Month: November 2020

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The MAGIC Formula – Connecting to Yourself – Exercising in Nature

The MAGIC Formula - Exercise in Nature

The MAGIC formula:

Moving
Attuning
Giving
Inspiring
Connecting

It applies to:

Yourself
Your clients
Your team
Your prospects 

—

Right Royals

I am currently enjoying The Crown on Netflix. Say and think what you like about the Royal family, you have to admire their commitment to getting outdoors for some good healthy exercise.

Happy Paddler

Those who know me will know that I have a kayaking habit. I take out my sit-on-top kayak once a week for two to three hours. I paddle around, stop halfway for lunch on the riverbank.

It’s not a fast boat, but I love it. Over the last few years, I have seen some amazing things on these trips: pairs of kingfishers chasing each other across the canal; a deer swimming across the river just metres behind me; a fox racing me along the riverbank as I paddled along; a stoat coming and sitting a few metres away as I cooked up my baked beans. Special moments, unlikely to be repeated, which have become treasured memories.

Why am I so committed to kayaking every week, even when it’s freezing cold? It’s not just a nice thing to do, I believe it is essential for my work. Why is this?

I think we should all aim to do some exercise regularly in the great outdoors because:

– it is good for our mental health,
– It’s good for our physical health and fitness,
– It is intellectually stimulating and challenging, and
– it’s great thinking time.

Mental Space

Getting outside for a walk, cycle, or kayak gives you great headspace time. Your horizons literally get bigger, your eyes open to the wonders of nature, you get time to think. And time not to think.

I would encourage you to take off your headphones. Allow yourself to hear the birds, the rush of the wind, the patter of the raindrops. Let your brain slow down a bit. Get some perspective.

Better Body

Exercise is good for your body. I realise that is not a groundbreaking statement. But worth repeating nevertheless. It is an excellent antidote to sitting at your desk all day. Sitting a lot makes your muscles ache – I’m sure you’ve experienced this. Some vigorous exercise can help to alleviate that, to dispel some stiffness.

Muscle strength is also crucial for good posture and maintaining balance, particularly as we get older. I think decent strength and stamina reduces our risk of picking up annoying injuries as we go about our daily lives.

And I find that the change in focal length is refreshing. Staring at a screen all day means our eyes are always focused at one distance. Going outside to bigger horizons gives them a rest.

Health-wise, the benefits of vitamin D are well known. As well as being beneficial for your bones and joints, there are reports that it might even help to prevent  COVID-19.
I’m a big advocate in getting out in all weathers. I love the Scottish maxim that there is no bad weather, only the wrong clothes. Wim Hof might seem slightly extreme with his ice walks and ice swims, but it has been demonstrated that exposing yourself to a bit of shiver-inducing cold each day could help to improve your immune system.

Get out there so that the sun, rain and wind can hit your face. You’ll feel better. And you’ll look healthier, in person and in all those Zoom meetings.

Brain Boost

One of the reasons I love kayaking is the problem-solving and challenging situations it throws up. Maybe there’s a tree down across the river, and I have to get past it. Maybe a strap has snapped on my kayak, and I have to improvise.

If you have been camping, you will know that this involves all sorts of problem-solving situations. I find this very stimulating and a welcome change from the everyday computer-based thinking.

Nature itself is also intellectually and creatively stimulating: the beauty, the intricacy, the ingenuity. You can derive all sorts of inspiration from observing plants and animals. I like to explore natural environments with different degrees of human management: carefully managed parks, slightly wilder farmland, and occasionally wilderness – although that is hard to find these days.

Pondering and Percolating

Taking some time go for a walk or engage in some other sort of outdoors activity is also wonderful thinking time. Even if you don’t consciously focus on a particular problem, your brain will be percolating ideas in the background. There are countless times when a breakthrough, an epiphany or a moment of inspiration has come to me while walking the dog. It is always worth having a notepad or phone handy, so you can make a note of these flashes of inspiration.

Now, where are your coat and boots?

