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My Blog
Balance
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Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012 7:48 AM
I have been bumping in Sinead at events over the past couple of years, as well as reading her excellent free eBook, From Apps to Zen, and her informative monthly newsletter. I have always loved her energy, insights and world view. She sent me an advance copy of ‘The Business Yogi’ and asked me to read it. Knowing Sinead, I was happy to say yes. However, I will admit to being anxious on hearing that the book used yoga and its’ philosophies as a starting point for business ideas. I had a blind spot about yoga as it is one of those things I feel I should do, as it will make me more limber and fit, but having tried a couple of classes briefly long ago, I found it too slow.
As I began to read, two things immediately jumped out at me: a) the only thing I thought I knew about yoga (that it is all about stretching the body into interesting shapes) was superficial to say the very least and b) slowing down is precisely what so many of us need to do in this 24/7 digital strive, strive, strive culture.
The book uses ideas and insights from yoga to show how work life (and life in general) can be enhanced and happiness achieved. It covers 5 key areas (Starting; Challenges; Progress; Relationships; and Focus) and takes you through each one with clarity, wit and honesty. The writers are both yoga practitioners and have developed a deep understanding of the powers of patience, stillness and balance. However, they freely and endearingly admit to their own bouts of anger or mental busyness in order to show how they use the yoga techniques to overcome these moments.
The book is a fascinating read interspersed with ‘Mat Moments’, useful practical activities to help you regain balance and perspective. These include simple physical exercises alongside short meditations. (There are also podcasts and other materials available from the website to support you.)
Do you need to be interested in yoga to read the book? No, although obviously it could be a great starting point for yoga beginners and a valuable resource for those more experienced yogi. I am a tango dancer and I found several of the concepts of focus, just doing it and letting go applied as much in my dancing as it does to yoga. There are a few yoga postures which are recommended in the ‘Mat Moments‘, but even if you chose to leave these out, there is still a wealth of practical material which you can build into your day to day life, making tiny changes which could have major impacts on your well being.
So, if you are put off by the yoga tag, please don’t be - this is a really inspiring book for anyone who wants to find headspace and happiness.
And the Elephants, Frogs and Monkey Minds? Go buy the book and find out for yourself! |
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Posted on Tuesday, August 02, 2011 4:58 PM
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't you are
probably right"
Henry Ford
We
all have a little voice in our head, that one which whispers away in a constant
running commentary, like a particularly chatty friend. “Did I buy the milk?”, “Is the building I
want on the left or right?”, “These shoes hurt”, “What shall I do next?” – you know
the kind of thing.
Most
of the time, the voice isn’t a problem and can blend into the background. However, sometimes, this little voice can become
the enemy. Perhaps you know what I mean –
those moments when you are about to make a presentation and voice jumps in: “why
should anyone listen to me? What do I
know about this subject? They will all
laugh at me.” Or when someone asks you
how much your work is: “how can I charge that much? What makes me think my work is worth that?”
These
are just a few examples and most of us have our own particular occasions when
the negative voice turns up. But this
little voice, which we can believe as telling us the truth, is just a
perception, often based on nothing. The
important thing to remember is, as D H Lawrence once said, “The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved
it.”
There is a neat phrase which
is used in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, “Catch It, Check It, Change It” and it
is a useful little tool to help you in those moments when the negative voice is
about to sabotage you.
Catch It:
Catch yourself when you are
having the negative thought. You will probably
spot your emotional cues, such as feeling a bit anxious or nervous.
Check It:
Stop and listen to the
negative thought you are having. Is it
really true? Is it how someone else
would see the situation / see you? What
evidence have you got to prove what you say?
Does the negative thought support you?
Be as objective as possible. (This
isn’t always easy, as we always think our thoughts are true, but practise will
help.)
Change It:
Now
change your negative thought for a positive one. Make it realistic and look for evidence to
support it. Then notice how it feels –
does this make you feel happier, calmer, more positive? Keep that positive thought in your mind and
your mind will begin to believe it.
In
the short term, it may take you a few minutes to go through this process. However as you practise it, it could become
second nature whenever you find that naughty negative voice pipe up. You can use this tool to get you through a
one off situation, but even then, the thought will have lodged as a truth in
your mind, ready for the next time you find yourself in the same
situation. In the longer term, the more
positive conversations you have with yourself, the more confident you will feel
as a matter of course.
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Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2011 7:57 PM
 An artist client of mine was recently
asking about a possible place where they could meet contacts and potentials
clients. He was coming from the
viewpoint that he felt uncomfortable in “formal”settings, but felt that those
would be the most suitable places for business meetings. After all, he had seen “The Apprentice” and
Sir Alan’s faux, but imposing boardroom.
