If you followed Tip #1 last week, you should be well on the way to having reclaimed control of your calendar.

Next, organise your workload…

Tip #2

Your brain loves structure.  At the below conscious level, we respond to patterns and routines.   The more structure you can create, the more will be handled without you having to think about it consciously.

As a start, organise your workload into key areas.  This is going to be unique to you, your role and your priorities but aim to create a set of key areas that you can stick to unless your job changes dramatically.

How many is ideal?

In a seminal paper entitled, ‘The Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two’ the cognitive psychologist George A. Miller of Harvard University’s Department of Psychology published his research in ‘Psychological Review’ 63(2) 81-97 (1956) into what he called a person’s ‘digit span’.  It’s the number of digits you can listen to and then repeat accurately immediately after listening.  The average is 7 and most people have a digit span between 5 and 9.

The digit span represents that capacity of your mental ‘buffer zone’.  With a digit span of 7, you can hold seven bits of information in mind and work with them.  Telephone numbers, for example, back in the days when we had to remember them, were made up of seven bits of information:  a dialling code and six digits.  Manageable for most people.

Feed your mind more bits of information than the buffer zone can hold and it’s like trying to juggle too many balls – you keep dropping one.

 

Therefore, the aim is to match your number of key areas to your digit span.  Or rather make sure that the one doesn’t exceed the other.  That way, you have a manageable number of ‘bits’ to keep in mind.

Also…

Having identified your key areas, the next step is to organise everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – into those key areas.  If you have tasks and activities that don’t fit into your key areas then have another look at the key areas and adjust as necessary.

(Or you might realise that you’re doing work that’s unrelated to your actual role and offload it!)

I’ve been using the same key areas – more or less – since I started my business in 1997.

1. Sales and Marketing
2. Events
3. Corporate clients
4. Coaching clients
5. Creative projects
6. Finance and Administration
7. Professional development
8. Personal development
9. Family, friends and home

Everything I do fits into one of those key areas.  My files are all organised into the same system and, because I’m like that, every key area has numbered files for each of the tasks and activities.

I can nearly always find what I’m looking for straight away!

But the value of this isn’t just in organising your admin.  When you group your workload into distinct areas, it helps with focus…

At the below conscious level, your thoughts also get grouped together.  When you’re working on your monthly report, your mind is less likely to distract you with reminders of project work that needs to be completed – especially if you’ve given each of your regular tasks a specific slot in the week.

You know you have the time allocated to do your work, so you’re not going to be fretting about getting it done.  You might designate certain days to work on specific key areas.  I have an ‘Admin Day’ on two Fridays of each month.  That’s the day I raise invoices, pay the bills, balance my accounts, do a diary check and plan ahead.

I also have time slots for writing my newsletter, social media posts and updating my website.

I’m sure you’ve got the idea now, so why not block out some time in your calendar to work out your key areas and organise your workload?

Tip #3 next week.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by how much you have to do?  I’d like to share some tips to get out of the overwhelm and back in charge of your day.

But before I do…

Firstly, I want to point out that if you’re overwhelmed, it’s not always your doing.  It might be that your workload is unrealistically heavy.  It might be that your targets and deadline are – um – optimistic.

Secondly, everyone has the odd day when everything feels like too much.  If it happens regularly, it might be time for an honest conversation with your boss about what is achievable and what is not.

 

Tip #1

The first thing to do is to reclaim your diary.  One of the common causes of overwhelm is that you have too many meetings and you constantly feel as though everyone wants a piece of you.  If you ever find yourself in back-to-back meetings all day, drastic action is needed.

(This is often where I start with a programme of Executive Coaching.  It’s all too common that senior leaders don’t get enough time to do anything other than attend meetings)

You can’t do a good job if you’re always in a meeting!

 

To reclaim your diary you first have to understand what you’re up against:

Does your company calendar system allow people to put meetings in your calendar without your consent?  Does it also assume that all meetings last one hour?

