and diary.
Put some space in here and there for the next week, at least. 

And then be highly aware of who tries to take it from you ... or how easily you’re willing to give it up. 

Too smart for ourselves

We are such clever beasts! 

We solve complex problems, generate ingenious solutions and juggle multiple roles to make our own world work. 

Yet I think we are also SO smart, that we can occasionally sometimes maybe ... over-complicate things. I know I can!

If something appears too straightforward or plain and simple, it couldn’t possibly work well ... could it? 

Isn’t anything worth doing supposed to be a struggle? 

As a mentor, I get to work with, guide and advise many talented people building and growing their own business or practice. 

When we’re all faced with a challenge or conundrum, often there is a simpler solution that we’ve considered, and then ignored or dismissed. 

In times like these, we’re experiencing plenty of overwhelm: both task overwhelm and emotional overwhelm. 

So choosing an easier path consumes less of our energy and effort ... and it’s less likely to add to the overwhelm. 

Conserve energy for the tougher stuff of life. There’s no need to make solutions, decisions and actions even more complicated. 

Choose the easier path. 
Burnout is no prize. 
Take good care.