You Archives • Saker Lynd & Co

What’s your point?

Jan 28, 2019 | Focus, You

When my partner looks at me in a meeting…… well! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The smart young project manager is explaining the details of where his team stands on the latest project. His manager looks at his phone and then looks back at the project manager. There is a disconnect. Smart young thing believes that it is important to explain the ABC and DEF of his project all the way through to Z. Old hand wants highlights only – A and Z.

A team member is asked a question. He is so busy explaining the context around what has been asked that he forgets the question. Other team members shift in their chairs and look bored.

We’ve all been there. Fallen in love with the detail of what we are doing and believe that everyone will love the detail in the same way we do. Or just rambled on, painting a picture when our audience simply needs a rough backdrop.

In both cases, our audience is thinking, “What’s your point?”

Know that when people look at you at work, they too are often thinking. “What’s your point?”

And when my partner looks at me in a meeting? You guessed right. She is defintely thinking the same thing.

So, whether note to myself or note to yourself.

Answer the question. And make a point.

What does success look like?

Jan 10, 2019 | Focus, Quote, You

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”

Franklin D Roosevelt

You’ve arrived – or so you think!

Our eldest son was about three. One day, as we were taking a reluctant walk on a miserable day in January, I announced with false enthusiasm, “Yeah! We’re there.” “Where’s there?” asked our 3 year old. And then, with far more insight than his father….. “Looks like nowhere to me.”

When will you have arrived? What does success look like or mean for you? Is arrival the goal or is it the journey?

A financial planner friend told me recently that the biggest financial mistake she sees people make is that once they reach some financial goal that they have set for themselves, rather than being satisfied and enjoying that particular lifestyle, they then want more. It’s the classic mistake of get a better paying job, buy a bigger car, bigger house, take more expensive vacations.

Early in my career I had a very strong sense of meeting with a client high up in an office building overlooking a large expanse of water. A couple of years later I found myself in a meeting with the Regional President of a client in his Buenos Aires office overlooking the Rio de la Plata. It was uncanny. Ever since, I have used visualisation to help me focus on what I am looking to achieve.

Imagining what your destination might look like is an excellent first step towards knowing when you’ve arrived.

How to reduce stress at night?

Dec 21, 2018 | Focus, You

It’ll kill ya!

The proverbial bus. If someone tosses an electric fire into the bath while you are in it. And stress will too.

So, what can we do? Always look both ways. And definitely not piss off our partner in the bathroom. But what can we do when we can’t sleep, our mind is spinning and we feel completely overwhelmed and overburdened?

Sleep related problems are one of the most common symptoms reported by people suffering from stress. They struggle to get to sleep or they wake in the night and then can’t go back to sleep.

Even when life is unfolding happily, a couple of nights of sleeping badly can make our world, before so rosy, seem grey and foreboding. How much more so if we are already stressed out by work pressures, a failing personal relationship, money worries, poor personal health or the poor health of loved ones?

A technique I use can help you get sufficient sleep. Let’s be clear, it won’t deal with the root cause(s) of your stress. But if you are able to get enough sleep, you will also be able to operate as best you can during a difficult period in your life.

It’s called the 4-7-8 breathing technique:

With your tongue touching the roof of your mouth, breathe in through your nose for a count of 4. (For some reason, pushing your tongue against the roof of your mouth helps clear your nose.)
Hold your breath for a count of 7.
Breathe out through your mouth for a count of 8.
Repeat the cycle up to six times.

The deep breathing helps you relax.
Focusing on counting clears your mind as with any meditation.
Some report lower blood pressure over time.

Sweet dreams!

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On commitment

Nov 30, 2018 | Quote, You

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Goethe

We love that quote. A while back, a coaching client asked us, “When does coaching not work?” Antoinette and I both said, “If you don’t do what we agreed you were going to do.” Of course that is not the only reason. But it is often the case that the reason why people don’t get what they want or get to where they want, is that they never take positive effective action. Part of what makes any action truly effective is your commitment to it. Commitment is like rocket fuel. Whether at work or in life, you can overcome both ice and fire.

And magic often does happen – even for penguins!

What’s your unique?

Nov 27, 2018 | Reflection, You

A while back, we were fortunate enough to be in Vancouver for our son’s wedding.

Some of the family decided to take the ferry over to Vancouver Island for a Segway tour. A long way to go for a Segway tour you might think. You’d be right!

So, we are fortunate that we always have fun when we are together as family. But what made the day for me was the ferry trip back to the mainland as the sun was setting.

The sun descended through the clouds making vertical lines of colour on the pond calm sea. Not gaudy reds and pinks, but soft yellows, greys and blues. The clouds made a huge sweep in the heavens twisting out towards the peak of Mt Garibaldi in the far distance. Numerous passengers were taking photos on their i-phones, squeezing nature onto a 2×3 inch screen. One photographer had a lens that was at least a foot long. He was able to see different elements – a lone fisherman by the purpling shore, the people on a distant ferry which passed us by. We chatted for a while as the scene unfolded.

Then I was struck by the complete uniqueness of what was taking place. The random coming together of a particular group of people on the day’s last ferry. We had only just made it. The photographer who could see things the rest of us could not. Each moment of the sun setting – so many striking and unique images strung together. For although the sun had set every evening over Vancouver Island since its split from the mainland, this sunset was different to all the others.

How would it be if we were the ones to make an occasion unique? Through our actions, our words, our energy, we left something special in our wake. I wondered what was my unique? It’s not an easy question to answer. Think of different music icons…. Jagger, Beyonce, Lady Gaga? They got it right.

So, what’s your unique?

Oh and if you ever go to Vancouver Island, book the ferry both ways or you will have a long wait coming back!