Open the window of your mind.
Allow the fresh air, new lights and new truths to enter.
Amit Ray
Author

Overwhelm - what’s going on?

So here we are, at the beginning of the second month of the new year. So how do you feel having left January behind? My conversations with leaders over the last couple of weeks have gradually shifted from a sense of optimism at the start of the new year, to the awareness of a gradual slide into overwhelm and cognitive fatigue. One leader described herself as having ‘multiple tabs’ open in her mind. I suspect she isn’t the only one feeling like this.

Our minds are pulled from one thing to another, often driven by these external and sometimes internal demands and distraction. It takes its toll on our energy levels and erodes our effectiveness as leaders. 

Retaining clarity of mind, even in the midst of multiple demands, matters to us as leaders. Daniel Goleman in his work on ‘focus’, refers to this as 'cognitive control'. He stresses how important this is for effective leadership, noting that leaders with clarity of mind and effective cognitive control stay calm in a crisis, tame their own agitation and recover quickly from debacle or defeat.

So how might we retain clarity of mind?

Practicing clarity of mind

This week why not try this short simple practice each time you feel your mind accelerating through all those tabs in your brain, constantly replaying all you have to attend to. Let’s give ourselves the opportunity to slow down the chatter and create a little more spaciousness and clarity in the mind.

I know it’s only February but perhaps we might see it as a short ‘spring clean’ for the mind, getting rid of the clutter so you can focus more clearly, and for longer, on what really matters.

Step 1
Stop and sit - for just a moment. That’s the hardest bit, giving yourself permission to stop, so simply doing this as an intentional act perhaps 2 /3 times a day can make a difference.

Step 2
Bring your attention like a torch beam away from your mind and into your body. You might want to place your attention on your feet, or your hands, or your backside on the chair. Do this slowly, aware of sensations of temperature, pressure, tingling - noting and naming whatever you feel.
Your mind will inevitably start pulling your attention back to those multiple open tabs, as soon as you notice this, gently come back to resting your attention on one part of the body.

Step 2
Now move your attention to the breath. Gently become aware of it entering and leaving the body. You might want to note ‘rising, falling’, or ‘in, out’. By naming what we are experiencing we bring our cognitive awareness to the practice. In other words we give the mind something to do. Slowly, we may notice the mind gradually settling.

Step 3:
Now take some longer out breathes and allow the shoulders to drop, easing any tension there might be in this area of the body. Ending this practice with a few long out breaths can help down-regulate stress hormones, especially if we use this longer out breath to also breathe out some of the intrusive thoughts that clutter our minds.

Step 4:
Sit for a moment or two simply breathing naturally. Be aware of the body sitting and of the breath ventilating the mind a little, perhaps noticing a little more spaciousness appearing between the thoughts.

Maybe next time a member of staff says ‘I just can’t think straight’ you might share this with them

If you want to go further, Dan Fox has a number of utube videos on ‘living a better designed life’. He’s quite a funky guy and very easy to listen to. Here’s one on ‘how to ditch brain fog and increase mental clarity’ with lots of other simple tips you might find useful.