All too often we can feel overwhelmed by what we have to do. We can worry about the mountain of tasks in front of us, and end up procrastinating, or just make ourselves really busy and achieve very little of what’s really important in driving our business forward. If this sounds familiar there is a little exercise you can do that will help…
Being in control, or should I say the feeling of being in control, is critical to your productivity, happiness and as it turns out your health. In a recent study conducted on 7,400 employees, those that believed they had no control over deadlines that had been set were 50% more likely to suffer with coronary disease. That’s as bad as having high blood pressure!
In another study, old people were giving the task of looking after their own plants, and this little bit of responsibility and control within their lives not only made them feel happier but actually reduced mortality rates, such is the importance of feeling in control.
Take a piece of paper and turn it so it’s horizontal, then draw a line down the middle, and on the left hand side list the things that are worrying you, but you have no direct influence over. On the right hand side write down the things that are worrying you but you do have influence over, so are able to control to some degree. The stuff you can’t control, forget about, and instead concentrate on the stuff you can control.
So, you might not be able to control whether a client leaves you, but you can control putting some effort into developing your products or skill- set that can be of added value to your client. Prioritise your list and select a couple of things you can take action on now, even if they are small things.
By Alan Adams