Not waving but drowning

Sometimes we feel as if we're drowning. We may have too much work to do or we may feel overwhelmed in other ways - somehow there are too many decisions to make and too many options. We can feel unfocused macro and unfocused micro.

Micro unfocused: Too many files open on our computer or too many e-mails to reply to, each one demanding our attention.
Macro unfocused: too many interconnected decisions going on in our lives and no idea what to do.

Even looking at two life belts is confusing. Which one do you choose?

The truth is that it usually doesn't matter which life belt you hang onto or which e-mail you answer first. What's important is that you don't get paralysed into not doing anything. That you just grab one of the life belts and focus on pulling yourself to safety.

What life belt are you going to choose today?

Let me know what works for you.

I'm focusing on getting my bulletin written.
See you next week,
Hope you have a great weekend.
Check me out on the HSBC blog.
Nina
With homage to Stevie Smith.

Focus first, then aim

Someone at my Life Club this week said her goal was to have 'a more enjoyable life'. Now, which of us can honestly hold up our hand and say we haven't felt the same thing at one time or another? I can't.

I knew exactly what she meant - and it's a great goal to have - but it's just too big. What is enjoyable? And, come to that, what will an enjoyable life be like? There are so many variations. By the end of the club she'd decided to focus on one element of her life first and improve that and (I'm prepared to bet on it) the rest will follow on.

I know a lot about goals and focusing in theory, but can find the practice of them difficult. I can visualise the 'enjoyable life' and I can break things down into tiny, achievable parts, like 'phone a friend tonight' but it's that middle bit that always seems so daunting. I mean, how can I move home and get a new job and find a new group of friends (or whatever will make my life more enjoyable)???

This week I'm going to practice what I preach. I'm going to focus first on what I really want, then break it down into achievable steps and then I'm going to aim.

Just watch out. Enjoyable life... here we come.

See you next week,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs, author of The Life Book

Do check out our new website - click on labels above to get you in to it. One goal down... several more to go.

This week's workshop had us deciding on our priorities and focusing. It worked wonders for me and many of my clubbers as we organised our lives choosing just three things (think of them as stones) we wanted to do each day of the following week.

So, for example, yesterday I went supermarket shopping (one of the things I really dislike doing) and that was one stone, I ran my club (another stone) and I went to a meeting (a third stone). Needless to say everything else fitted in really nicely around those three focus points.

My day felt balanced and I knew I'd accomplished what I wanted to do.

My stones for tomorrow are to go for a swim, re-sort my internet filing cabinet and go out for dinner - what kind of a delightful day is that?

Hope you all have a suitably wonderful weekend too juggling your stones,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs