Click on the play button for this very simple but effective technique for reducing overwhelm

In This Episode…

After working through Cal Newport’s great book “Deep Work” and then realising how much work I still need to do to develop my mental skills and abilities I realised it was still easy for me to become overwhelmed by the scale of the task I have before me. In dealing with that feeling I was reminded of a story about how I helped someone overcome those feelings . In this episode I share that story.

Episode Show Notes

00:14 – Background – in a previous episode I realised I am a mental wreck because of my struggle to apply myself to one of Cal Newport’s Deep Work exercises. Faced with everything I need to do to develop this important skill, I started to feel a little overwhelmed.

00:44 – This reminded me of a time when I helped someone through feelings of overwhelm when they were faced with a similar steep and challenging learning curve.

00:59 – A few years ago, I designed and delivered a series of sessions to help kids in school understand how to learn and remember. After getting the model right we decided to expand our trainer delivery team.

03:08 – One talented new presenter I was training up got completely overwhelmed with the amount of content she had to learn, the delivery style to develop and the logistical requirements of being on the road.

04:19 – To help her deal with the challenge, I used a pen to help shift her perspective from focusing on everything (looking at the pen side on) to focusing on the next thing (looking at the pen end on).

06:04 – It worked and she went on to become an outstanding presenter for us.

06:09 – So today whenever I start to feel overwhelmed by the scale of things I have to do, I simply take out my pen…


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