With a group this week, the issue of ‘time’ kept cropping up. This is a commodity in short supply given the demands of people’s roles and more importantly, home lives. So how do we find the time to develop ourselves and more importantly, ensure that we are in the right ‘state of mind’ to continue to deliver our best performance day-in and day-out?
There are many ‘apps’ on the market and many are aimed at self improvement – whether it is 5 minute-a-day sit-up routines, or 10 ‘meditation’ apps. This is such a small amount of time that it makes it manageable and therefore more likely that we will do this (the 6 pack is coming along nicely!)
So why not try creating your own 5 minute a day routine aimed at developing yourself. And here’s some great ones for starters:
- Take a break and go and give a member of your team some feedback. Don’t wait for appraisal time. Little and often is the key.
- Do a random act of kindness. This is proven to make you feel great and what comes around goes around.
- Do something that makes you happy – whether it is listening to your favourite song, looking at your favourite holiday snaps, or phoning a friend. There is a direct correlation between great performance and a positive mindset and it only takes minutes to change.
- Catch someone doing something right and thank them for it. A lot of what makes organisations; successful is the ‘silent running’ and acknowledging that will reinforce both the actions but also create loyalty.
- Be kind to yourself. Go home 5 minutes early and play with the kids or brush the cat. Interacting with others that you care about will give you that chemical feel good factor, but more importantly, show that you do care.
So make your own list. After all, 5 minutes a day isn’t much to ask………..especially when on average it takes 7 minutes to go to the loo!
by Jason Miller
