Time To Stop?

At any networking event I could guarantee to get every woman’s hand in the air, if I asked the question “Whose busy and never seems to have enough time?”

You see as business owners, there is always a glut of jobs that could be done. The key is to prioritise what is most important, outsource and automate. But sometimes that’s just not enough.

Many a business woman has felt like she is losing under a mountain of paperwork, emails and jobs to do. No matter how many times you cross things off of the list to do there is always something new to be added. I can appreciate that’s why business women come to me to get their minds organised, create direction and set goals to get them to the results they desire. But sometimes something else is called for.

Space.

How many of you reading this create space?

How many of you allow your mind to wander?

How many of you reading this allow yourself time to smell the crocus’s popping up or to notice the buds on the trees?

Sounds like a girly, non business focussed, fluffy idea right? But Google encourages their staff to do something they enjoy doing for 20% of their time, because they appreciate it allows for creativity, increased long term productivity, solution finding and happy people.

Latest research in Neuroscience is showing without down time, we take longer to restore, will find relaxation harder in the future and we lose our ability to concentrate and create. All of which massively impact on your business success.

So the next time you’re faced with a mountain of work, it may not strike you as the most productive approach but sometimes a little bit of nothing is the key. Creating space in your mind allows your mind to wander, and when this happens your subconscious is allowed to take over. The sub conscious from the moment you think of something is looking for the solution, and the reason you often can’t see the solution is because the conscious mind is so busy shouting instructions and getting on with the day to day stuff. Clare Lauwerys from Positive Web said “Making cheese sauce works for me. Whenever I’m stirring a cheese sauce I end up creating great ideas for my customer’s websites.”

As a business coach I help a client create space to work out what really matters and to help them direct focus to achieve. Having a non judgemental soundboard helps. And Google have gone one step further there by introducing grouplets – allowing staff to get together in working hours and work on their creative ideas, which have led to some of the great products and services that allow Google to remain at the top.

So if you find your feeling overworked, and fighting a losing battle;

Walk away for 10 minutes.

Turn your mind to a job you love doing for 20 minutes.

Before you go to sleep at night think of something that you would like a solution to and nod off. Research has shown that in the first hour before we go to sleep our mind is still processing the contents of the day, therefore your subconscious will have the space to start working on your problem while your sleeping.

Just as you ensure you are productive all day, ensure you created space in your day. In the best selling book, Art of Concentration Harriett Griffey (who spoke at The BWN a couple of times!) talked about the need to create space for productivity – it seems madness to walk away from the very issue you are trying to solve. But as we all know – “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.” Mark Twain.

 Time for new thinking?