—
Download my free eBook “Be Kind to Yourself” and learn how to:

  • Adapt to new ways of working
  • Harness the power of habits
  • Optimise the use of space in your home
  • Use clothes to boost productivity
  • Focus on what matters
  • Plan for the future amidst uncertainty
Be Kind to Yourself – Free eBook
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The MAGIC Formula – Connecting to Yourself – Time Management

The MAGIC Formula - Time Management

The MAGIC formula:

Moving
Attuning
Giving
Inspiring
Connecting

It applies to:

Yourself
Your clients
Your team
Your prospects 

—

Time to Take Control

It is a zero-sum game. There are only a fixed amount of hours in your day, your week, your year.

To connect with yourself, you need space. To enable this, you need to take charge of your time management. It is too easy to let it run away with you. Take control so that you can live a fulfilling, productive and sustainable life. Run your time, don’t let time run you.

Yes and No

Saying yes to one thing will always mean saying no to something else. It’s unavoidable. Agreeing to an evening business meeting means saying no to watching TV. Arranging a weekend with the family might mean missing a conference. Taking on a new job or project could mean forfeiting some rest and recreation.

We only have a certain amount of hours.

So how do we ensure that we give our time and energy to the things that matter?

Time and Values

How we allocate our time directly stems from our personal values.

Think about new parents. They may well argue that their time is not their own – all their time and energy is taken by their new baby. I know the feeling, I’ve been there three times! However, even this is a reflection on their values.

Their child is the most important thing in the parents’ lives, hence their willingness to sacrifice time. It is still a choice. They could theoretically decide to neglect the child. But the parents don’t do this because of their values.

This concept translates into other areas of your life. You might argue that your job demands all your time, but, at the end of the day, it is up to you. Ultimately you might decide that you don’t want to give it that status and that might mean you have to change jobs. It is your job, it is your time, it is your choice.

Big Rocks


You may well be familiar with the image of putting big rocks, stones and sand into a jar:

– The big rocks represent the essential things in life, e.g., significant birthdays, weddings, funerals, holidays.
– The stones are the important things: critical work meetings, regular exercise, time for reflection., etc.
– The sand is everything else, the hundred emails that come in every day, ad hoc meetings, telephone calls.

The lesson from the jar is that if you put all the sand in first, there’s no room for anything else. Put the big rocks in first, then the stones, and then let the sand fill in the gaps.

Your Time is Your Own

Crucially, remember that you have ultimate agency in all of this. It is your choice, every step of the way. And remember, your time management will be different from anybody else’s.

You have your own unique set of people and pressures making demands. Your energy levels through the day will be different from anyone else’s.

Work out your priority list, put the big rocks in first and go from there. I love the book Essentialism (#ad) by Greg McKeown. He encourages us to work out the things that only we can do and then leave the rest to others.

Time to Observe

Practically, how do you go about time management?

It is useful to observe yourself. Think about how tired certain activities make you. How much rest do you need? How much time do you need for recreation, exercise and meals?
Work out what is realistic and sustainable for you in terms of a work-life rhythm. Do you put sufficient time buffers between zoom meetings, for example, so you can recharge and reset your brain?

Your needs will be different from those of others. When planning your diary, use your imagination to visualise the coming day or week. Picture how you will cope with the schedule you’re putting in place.

Call Time

Consider how you want to receive phone calls. Are you happy to answer a call at any time? I’m not! I view a phone call as an ad-hoc meeting. Personally, I am not ready to have a meeting the moment somebody else decides they want one. I need time to prepare.
In an attempt to manage this, I now use Calendly so people can book in for calls. Some people really don’t like it, but even they are realising that I probably won’t pick up the phone immediately. They now leave a message or text asking to speak at a later time. It seems to be working…

Tightrope Time

It’s all about work-life-balance. Or as I like to call it, work-life-magic 🙂

From my physical theatre and circus background, I learned that there are two types of balance: static and dynamic.

Static balance is where something is poised and balanced without moving, precisely even weight distribution. Think of a see-saw with no-one on it. Sometimes we think that our work-life balance should be like this, that we can achieve the perfect balance, and then it is just set forever.

