Refresh Between Points.
Hi There,
DRIVEN’s recent article, Give Yourself Some Space, is loaded with essential guidance about your relationship to Stress and how to better manage this entirely natural part of life. For instance, consider the professional athlete. She spends her life training for her craft. She is intentional about her diet, the quality of her sleep, what she visualizes, and of course, how thoroughly she practices. We in the business world might all take a lesson from a tennis champion— both how she trains for the game and how she recovers. Notice how after a tournament she doesn’t simply bound off to her next big match. She takes time to wind down and bounce back.
But no. So many of us corporate athletes continue running from task to task, and from big lift to bigger lift, without affording ourselves even a breath to recover. Another advantage the best tennis players could share with their knowledge worker equivalents is how to “refresh and recover between points”. They’ve disciplined their brain to return to the present after each point scored (their own point, or their opponent’s), resetting their emotions in the process.
Now THAT’S powerful! And it’s a favorite technique I work with clients on building throughout their days. It sounds incredibly easy, but in my experience, it’s a challenge for people to pull off. The most common reasons are:
-They don’t think it’s important.
-It’s hard to remember as they get tugged under the current of life.
-They don’t know where to start.
My challenge to you for the coming month is to do this 3-breath meditation before ONE meeting each week, and to notice how you feel immediately afterward and during the meeting. Regardless of the experiment’s outcome, you’ll have taken the first baby step toward becoming the corporate Serena Williams!
Speaking of strong women, you might want to check out DRIVEN's blog page lagniappe showcasing numerous resources to enrich Women's History Month. The additions this week relate to Women in the Workplace and in Leadership, and include books, articles, interviews and a TED Talk. Link to the lagniappe HERE, and continue your discovery!
Cheers!
-Deborah
Deborah Goldstein
DRIVEN Professionals / Forbes / Linkedin
info@drivenpros.com | LinkedIn
DRIVEN Professionals, 35 Adrienne Lane, Garrison, NY 10524