From Clutter to Clarity

I'm not sure if you have noticed but everyone is busy or at least they tell us they are busy.  "Good thanks" has been superseded by "Oh you know, busy," as the standard response to "How are you?" But is it really the case are people really as busy as they think, or have we just filled our day up with stuff, which we could survive without doing? When was the last time you did a spring clean, not of your belongings but of your time habits? The last time I checked in with my time habits, I managed to save about 5hrs a week, in things I had just fallen into doing since the last time I checked. A TV show that I sat and watched, which I really didn't enjoy, and which was rubbish.  Checking and responding to emails as they come in rather than in a block. Social networking with people I am not likely to ever have a real conversation with. Sending 5 text messages backwards and forwards, rather than making 1 quick phone call. And what do...

Think back to the last time you were really happy. What were you doing? How did it feel? And arguably most importantly when was that? Surprisingly many of us will need to head all the way back to our childhood to find really unadulterated happiness, days where we got to do pretty much what we wanted (within our childlike worlds), and enjoyed it. So how come we might find this difficult as adults?  There seems to be an assumption amongst us adults that happiness is finite, and something we aim for. Or else it is attached to achieving something like a promotion or getting something like a new car. But do those things really make you 'happy' or is happiness about an awareness of simple pleasures? To compound this lack of awareness we also seem to feel guilty about expressing our happiness, in case we jinx it. Far better to let people know how 'busy' we are.  So how come we can be busy all of the time but we can't be contented? So if you are up for the cha...

We are generally very good at knowing what we need to do better but very very bad at being able to say we do something well. "I should do more exercise."  "I could communicate more."  "I need to get better at time management."  "I should work on my presentation skills." "I need/ should (add your own in here!!!) It is time to put a different perspective on it. After all you didn't get to the ripe old age of (add here whatever age you feel like being), without managing to do some things well, the tricky part is being able to articulate what they are. So grab that coffee, find somewhere quiet and write down/think of 10 things you do well, just 10. Oh and fight the temptation to be glib, so 'I am good at being on facebook' doesn't count, but 'I am good at keeping in touch with people' does! The reality is that remembering and stating what we are good at is much harder than it sounds. We spend most of our time in the ...