However, I think life is much more like a dynamic balance. Picture a tightrope walker continually adjusting their weight, shifting one way or the next with their arms or balance pole.

As you go through life, your circumstances change, and you will need to shift and adjust to create a sustainable rhythm. Sometimes you will need to work more. Sometimes you will need more leisure. That is natural.

Ultimately, remember, you have agency. It is up to you. It all depends on your priorities.

Is it time to find your work-life-magic?

—
Download my free eBook “Be Kind to Yourself” and learn how to:

  • Adapt to new ways of working
  • Harness the power of habits
  • Optimise the use of space in your home
  • Use clothes to boost productivity
  • Focus on what matters
  • Plan for the future amidst uncertainty
Be Kind to Yourself – Free eBook
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The MAGIC Formula – Moving Yourself – The Power of Music

The MAGIC Formula - The Power of Music

The MAGIC formula:

Moving
Attuning
Giving
Inspiring
Connecting

It applies to:

Yourself
Your clients
Your team

Your prospects 

—

The Power of Music

I step off the bus at the central bus station in Heathrow facing a long walk with two wheelie cases to Terminal 2: Endless corridors, lifts and travellators.

But then the transformation.

I put on my noise-cancelling headphones and fire up Forty Licks, the best of the Rolling Stones

A smile comes on my face.

With “Street Fighting Man” in my ears, It’s all I can do to stop myself strutting like Mick Jagger, with a spring in my step. And the tedious journey suddenly becomes a pleasure. I’m a rock star!

I get to the queue for check-in. A big grin on my face with my feet tapping. I have to reign it in a bit, so the other passengers don’t think I’m mad.

Music is a marvellous thing.

All humans have loved it since time began. It has magical power to change our moods.

Why not use it intentionally?

I suggest that you can use music to improve your work and life by using it to:

– put you in the right mood for the activity at hand,
– inspire yourself
– help you to concentrate, and
– help you connect spiritually.

Getting In the Mood

Five minutes before chairing a challenging Zoom meeting, I put on my headphones and crank up “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’Roses, and dance around my office, juggling and jiggling like a crazy thing. Suffice to say, I begin the meeting energised!

When entering a national speech competition, I realised that my speech needed to hit a higher tempo in the rhythm of my words. I wanted to get more energy into it and to make sure it lasted precisely the right amount of time. I discovered that the beat I needed was exactly the same as “Staying Alive” by The Bee Gees. So I played that to myself before I went on.

I love cooking. I love cooking even more when I have Radio 2 on in the background. Chop, stir, dance, sing, chop. I’m showing my age, you will have your own special music and favourite station.

Music can energise you, it can motivate you. It can change your mood.

Let the Choir Inspire

Music can be inspirational. If you listen to lots of different music, especially music with lyrics. It will give you new ideas, new poetic phrases that may inspire your work and your life. I encourage you to listen to music outside your typical tastes. It will give you an insight into how others think and feel.

I love all sorts of music and make a point of listening to a wide range: heavy rock cheesy pop, folk, 80s hip hop, and even a bit of classical in extremis(!)

Concentration Now Begins

It seems counterintuitive, but much of the time having music in the background actually aids concentration rather than splitting our focus. I found this intriguing article in The Guardian, which explains why.

I have indeed found this true from experience. Putting some music on enables me to focus on a task when I would otherwise be demotivated or vulnerable to distraction.

Spiritual Connection

And finally, music can help you to connect spiritually. You may or may not be religious. If you are then you will be familiar with worship music, and how this plays a massive role in both personal and corporate devotion.

But, even if we are not religious, we all have songs that mean something to us.

And we all know that certain songs can de-stress us and calm us down. Some pieces can move us to tears, others can inspire us.

Think about how you can use music intentionally to improve both your work and your life.

Music may be the food of love, but it is the food of so much more as well. Play on.

—

Download my free eBook “Be Kind to Yourself” and learn how to:

  • Adapt to new ways of working
  • Harness the power of habits
  • Optimise the use of space in your home
  • Use clothes to boost productivity
  • Focus on what matters
  • Plan for the future amidst uncertainty
Be Kind to Yourself – Free eBook