If so, you just need to be smarter than the system – not difficult, it’s a piece of software whereas you have a living human brain…

 

Here’s what I suggest…

Set aside two hours.  Go on, put it in your calendar now.  You might not need the full two hours to do this but allocating two hours means you won’t be under pressure.

Here’s what you do in the two hours:

1. Get a grid that represents your working week (or download mine here)
2. Mark out your working hours each day and add any regular weekly meetings or events
3. Block out time to have lunch each day. Even if you don’t eat much in the middle of the day, your productivity will be boosted in the afternoon if you take a break at lunchtime.  You could go out for a walk or meet a colleague, just make sure you’re getting a change of environment and focus.
4. Block out time to deal with your email. That might be the first hour of the day, or the last.  It might three half-hours spread throughout the day.  It’s your choice, just block out as much time as you think you’ll need to keep on top of your email.
5. Make a list of tasks that have to be completed every week (regular reports, updates, maintenance tasks, etc) and calculate how much time each takes. Now decide on the best time in the week to do each task and put it on the grid. One of the major reasons people get overwhelmed with their workload is that they spend time making unnecessary decisions every week.  When to write their weekly report, when to have a team meeting, when to conduct one-to-ones, when to check the stats etc etc.  If you decide the best time – for you – to do each of those regular tasks you never have to decide again, unless you have something more important that clashes with the usual slot.  I know a lot of people think routines are boring, but they save a lot of time and mental energy!
6. If you lead a team, allocate some time every week to spend with each member of your team.
7. Block out time each day to plan the following day and a little extra at the end of the week to plan the following week.

 

Once you’re satisfied that you’ve allowed time for everything that must be done every week, programme it into your calendar.  This is where electronic diaries come into their own – you can add recurring meetings and events for months ahead, protecting that time from unexpected meetings being added when you don’t want them.  If someone wants you join a meeting that clashes with something else, make sure your calendar doesn’t accept it automatically.  Let them contact you and then you can decide which is more important and if you decide to go to the meeting, you can move your planned activity to a different slot as soon as you make that decision.

(I realise that you may have a few over-committed weeks to work through before you get to this heady state of having time allocated in advance for your regular tasks.  Just hang in there, it will come.)

Now, have a look at what’s left.  Twenty hours?  Fifteen?  This is the time you have for participating in meetings and doing the work you commit to doing as a result of those meetings.

If you have only twenty hours (or whatever it is for you) for meetings in a week, you’re probably already wondering if it’s enough.  Well, it has to be.  In which case, you might want to make most of your meetings shorter than one hour.  A thirty-minute meeting can be productive – if you know how.  Try it out and see what works for you.

 

I’m mindful of your time, so Tip #2 will be next week…

Send me your questions about Tip #1 to dianne@brilliantminds.co.uk

It’s only ever a matter of time before my inspiration of the week is Shakespeare, in some form or other!

Last week I went to see the current production of ‘Hamlet’ at the RSC.  It’s one of my favourite plays because I was part of a production of it in Sixth Form, where I fell in love with the magnificent soliloquies, the witty dialogue and the wonderful ‘play-within-a-play’ device.  For years afterwards I could quote whole scenes – I’m blessed with a very good memory.

This current production is graced with a young and unknown actor, Luke Thallon, in the title role and I thought he was brilliant.  He was able to deliver some of the most well-known lines in a way that made them different, spontaneous and fresh in the moment.  THAT is a real talent.

I could take issue with the ‘concept’ and setting of the production.  I could moan about how much was cut.  I could quote my favourite quote from Gregory Doran, former Artisitc Director at the RSC:

Gregory was being interviewed prior to a performance of ‘Hamlet’ that he directed with a stellar cast, including David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Claudius, he talked about the pressure of taking on this iconic play.  People had been asking him, ‘What are you going to do with ‘Hamlet?’

His reply has stayed with me and remains my yardstick for evaluating all productions of Shakespeare’s plays:

He said in the interview that his reply had been, ‘I have enough to do in ‘doing’ Hamlet, let alone doing something ‘with’ Hamlet’.

