Dear <<First Name>>,
Today I’m sharing more about
- Problem solving when stressed,
- Your prescription for wellbeing,
- Consciously choosing your mindset for the task in hand,
- Is inspiration an inside job?
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Problem solving when stressed
Problems don’t go away and, whilst contributing to stress, do still need resolving. When we’re stressed our ability to think logically has gone AWOL.
- We don’t know what to do
- Well-intentioned suggestions fall on deaf ears because we’re unable to make sense of them
- We don’t even have access to the tools that would usually help us to decide what to do
The motherboard in our mind that usually processes the data has instead initiated the firewall to stop logical information from getting into the very heart of our decision-making.
Which means we need different tools to solve problems when we’re stressed or under pressure.
Different tools that won’t be found in our logical problem-solving toolkit but instead a creative problem-solving toolkit. A toolkit that contains tools that open the door to the creative part of our mind.
Using these tools then becomes our superpower when we’re stressed (with caveats of course). As I say in my poem, From not knowing to knowing what to do: when we’re in an open and receptive state to the unconventional we solve problems, and “uncover what’s hidden from view, and with new eyes see the situation from different and alternate perspectives.”
How cool then that as a coach for the last 22 years specialising in helping people when they’re stuck, and therefore often stressed, I’ve gathered and also developed tools that help you to confidently get you back on track when you’re stuck or stressed.
It’s what my book Can’t see the wood for the trees – landscaping your life is all about.
During 2022 there’s going to be lots of opportunities to learn more about these tools.
If you’d like me to share these tools with your team then do get in touch and I can let you know more about what’s on offer.
Following #landscapingyourlife on LinkedIn and other social media, and reviewing newsletters from the archives will also provide hints, tips and tools contained within the LANDSCAPE problem-solving toolkit that would help you with a problem you’re grappling with.
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What’s on your prescription for wellbeing?
Whilst the tools used to solve problems can help to reduce any stress associated with the problem, stress more broadly is a presence in today’s workplace.
Your personal prescription for wellbeing, therefore, is aimed at helping you to:
- Step back and take time to think
- Notice the language you use when stressed
- Identify what you do that supports your wellbeing
- Understand what you do that negatively impacts your wellbeing
- Identify people who will notice the signs and who will be there to support you
You can get a copy of the prescription for wellbeing template that I’ve developed for your personal use - just hit reply to this email and let me know you'd like a copy and I will send it over to you.
Once you've got it, I'd love to know how you get on.
I shared this template with a procurement team last week and did deliver some of the presentation whilst doing plank!
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Are you in the right mindset to solve the problem you’re grappling with?
The Einstein paradox* suggests that the biggest hurdle when trying to solve a problem is your current, and I’d therefore suggest logical, mindset.
This might sound counter-intuitive, and yet firmly believing logical thinking can solve a problem, particularly one you’ve had for some time, just delays and inhibits the solution finding.
Can you remember the last time you dialled down logical thinking or sent it on a coffee break?
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Can you remember the last time you dialled down your logic to give other mindsets a chance to explore the situation?
Mindsets such as:
- Creativity
- Inspiration, or
- Openness to the new, different & diverse
Of course, logical thinking and creative thinking can coexist. So too can logical thinking and inspiration. Or even all of them at the same time.
The challenge of holding such mindsets concurrently is that they start to cancel themselves out.
Solving problems then is better conducted consecutively such as:
- Logic outlines the problem, and current data gathered
- Inspiration hints at tangents to view the problem from
- Creativity dares to dream from all and every perspective
- Logic makes sense of the solutions, and then
- Repeat with other mindsets being invited in as needed such as - challenge, courage or compassion.
Will you dial down logic today? And if so, what mindset will you dial up instead?
* Einstein is attributed as saying you can’t solve a problem using the same thinking you used to create it.
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Is inspiration an inside or outside job?
Inspiration is often seen as an outside job.
That something out there in the world is needed in order for you to be inspired. And sometimes that’s true - in that a vision, purpose, people, nature, music, words and so on can and do inspire us. We are in receipt of their gift and in that moment are inspired.
During a recent 3-hour 121 coaching session using the Transformation Game, an alternate source of inspiration emerged.
An inner source of inspiration.
A source that’s available 24/7 365.
A source that requires no logical choice of action or movement in order to see, hear, feel or understand it.
In fact, I’d suggest we need to dial down logical thinking to assist us - to send logic on a coffee break for 10 minutes.
Left alone without our logical thinking it’s much easier to invite creativity or inspiration to come out to play.
To open the door(s) in your mind, body, heart and/or soul to let inspiration out.
To welcome it as it leaves its hiding place within, and percolates into every fibre of your being.
Inspiration isn’t a ‘do’ for the to-do list, it’s a ‘be’ on the to-be list.
Close your eyes if you’d like, take a few deep breaths, feel your feet connect with the earth, and head reach to the skies, and allow inspiration to expand from within.
For me, the point of expansion is a few inches above my head within my energy field, if not my physical body. The point of expansion for you might be your eyes, heart, or somewhere else entirely.
I suspect when you discover your point, that door, that inspiration in any given moment is then not only just at your fingertips.
Where’s your point of expansion for inspiration - and is that a point from which other ways of being emerge or do you have different points for different things?
Until next time.
With much Love,
Alison xx
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