It was a bank holiday weekend here in the UK, which means that many people got to enjoy a long weekend away from work.

Many people spend their bank holiday weekends by the sea although that may have been a little chilly as parts of the UK had snow at the end of last week!

The extended break gives people a chance to switch off from the day to day pressures and spend some quality time with family. I was thinking prior to writing this that the weekend was probably warmly welcomed by lots of people. Increasingly during my coaching sessions, clients are confessing to feeling overwhelmed by the day to day work pressures, struggling to keep up with the pace of change and the demands of modern life.

The advancement in technology, globalisation, and speed of change, the volume of information to absorb and increased expectations on response times and delivery of service are some of the contributory factors to this state of being. Add to this flatter business structures and stretched resource, it is no wonder that so many are articulating their feelings of overwhelm.

When we are in this state it can mean that we suffer from brain fog and are unable to see the “wood for the trees.” It can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety and mean that we have less time available to think, review and plan. We can feel as though we are constantly firefighting moving from one urgent issue to the next without a moment to spare.

So this week, I thought I would share several simple but powerful strategies that may help you to move from mental clutter to clarity and reduce feelings of overwhelm.

  1. Ask yourself “What can I stop doing to sharpen my focus?”    

To do lists are getting longer but the time available remains the same, it therefore makes sense occasionally to take a few moments to consider what you and/or your team can stop doing to free up some time. Areas where clients tend to free up the most time concern changing some habits and practices relating to e mail, streamlining the production of reports and looking at how they can reduce the amount of time spent in meetings.

  1. Ask yourself “What obstacles get in the way of me being the best that I can be? What action can I take to help overcome these obstacles?”

There is a simple but impactful equation devised by Timothy Gallwey that helps clients clarify what might be getting in the way of them fulfilling their potential. The equation is Performance = Potential – Interference. Some examples of personal interferences are self- doubt, fear, negative self-talk, busy mind and lack of clear goals. There are also external interferences relating to time, other people, environment, finance etc.

  1. Decide to control the controllables.

Make a list of things that you are involved with that you can control, influence or outside both your control and influence. Consider where you are spending your time and what is occupying your mind. Then focus more of your time and mental capacity on things that you can control and influence. Pay less attention to what is outside your sphere of control and influence.

This week, why not take a few moments to consider if there is action you can take to reduce your amount of mental clutter. What will be your first step?

This week’s quotation:

“I continue to be drawn to clarity and simplicity. Less is more remains my mantra.” Stephane Rolland

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk