The last week saw me dealing with a problem of plenty. Where to prioritise my time? What to focus on? What is the best use of my energy? The good news is there are so many things in my life calling for attention. The better news is I love many of them.
Hence the problem of plenty. After an hour of introspection and answering some soul-searching questions with my coach, I managed to break it down into four quadrants. Communication. Coaching. Family. Me time. This is what has my cup overflowing. These four, fill the circle of my life and make my world.
Am I in the driving seat? or am I being driven, not sure where I am going? is the next question. There is thankfully good momentum going in all areas and I do know where I want to go. The temptation to allow the tide to carry me and go with the flow is one option. The other is… row my boat, not against the tide but into areas that I feel I want to explore more. To navigate the currents and ride the waves.
Most importantly to enjoy every minute of the ‘doing’ and to make sure I’m ‘being me’ while I am at it. In this context the driving analogy changes gear and it is not an either or. I am driven by my focus and desire to be my best self in the four areas I have chosen to prioritise. The best communications professional, the best coach, the best me that I can offer my family and last but not least, devoting time to learn and grow as a person or ‘me time’ to energise myself. Sometimes in the driving seat, sometimes being driven, but always happy to be on the journey, because all roads lead to the same destination, when you know where you’re going.
Letting go of the illusion of being in control and yet controlling where I chose to put my focus and attention offers a powerful clarity and insight. It also offers a feeling of being in the right place at the right time. As new things arrive, I must let go of something. Make some trade-offs. Adjust my expectations of myself. Put in a few extra hours on some days or nights. Allow me the luxury of an extended deadline on a passion project while holding myself accountable to deliver on a professional one. That’s all it takes. A look under the hood to see what’s going on.
What’s important. What’s not. Reprioritise. Refocus. Identify a course of action and then commit to it. And then enjoy the ride. That’s the way I went about unboxing myself and, in the process, ticking all the boxes.
The most difficult part of this was making choices. What to let go of? …to give more time and energy to what’s important. Taking a hard look In the mirror was important. “I want it all and I want it now”, gives way to “What do I need to focus on today?” so that I can eventually have it all. The way to tick all the boxes is to allow some of them to stop ticking for a while. And there you have it, a simple, but not easy way to tick all the boxes, unboxed. Look within and the answers always emerge.
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A trusted coaching and communications professional, Nikhil Dey is a certified life and leadership coach (International Coach Federation - ICF). Nurturing talent and helping clients achieve their goals is what makes him happy. He loves learning from students of communication, teaching courses and guest lecturing at various educational institutions. When he is not working you will find him on the tennis court or out for long walks with his family and four legged friends.
Previously he has held senior leadership positions at Weber Shandwick and Genesis BCW.
He can be reached on twitter @deydreaming
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