At the height of summer there are so many lovely gardens to admire. The most attractive are a harmony of colours and plant shapes, all suited to the terrain and soil conditions. It can all look so natural and pleasing that it’s hard to appreciate the amount of effort behind the scenes.

To me this is a little bit like people at work, some seem to just blossom and grow great relationships and skills without much effort. Conversely others despite hard work get stuck and held back never getting to display all their talents. They get stressed, anxious or just burnt out.

How so? As any wise gardener will tell you the best way to a beautiful garden is to plan ahead, pay attention to the soil and match your plants to the terrain.

If a gardener chooses plants that don’t like the soil or the terrain then he becomes a slave to a regime of watering, feeding and protection. If he goes away then the plants and garden quickly fade in glory.

So how does this translate to you and me at work? Well taking a leaf from the canny gardener you need to pay attention to the right things.

Pay attention to the Soil: Regard your mind as the soil of your mental garden and know that it must be nourished to produce healthy strong and beautiful plants that flourish. So you must from now on encourage positive and constructive thoughts. Every eleven seconds we have a thought they say so start weeding out the negative and critical.

Match your plants to the terrain and conditions: Develop your listening skills so that you can accurately reflect what’s being said to you and by others around you. Practise this by saying back to the other person exactly what they’ve said. Don’t paraphrase use their words. You’ll find it improves your concentration and recall. It also is remarkably good way to help others make decisions or resolve their own issues.

Avoid weeds and Brambles Taking Over: When talking or in discussion get into the habit of checking in with your emotional state every now and then. It will help you be objective and not let your emotions take over. Letting emotions run high is the root cause to many conflicts because it’s impossible to listen in an emotive state. It’s like letting the brambles take a hold and strangle the life out of the plants.

Everyday find something that pleases you no matter how briefly and seemingly innocent it was. It could be the aroma of your morning coffee, exchanging a joke or funny story with a workmate. Savour the moment and your mind will start to seek out the good bits of your day.

Enjoy your Growing Success: At the end of everyday, like the gardener take a turn around your garden. In other words review what’s happened and appreciate your wins. Then quickly list the top three or four things you want to get done the next day. Your mind has a natural ability to plan ahead so let it imagine for you how to get these tasks done.

To the left of this page you’ll see instructions on how to download my free report, Symptoms of Burnout and how to Recover. It’s free and your e-mail will not be shared or passed on to any third party. You can also have some free advice via e-mail following the download.

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