I was chatting with someone this week, who is part way through their PhD studies, when she informed me: I don’t have time, I don’t have time for anything – I am so time poor, every waking moment I am thinking and working on my PhD.
She appeared stressed, distracted, blinkered and unable to look up or out at anything else.
This got me thinking again about our topic this month – instilling fun and play in our work.
Why do we continue with the negative language of scarcity and lack in relation to our time, and how does this impact on us as Authentic Leaders of ourselves, let alone other people?
There is a law of the universe that states: what we focus on we attract. Even Thomas A. Edison lived his life with this understanding. Do we want to continue to attract the experience of never having enough, always chasing our tail, constantly feeling like we haven’t achieved what we set out to do for today – Or do we want to focus on moments of abundance, freedom and possibility?
Now we’re not talking about rainbows and lollipops all day long. We are not proposing that we shirk responsibility, become slack in our standards or walk away from what we are working on achieving.
But there must be a better way – Yes?
Our language is a powerful precursor to how we feel and what we are able to achieve. We have the option to continue to focus on the lack of things, or we can switch this around and notice the presence of things. The 3 minutes between meetings to take a break and get a hot drink, the 2 minutes delay of the train so we can stand in the fresh air and breathe, the moments when we are distracted from our work and can focus on a conversation with a colleague, a photo, a funny anecdote.
All of these moments can be termed as ‘fun’ and were discussed in more detail in last weeks blog.
Three key methods for increasing moments of fun:
- Stop and look up – Look up from your computer or phone, look up to the sky, really look at the person you are talking to.
- Reframe your language – change this from, I’ve just got a busy/ huge day today – to, I have a number of things in my diary today, how can I have some moments of fun within this?
- Notice and celebrate the moments of fun – take your response from, oh I can’t allow myself to do that – to, go me I just had 30 seconds of fun in my day!
When you are open enough to allow the moments of fun, you will find that the day flows more easily, you will achieve more each day, and you will have more energy at the end of the day.
What an exciting way to improve your capacity and grow your achievements – with a focus on abundance, lightness and fun!