Directors often appear to think that in tackling the well-known and loved plays of William Shakespeare they have to find a way to make it fresh and new.  We’ve seen ‘Julius Caesar’ performed by an entirely black cast and set in an unnamed African state ruled by a dictator.  We’ve seen ‘The Merchant of Venice’ set in pre-war London with a female Shylock.  We’ve seen ‘the Tempest’ set in the Arctic.  We’ve seen ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ with all the characters’ genders swapped…

Interesting as these productions can be, for me the best productions are the ones where the text is the star of the show.  I want to enjoy Shakespeare’s lovely words without the distractions of an crowded set, over-the-top costumes, loud music or gimmicky 21st century references.

So, despite the intrusion of a Titanic theme, young Luke Thallon captivated me with his portrayal of Hamlet and I fell in love with the play all over again.

…and there is a beautiful moment of pure theatre at the end, which is only possible because of the Titanic-based set.  So maybe I can live with it.

I would definitely go and see it again.

If I’m really honest, I hadn’t been feeling very inspired this week.  Then, at the weekend the sun came out, the temperature rose and it became clear that Spring is in sight.

This photograph is of a pot of daffodils that almost got forgotten about.  No, it would be more accurate to say that I was reminded of them by accident.

I’d gone into my garage to put away an archive box following the annual clear out at the company’s year end.  As I turned around to leave the garage, I noticed this pot – with small shoots showing.

I brought it out into the daylight and two weeks later I’ve been rewarded with this beautiful display of dwarf daffodils.

 

Why is this inspiring?  Apart from the loveliness of the flowers, that is…

It’s inspiring because I have no recollection of planting the bulbs.  The pot was in the garage along with a lot of empty ones.

It just goes to show that you never know when something you did in the past is going to result in something good today – even if you can’t remember doing it!

My inspiration this week is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In the face of bullying behaviour, angry shouting and some serious back-pedalling on expectations, he maintained his composure.  He conducted himself with dignity and did not allow himself to be bullied.

I’m not a massive fan of Kipling but I was reminded of the line,

‘If you can keep your head when all about you,
are losing theirs and blaming it on you…’

Well, from what I saw, Zelenskyy can and did keep his head.

None of us are going through anything remotely like the problems he faces every day, so if he can keep his head, we should be able to follow suit.  That’s the inspiration.

I have been known to mutter that if women ruled the world, it would be a very different place.  I am ready to concede that if more men like Zelenskyy held power, it would also be a different – and better – world.

This made me smile.  I suspect I might have demonstrated a similar attitude as a small child!

It also made me think…

No-one ever refers to a man as ‘bossy’ do they?

So, if it’s not an appropriate for a man, let’s not use it for women either.

Lets take our cue from the little leader in the image (which by the way I think I’m right to attribute to  hoppygirlbrews on flickr) and appreciate skills, wherever we see them.

Unusually, Wilma and I are on zoom for this episode.  I wimped out of the drive down to South Wales, which leads to us to discuss the ‘hibernation instinct’ and how we get through the winter months.

Also, I’ve been learning about the plight of the Afghanistan Women’s Cricket Team and the three Australian women who came to their rescue…

 

I’ve been away for a few days to celebrate my birthday with my best friend, who is staying in Venice for several weeks and invited me to join her.

I had been to Venice once before – in the Summer – so it was really interesting to see the city without hordes of tourists.  I’ve come home inspired in many ways.  Here are a few thoughts…

1) Prior to this trip, I didn’t love Venice.  Not the way I love Florence and Rome.  Spending time in Venice with someone who LOVES the city, gave me a different perspective on it and dispelled most of my previous antipathy.

Inspiration: seeing something through someone else’s enthusiasm is definitely catching.  Where else can we use this insight?

 

2) My birthday treat was a visit to the Opera.  Not at La Fenice, but in a Palazzo, where three singers (soprano, tenor and baritone) and three musicians (piano, violin and ‘cello) delivered a wonderful performance of ‘La Traviata’.  Each act was in a different room and we had front row seats for two of them.

