Hi The coach zone,

Welcome to this weeks Get COACHd on Friday.

One of the big challenges that I find when running a few businesses – one of many – is about balancing time for ‘effective’ working. I guess the first thing is to understand what ‘effective’ actually means. I was touched and encouraged by a recent LinkedIn post from Tej Lalvani (Dragons Den fame) who commented that even he has off days – and that that is Ok. I am not comparing myself to him, but it is humbling when you hear this from a successful entrepreneur of his standing.

How do you deal with these off days?

I find that this is dependent on the urgency of what I have around me. IF something is screaming – a deadline, a promise, or an event, then there is no ducking the responsibility or commitment that has been made. However, wiggle room is great. It can help you identify when something is getting blocked – and says in big letters –

STOP. GO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.

There is a saying, there is no point in flogging a dead horse – although this is a different context to the one that I am painting here.

But we can create our own tensions. We are advised to schedule time for activities, to just turn on that creative tap, and to be effective NOW. Life isn’t like that.

Earlier this week, I woke at 3:15am. The schedule for the morning was ‘be creative’ – I wont bore you with the details. But, I was drawn to something else – and that was fine.

Here I am now, later in the week, turning up creative by managing my energies and listening to my thinking.

It is good and works for me. For others though, I know that this fluidity will cause challenge and so their system is fine. The big takeout, once you find a system to work with our own construct of effective, then stick with it (at times).

Enjoy this weeks reads.

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But before then, I have been approached by a friend from Warwick University. There is an opening for new members of the coaching and career team – if interested, please click here for more information.

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