Naming the struggle

While guiding a group with mentoring advice recently, the most common statement in their questions and sentences was, ‘I’m struggling with…'

Learning, growing, changing and adapting is indeed a struggle. 

And it’s being magnified further in these times! 

Struggling - in less violent terms - is about doing one’s best, but I wonder, what is it that we are doing in struggling?

Are we :
- Getting used to ...
- Annoyed or frustrated with ...
- Trying to understand ...
- Debating or weighing up...
- Confused about ...
- Taking longer than we expected?

All of these situations could indeed be a struggle. And I wonder if that feeing of ‘I’m struggling with…’ is worth redefining or renaming, rather than bundling it all up as struggling. 

Acknowledge it is a struggle. Yes. 

And then explore what else it is: whether it’s a frustration, an obstacle, a question, or just another a step along a path of change. 

Perhaps it’s more challenging than we’d liked, hoped or expected. 

Where overwhelm and overload come from

The words were right there in the job ad - “must be able to multitask”. 

Does the employer really want someone to join the team who: 
- Divides their attention across multiple tasks. 
- Stops and starts those tasks. 
- Juggles too many things at once. 
- Doesn’t finish them. 
- Wastes time. 
- Lowers their IQ. 
- Feels overwhelmed. 
- Is exhausted at the end of the day. 

And will show up and do it all again tomorrow?

Sadly this is what multitasking looks like and what it’s doing to us. 

Our inability to focus for longer than a few minutes is getting worse. An employer looking for multitasking as a capability is crazy.

C. R. A. Z. Y. 

The rise in our overwhelm and overload is made worse by dated work practices and expectations like ‘must be able to multitask’. 

Thinking it is efficient is an old way of thinking, working... and leading. 

A daily battle of multiple multitasking sessions leaves us overwhelmed, overloaded and exhausted. 

How to work instead? 

- One thing at a time. 
- Stop starting. Start finishing. 
- Focus for shorter periods of time.
- Take a break. 
- Focus again. 

It’s more productive and efficient. And it’s easier, simpler, kinder and smarter for us all. 

Sensemaking as a way of coping and understanding

If overwhelm, stress or uncertainty creeps up and dumps on you, get out a pen and paper... and map it all out. 

- Map out the overwhelm: what’s going on?  

- Map out the stress: what’s happening - what are you thinking about? 

- Map out the uncertainty: what do you know and what could you do about that? 

Rather than endless thinking thinking thinking, sensemaking can help because it involves the visualization of what can seem like a mess of information. 

We’re able to get perspective on where we are and what’s going on so it begins to make more sense to us. 

It doesn’t need to be fancy. 

A simple page of shapes, lines and words can be enlightening and uplifting. 

There are no rules. Your map doesn’t have to be a certain way. 

It’s the act of making a map that helps get the tangle out of your internal mind and out onto an external page. 

Sensemaking is one of the key capabilities of adaptability : to be able to respond to and deal with change. 

If we don’t map to make sense of things, they don’t make sense no matter how much thinking we do. 

The great reminder

‘This book is a great reminder’
‘This story is a great reminder’
‘Thank you : what a great reminder...’

So what do we mean?

◻️We knew it already. Tick. 
◻️We knew it but didn’t do anything with it last time. No problem. 
◻️We forgot it, have now been reminded of it and still won’t do anything with it. Also no problem. 
◻️We forgot it and this time we will do something with it. Aha - action time!


There’s so much information we’re reading and listening to, trying to make sense of to make ourselves better. 

The great reminder tells you that you knew it already. Do you want to do something with it for the longer term? 

You don’t have to. 

We can’t put EVERY piece of advice we read into practice!

But if it’s a great reminder for you, what does it remind you of ... AND what might you decide to do with it this time around? 


Q: What do you think when you say ‘that’s a great reminder?’ 

The load we create and allow

If you or your team are still having back-to-back meetings throughout the day, stop! Please?

The blend of one meeting into the next does nothing for cognitive load coping. Our overload stays in overload because there’s no chance to ... unload. 

That means when you want to get great ideas and contributions from the team, they won’t have them. 

When you want them to work on planning, collaborating or decision-making, they won’t have the space and attention for it. 

We may think people are disconnected or disengaged when they could be cognitively overloaded.

For clearer and fresher thinking, invite, welcome and encourage breaks between (and within) meetings. 

Even a few minutes makes a difference. 

Create a break:
⏰ Start meetings off the hour at 10 past. 
⏰ Finish meetings prior to the hour. 

Working back-to-back isn’t smarter, particularly when you’re already overloaded. 

It might feel busy and important. 

Instead, it’s overloading the system... our system. Us.