Rob looked tired and depressed - and he admitted that
running his own catering business had not been as much fun
as he had anticipated.
As his story unfolded, Rob told me that he had he hadn't
taken any holiday over the preceding 18 months - and even
over the Christmas holiday he had ended up in bed with flu
rather than enjoying his time off. Recognising that he
couldn't sustain his workaholic lifestyle had prompted Rob
to book a session with me to see how he could alleviate his
stress.
I first suggested that we look at how Rob was managing his
time. Looking at his feet, he replied that he never had
the chance to manage his time because all of his days were
spent dealing with problems as they arose.
Already it was clear that this was where the root of Rob's
problems lay. By crisis managing all the time, Rob had no
spare capacity for planning - and yet it was this lack of
planning that was causing Rob to be in a permanent state of
crisis in the first place. It was a double-bind situation
that many people running their own businesses find
themselves facing sooner or later.
I outlined to Rob that one of the secrets of good time
management was to focus and prioritise - with the ultimate
aim of spending all work time on matters that were
important but not yet urgent. "At the moment, all your time
is spent on activities that are both important and urgent,"
I said, "and this is what is causing your stress levels to
rise. "
Shaking his head in protestation, Rob said, "I understand
what you are saying - but to be honest, I think I'm at my
best when I'm under stress. If I don't have deadlines
looming or clients demanding attention, I tend to switch
off." Rob went on to admit that he tended to multi-task,
which gave him a buzz - and he acknowledged, being busy and
doing lots of different things at the same time made him
feel in control and dynamic.
"I can see how it might feel that way," I told Rob, "but
actually, however good you may feel, your body is still
reacting to stress signals. Not only does stress have a
negative effect on the body - making the immune system less
effective, as you found out at Christmas - but it also has
a major impact on your creative abilities."
Rob frowned - and asked me to continue. "Well," I said,
"when your body is under stress, the 'flight or fight'
response is induced. Our bodies are unable to calibrate
the level of threat to our being, it's as though there is
simply an on/off switch. Or in other words, our response
to threats will always be identical, whether we are
face-to-face with a sabre-toothed tiger or whether we are
face-to-face with a towering in-tray.
"When we are responding to a threat our bodies start to
function in survival mode - which means that our more
sophisticated bodily functions cease to work properly.
Digestion, for example, is not necessary to our immediate
survival, so when we find ourselves in a stressful
situation, blood and oxygen are immediately diverted to our
muscles and to the primitive part of our brain only (the
amygdala) that deals with "fight or flight".
"Because the more sophisticated parts of the brain are not
receiving optimum amounts of blood and oxygen, our ability
to listen to anything rational or 'see the logic' in an
explanation is dramatically diminished. Similarly,
creativity is not necessary for the "fight or flight"
response and therefore our abilities to innovate - let
alone problem solve - are impaired."
Having understood the reasons why he needed to change his
way of approaching work, Rob and I spent the rest of our
time together creating a work schedule that would enable
him to catch up with the backlog and plan properly for the
future.
----------------------------------------------------
Olivia Stefanino is a leadership consultant, speaker and
author of the internationally acclaimed management book,
"Be Your Own Guru". Interviewed on more than 25 radio
stations and featured in "The Guardian", "Natural Health"
& "Red", Olivia is a guest columnist for a number of
national and international publications. Download your
fr*ee e-booklet, "128 ways to harness your personal power!"
by visiting http://www.beyourownguru.com
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