Life lessons 2021
Hands down, my biggest accomplishment over the last year has been to complete my Professional Doctorate. I'm so proud of what I accomplished, but far out did it take a lot out of me!
Something that many won't know is that this year I was diagnosed with ADHD. When I told my friends who know me they were like that makes SO MUCH SENSE! I've always had a lot more energy than many of the people around me - but also leads to a tendency to get burnt out. Putting the right strategies and support in place has made a world of difference to my productivity and mental state as I better understand what makes me tick.
ONE THING
A number of themes from previous years returned - especially the ONE THING concept which certainly helped me complete my doctorate. Rather than juggling loads of things and making little progress in lots of areas, I reduced all additional unnecessary tasks or distractions and kept going back to the one thing that was essential to complete this year - my doctorate. That had to take priority before other exciting projects - which meant learning how to say NO to interesting projects and opportunities that ultimately would distract or delay the doctorate being completed.
One touch - touch it once
Do it now, not later and touch it once to have better time management and productivity has been a game changer.
As someone who is easily distracted, I block out time specifically to open emails once a day and deal with them once there and then. If I read it and leave it for later to action it not only doubles up my time on that task, but it is more likely to be forgotten. So I aim to complete the whole task in that moment by touching it once.
I can't even begin to explain how much I hate doing the dishes, but I've found the touch it once concept applies to washing up in the moment and other boring household chores that can stack up. For example when unpacking the washing, rather than leaving it in a pile on the bed, putting it away there and then so it only gets touched once. Which saves time for the future and minimises any task becoming overwhelming.
Thoughts- feelings- actions- results
This year I have grown deeper in my understanding of behaviour change and the factors influencing our actions and results - particularly the influence of thoughts and emotions. Sharing this knowledge with my clients has helped them uncover the deep rooted reasons sabotaging their success so they can make positive changes that last.
Personally I have used this to improve my relationship with sleep. Finding out I have ADHD put this in context. Because I would literally lie down and then my brain would go CRAZY thinking of a million and one things. I realised that this was really stressful for me, which explained why I would procrastinate and avoid going to bed - even when tired. It's certainly not perfect yet, but I have discovered a number of strategies I need to put in place regularly to make it easier to get to bed regularly.
Here's to an awesome adventurous 2022!
Gemma
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