On Calming The Inner Voice

I had a bit of a wobble over the weekend.

I started finding it really difficult to switch off at nght, and found myself waking up at 4 in the morning with my head spinning with all the "stuff" I had to do, which led to getting up at silly o'clock to get work done and then fretting when I couldn't think clearly. By Monday morning I was in a bit of a state, and by Monday teatime all I wanted to do was sit in a corner and cry.

Instead of doing that, I took myself off to bed for some quiet time to think, drink tea and calm down.

I listened very hard to what was going on in my head and realised that my inner voice was chuntering away along these lines:

"You've got to think about marketing and you need a PR strategy and there's that workshop you're running on Saturday and you need to be ready for that and have you contacted the people that are coming yet and you're nearly out of business cards and you need to learn how to hold a teleseminar and it's about time you recorded another podcast and when are you going to find somewhere for your workshops and if you held a seminar would anyone come and what kind of cupcakes are you going to make and...and...and..."

It's no wonder I couldn't sleep! Once I started to pay attention to what my inner voice was saying, I immediately realised that I was stressing myself out because I had fallen into one of my usual self-inflicted bear-traps - I had got so swept up with the excitement of new things, that I'd stopped planning and prioritising, and now I couldn't see the wood for the trees.

So, instead of just letting the inner voice keep going and driving me mad, I decided to pay it some attention, and I wrote down all the things it was telling me I needed to do. This immediately helped me to feel calmer. It's like paying attention to a small child - if you ignore it it just gets more and more persistent and insistent, tugging at your sleeve, getting louder, climbing all over you until you get completely exasperated with it. If you listen to what it's saying (provided you're not in the middle of something critical) and acknowledge what it's trying to tell you, it's happy and will wander off to do something else, leaving you to concentrate on what you were doing.

So I acknowledged my inner voice, recognising that, in this instance, it was trying to help me. Once I'd written down all the things it was reminding me about, I was able to prioritise them and recognise that actually only a very few need my attention this week, and the rest could wait. Another huge weight off my shoulders, and a lessening of my stress.

And then, of course, I acknowledged that what I need is to draw up a plan and stick to it, rather than getting carried away with things and wanting to do it all now. And how those of you that used to work with me will be laughing now, famous as I was for chafing against the need to be tied down by plans!

Well, you live and learn. I don't want to allow myself to get panicky and anxious in my new life - I know it's inevitable that there will be some stress, but I'm not going to let it take over as I have before. I've done pretty well so far, and I think this weekend was the first time I've felt anything other than exhilarated since I gave my notice in back in October. Maybe I was due for a reminder that you can't expect to run on exhilaration without getting exhausted, and that I need to take some time to relax every once in a while?

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On Enthusiasm

Yesterday was the first proper day of work for most of the country, myself included. But it wasn't like it's always been before for me. I saw lots of my friends having to steel themselves to get up early and go reluctantly into work (I hope the 9am meet up for coffee and moral support at Ritazza went well, oh Shiny Dudes!) and I waved my own lovely husband off as het set out into the freezing fog with an air of resolve and reluctance about him.

And me? I was tucked up in the warm with a hot water bottle, a cup of tea and my trusty laptop, eager to crack on and full of ideas. It really is true that it doesn't feel like work if you enjoy it. And I'd go further than that and say that, now that I'm in charge of my own destiny, I have an energy and a work ethic I haven't experienced for a VERY long time.

So what did I do with it all yesterday? Well, I sent out a mailshot to 40 local companies, all fellow members of Cheltenham Chamber of Commerce, offering them a free coaching session - in this business it's all about reputation, and no-one's going to hire me in preference to anyone else unless they've seen me in action and think that I can do a better job than their current supplier. I read somewhere that you generally only get a 1 in 10 return rate from this kind of marketing so I'm hoping for a maximum of 4 new clients as a result.

I needed to bank my FIRST EVER CHEQUE FROM A CLIENT (woohoo!!) and buy some printer labels so I decided at lunchtime to walk to the Bath Road - it was such an utterly beautiful day! I grew up round here so I decided to try out the old back ways and footpaths that I used to use when I was a nipper. I ended up taking 2.5 hours to get there and back and complete my transactions but it was wonderful - I explored bits of Hatherley/Warden Hill/Tivoli etc that I haven't seen for years, I found a whole new housing estate that I never knew existed (and was able to say to someone "the last time I used this footpath it was all fields round here!"). I met some lovely dogs and their charming owners and, best of all, I was able to bask in the glorious sunlight rather than being cooped up inside with no idea of what the weather was doing.

I then spent far too long doing battle with my printer but we finally reached an understanding and I showed it who's boss. Note to self: must buy some more paper to make up for all the sheets that got wasted yesterday, and next time buy standard sized labels. Ho Hum.

I had an email saying that I've had another article published on ezine - this one's about how Evil Leaders can lower staff morale very easily by following advice from the Institute of Evil Leadership (I have appointed myself spokeswoman for the Institute...). You can read the article here http://is.gd/5MCYV

And then, to round of a splendid day's work, I heard that 2 of the 3 potential coaching clients that I visited just before Christmas have selected me to be their coach. Much delighted whooping ensued and I allowed myself another cup of tea and a slice of cake to celebrate. I'm going down to Surrey to meet up with them on Friday so that we can crack on.

As for today, I shall be concentrating on raising awareness of my New Year, New You workshops: the evening classes are due to start next week and so far I don't have any takers, so my target is to have at least 4 people signed up by the end of tomorrow - there are only 12 places available so if you're reading this and you're in Cheltenham and you're at all interested, please have a look here http://is.gd/5MCPv and book yourself a place. And if it's not for you, then please forward the details on to any friends you think might like it.

OK, that's the first thing on today's to do list done, onwards and upwards!