IT’S NOT CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS YET. HOW TO OPTIMISE THE LAST 2 MONTHS OF THE YEAR.
The last few weeks, I’ve had quite a few conversations that went along the lines of, “My team is about done, I’m about done. I think we’re just going to coast into the end of the year.” Or, “We’ve had a really big year, so we are not starting anything new.” And I have been hearing this since the beginning of October.
Now if you do the maths, you know that there was more than two months to go in the year at that point. And even now when I’m writing this at the end of October, there are almost two months before the Christmas holiday. And if you don’t utilise this time, then obviously this might be a bit of a wasted opportunity.
Yet it is important to recognise that people have had a big year, and they are perhaps tired or fatigued. So I wanted to give you a few tips to help you make the most of the time remaining in this year and set you up for a great start to the new year.
Like anything in an organisation, the tone is set at the top. So you have a real opportunity here to make a difference for your people as the CEO or the Chief Of or the Head Of.
“
Showing up is not all of life — but it counts for a lot.
~ Hillary Clinton
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Here are a few simple things that you can enact and encourage the people around you to as well.
1. WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE
I am hearing a lot of, “We’re busy.” “We’re frantic.” “We’ve got too much to do.” “We’re in overwhelm.” Now this kind of language does not really help people to create and maintain a positive, constructive, intentional mindset.
With a few simple tweaks, you can really reposition the impact of your language. You could use language like, “We’re highly productive.” “We’re focused.” “We are making good progress.” “We have clear priorities.”
I’m sure you can think of some other options. The point is you can really feel the difference in using this kind of language and stimulating the right kind of response in people’s mindset and emotional space. You’re setting them up for success now and in the future and yourself, of course.
2. OPERATING IN EXTREMES
The second thing I wanted to bring to your attention is that I’m seeing people operating in extremes. In both the physical and mental wellbeing space. A big factor here is how a person’s nervous system is being stimulated at the moment. I’m talking about the ANS, the autonomic nervous system. The part of your nervous system that keeps all the basic functions going in your body, like breathing.
There are two sides, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. Think about the sympathetic and parasympathetic like the brake and the accelerator on a car.
What I am noticing is one of three extremes in play for individuals.
- Some people have applied the brake and that’s where they are. They are in quite a depressed energy kind of space. It can be harder to work at pace or with intensity or focus when your body is in that depressed, low energy, relaxed kind of space.
- A second type of extreme is when someone has their foot on the accelerator all the time. This shows up as a frantic, frenetic, always on high speed kind of space. Again, this is very hard to maintain and it takes its toll on your body and your mind.
- The third extreme variation is that some people have their foot on the brake and the accelerator at the same time. So although it looks like they are in balance, their body is in this constant state of extreme on both ends. This is incredibly difficult to maintain without some unwanted impacts…think burnout.
If you prefer your people to be operating from a space where they are centred, balanced and calm, you can set them and yourself up for this. When you, and they, are in balance, when you are in a centred state, you are able to access all of your strengths and resources. Making it much easier for you to get into a flow state, to work with energy, to have focus, without putting undue stress and exertion on your physical and mental state.
My simple suggestion to access your ANS and bring some balance is through your breathing. Using balanced breathing.
A balanced breathing cycle is one where you have an equivalent duration on the inhale and exhale. On average, for an adult, this is about a six-second inhale and a six-second exhale. No pause in the middle and no holding breath. It is a simple inhale and exhale.
When you begin you may need to use a slightly shorter duration inhale and exhale. Perhaps 4 seconds each. I suggest you practice this for a few minutes each day, a couple of times a day, to recalibrate and bring your body into balance. Allowing you to operate in an optimum state and utilise this in your work and of course, at home as well.
3. VARY YOUR ACTIVITY
If you are going to coast into the end of the year, how does that set you up for success next year? Maybe it does, but my suspicion is that there is still a lot to do. Being able to make progress with some of these things before the Christmas break could be very helpful.
Consider the variety of opportunity here. Maybe you should not be doing everything with an intense focus, that requires massive thinking power and creativity. Let’s mix it up.
There may be some routine work that needs to happen. There may be some housekeeping. Cleaning out files, and data, setting up files for next year. It might be about planning activity and so on. It might even be about having some of the conversations about career with your people.
Vary these activities with some of the other project oriented, high priority, high impact activity that requires thinking, creativity and brainstorming. Utilising this variety and changing the pace provides you and your people the opportunity to lean into these different activities, again without always operating in that frenetic space, so they are able to bring their energy.
4. WORK RHYTHM
My final tip is to think about how you structure your day and to begin role-modelling this for other people. When do you do your best work? Is it in the morning or in the afternoon? Identify your best time and use this for you intensive thinking work.
Do you work better in short bursts of activity or longer periods that you can deep dive in a more immersive way? So structure your diary like this.
Also, make sure that you have breaks. You could even use the Pomodoro technique which suggests that you do a period of intensive work, perhaps 45 minutes, and you alternate this with a very deliberate break of pace into something else.
Now, it might be another type of work, maybe you do some filing or some administration, or it might be go and get a cup of tea and have an intentional chat with one of your people for 15 minutes. Then you return to some more intense activity. Then you have another structured break. And after about three of these sequences, you have a much longer break. This might be lunchtime for example, or it might be that you go for a walk.
Again, what you are aiming to do is to offer your body and your brain the opportunity to get into an optimum state.
“
The human capacity for burden is like bamboo — far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.
~ Jodi Picoult, Author
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Adopting one or more of these simple approaches will allow you to continue to make progress in this lead up to the holidays and potentially to set you up into a better state ready for the post-holiday period. Now is a clear opportunity for you to role model and perhaps encourage the people around you to adopt some of these things as well.
I’d love to know your thoughts.
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