Everything we do (or fail to do) at work is preceded by a thought. Our thoughts predict our behaviour. This means that the quality of your actions can never exceed the quality of your thinking.
So if you want to perform at your best the place to start is with your thinking. What are you going to do to maximise your results?

In my Surrey practice I work with many clients who complain that they don’t enjoy their jobs or they feel work is a heavy burden. When I ask for more detail, often as not it’s a perspective they’ve habitually fallen into that’s causing their stress.

For example a young, and very clever woman, had come to me asking how NLP (neuro linguistic programming), could help her feel less stressed at work. We chatted for a while so that I could better understand her problems.

War on Work

She described areas of her work in terms of the ‘battles’ she experienced. Then there was talk of ‘war’ and ‘them’ and ‘mini-Hitlers’ and how she ‘lost’ whenever there was a ‘fight’ with ‘them’. My mind turned to pictures of war with trenches where my client hunkered down to protect herself and threw the odd missile at the unseen enemy.

I very gently shared this imagery with her and we laughed. But then she paused and said my picture wasn’t far off how she was feeling. I wondered how the other people around at work might be feeling as a result of her war-like perception of the world of work. Her face froze in shock and a look of sudden realisation formed across her features.

Keeping the Bigger Picture in Mind

We talked some more and I started to suggest that maybe she could still put her war theme on work to good use. Generals at war always look at the bigger picture and have a clear goal to aim for. Then they evaluate and rally all their resources according to the overall strategy, the time available and the task at hand. My client liked this idea and so together we began to plan her own strategies for engaging and winning over the enemy.

Our plan went a little like this:

By now she was very excited and her goal was becoming more and more concrete to her each moment.

I asked her what the battleground felt like now. She laughed and remarked that it seemed very calm now. She remembered her little Hitler character and said that she almost felt sorry for him.

The Battlefield in your mind

So next time you start feeling bothered or hot under the collar at work, check out your thoughts. Ask yourself are they blinding you from what’s really going on around you? Make sure you know what the bigger picture is for you, what really matters to you. Define your goals, write them down and consider them in the way I describe above.

You’ll feel much more in control when you’re clear about what you want. Every day you can refer to your written goal, and see how close you’re getting and whether what you’re doing is helping. Doing this gives you the satisfaction of acknowledging your daily achievements, helping you plot your next moves so that you will feel better about you and work.

Check out my workshop where delegates learn how to clearly identify what they want and how to be at their best at work.
Next workshop on Saturday 1 December nr Cobham Surrey, UK. 9.30am to 12.30, cost £75. More information here