I have had great and very productive
meetings in all kinds of places. I can regularly
be found in the Espresso Bar at the National Theatre, a great space with an
inspiring buzz – and after all the business talk, there is usually an ace
exhibition or two to take in.
I have also discussed a project with a
potential collaborator over coffee at the V&A, followed by a visit to the Grace
Kelly clothes exhibition; discussed making a rolling video presentation with a
client before we went off to the Tracey Emin show at the Hayward; devised a
project with another workshop facilitator whilst wandering around the National
Gallery; and had afternoon tea with clients in far too many lovely venues to
mention!
Obviously, it depends on who you are meeting
and for what; meeting the Taxman at The Ritz whilst pleading no income probably
isn’t a wise move. However, if you want
to develop a more friendly relationship or feel more at ease and in control, find
a familiar and inspiring environment or event and have yourself a productive
meeting!
Photo
© National Gallery by Deborah Henry-Pollard
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Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2011 1:17 PM
This morning, I decided to buckle down and
start a project which had been on my to-do list for some time, which was to
review and rework one of my workshops.
This has been on the list for about 6 months and in my mind it was a big
job, one which would take a lot of thought and time. The way to tackle it, I thought, was to bring
the 10 minute rule into play.
The 10 minute rule is a very useful tool to
use when faced with projects you are putting off, whether because the job looks
too big, too difficult, you don’t know where to start or ... whatever your particular
reason is.
The 10 minute rule is quite simple.
You promise yourself that you will work on the
project for 10 very focussed minutes and no less.
That’s it.
So what use is that, you might ask? Well, 10 minutes is nicely manageable and not
too alarming. It is also surprising what
you can do in 10 very focussed minutes: make a key telephone call, or devise a
game plan, or identified resources needed, or just get clear on what exactly
the project is. (Sometimes, it can also
be long enough to see that the project isn’t actually relevant to what you need
to do.)
With this rule, generally one of two things
happen.
If you work on the project for the promised
10 minutes and then stop, you will feel good because you have kept your word
with yourself. You have started the
project, so it is now a project in progress rather than that thing you are
going to get around to one day. And when
you come back to the project, even if only for another promised 10 minutes, there
is 10 minutes less to do.
On the other hand, once you get to the end
of the 10 minutes, the freedom of reaching that goal might just spur you on to
do a little longer on the project, knowing that you can stop at anytime you
want and anyway, you might as well carry on now that you have started.
Either way, the project gets started and
you no longer feel such a burden about procrastinating.
You might even find, like me this morning,
that the project you have been putting off because it would take a lot of
thought and time is actually very straightforward and only takes 20 minutes!
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Posted on Sunday, January 16, 2011 10:21 AM
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
Buddha
Halfway through January and how are you doing
with your New Year’s Resolutions? That
bad, huh?!
Last year, I made a list of things I wanted
to do; create more work, learn as much as possible, make new friends and
contacts, read, dance, visit galleries, exercise, etc, etc. I had it all set up with goals, timelines,
action points. Gosh, it was impressive, but in order to get
everything I wanted done, it seemed I would have to timetable my life down to
the last second. By 3 weeks into the
shiny New Year, I realised there was no way I could keep up with my clever
plans and all I had done was created about 30 sticks with which to beat myself.
Now, goals and action points can be really
useful, but sometimes they can become the focus rather than the tools. You can find yourself completing your actions
successfully whilst losing sight of what you wanted to achieve in the first
place. I would say that most often, what
we ultimately want to achieve is a state of mind, such as happiness, balance,
security, independence, well being, accomplishment.
When I recognised this last year, I
immediately threw out my New Year’s Resolutions and decided that I would
concentrate on just one word, which for me was Abundance. This covered so much – abundance of time, friendship,
money, energy, balance. I lived my life
within this context during the year and at the end of it, I had had a very
successful business year and created another 2 years’ work; created new
collaborations; danced at least twice a week; made loads of new contacts and
had new clients. By living in a mindset
of Abundance, I felt I had enough of all the things I needed to achieve all the
things I wanted. I didn’t get quite as stressed
out by self imposed “oughts” and “shoulds” and found myself open to all kinds
of opportunities which I never expected.
This year, I am keeping Abundance as my
word and adding Forgiveness – forgiveness to myself for the days when I get a
bit too action led.
What is the word which will inspire you
this year?
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Last night, I was at the launch of a new book, ‘The Business Yogi: How to be Happy at Work’, by Sinead Mac Manus and Bridget Stacey Luff.