Inspiration: in the right setting a small team can deliver a fantastic experience just as successfully as a large one.

 

3)  This photograph was taken in the Fortuny Museum and it shows the famous Fortuny pleated silk dress, worn with a variety of jackets and tunics, which I stood and admired for a long time.

You may not know that before I concentrated on Learning and Development, I had a career in fashion retail and that my first business was making wedding dresses and ballgowns.

What I didn’t know, is that Mariano Fortuny was a painter, photographer and theatre set designer as well as the developer of unique textiles and fashions.

Inspiration:  the modern world reveres experts and specialists but many of the world’s greatest thinkers and creatives have explored multiple disciplines to great effect.

4) This final image shows the interior of La Fenice – Venice’s famous opera house.  La Fenice has burned down twice (perhaps that’s a consequence of calling it The Phoenix!) and twice been rebuilt in the same rococo style as the original.

Inspiration: we don’t always have to ‘build back better’.  Sometimes what we had was great and we just need to do it again.

 

5) As I wandered around the streets of Venice and crossed the bridges over countless canals, I saw a lot of peeling paint, broken shutters, missing render, leaning walls and dirty glass.  If I walked down a street in England that looked like that I would be very unimpressed but because it’s Venice everyone thinks it’s romantic and atmospheric.

Inspiration:  context is everything!

Wilma and I are in Wales on a damp, foggy day and haven’t ventured out. I’m musing on why a prospective client didn’t take up a coaching programme that she so obviously needed and the conversation turns to general principles of personal development, why limitations and problems sometimes come back after they’ve been addressed and how to see the opportunities for learning and growth in everyday situations.

The water-related challenges at Wilma’s cottage seemed to have come to an end but if you listen to the end of the recording you might think otherwise…

 

 

TED Talk – Brené Brown, ‘Listening to shame’.

I watched this again recently and the part that resonated most is this:

“Shame is the enemy of innovation, creativity and change”

If you’re not one the 65 million people who watched Brené’s earlier TED talk – “The Power of Vulnerability” then it might be a good place to start.

If you have already seen that (and you remember it) then let’s go to “Listening to Shame”.  As Brené points out, shame is something we don’t want to discuss, but it’s something that is a real experience for nearly all of us (apparently if you don’t feel shame it’s an indicator of psychopathy) and it gets in the way of innovation, it gets in the way of creativity and it gets in the way of change.

What do we do about it?

Watch the video for a start…

Happy New Year!  Unless of course, you celebrate according to a different calendar.  I know that all my friends and contacts in Singapore, for example, will be having their main New Year celebrations in a few weeks’ time.

My plans for 2025 include offering some NLP training to anyone who wants to learn how to increase their influence, build personal resilience and learn how to manage their own thinking so that it becomes easier to achieve what you want to achieve in life.

The quote above is one I always include at the start of the programme because some of the results people experience through mastering the principles of NLP can seem ‘like magic’.

Not from Day One, of course, but lots of people are surprised by just how quickly some of the NLP patterns can lead to significant results.   Over the coming weeks I’m planning to share some of my favourite success stories.

If you’re curious enough to want to know more, the first step is the ‘Introduction to NLP’ day in either June or July – depending on what works best for you.

I don’t know whether you write down your goals for the year or just keep them in mind, but I have a question for you:

When you think about your goals for 2025 do you believe you can achieve them?  If not, what’s missing?  Do you need more influence at work?  Do you worry you’ll give up too easily?  Are you unsure that they’re the right goals?

These are the kind of gaps that can be filled through the application of NLP.  Get in touch if you’d like to know some more…

It’s 2025! Wilma and i are discussing New Year’s Resolutions and why we don’t make them but also what we do instead. The conversation takes us through SMART goals, the NLP Well-formed Outcomes pattern and what it means for your goals/outcomes to ‘come from inside’. There’s a little bit about Hawaiian spirituality, a lot about not wanting to seem too weird and a ramble through the value of reading a book more than once.