Deflated, flat

Creative Commons License photo credit: focusedcapture

I woke up today (25th May) feeling a bit deflated and fed up, cue the blues riff. I had also been a bit grumpy the night before. All of which is quite uncharacteristic for me, though I say it myself I am usually upbeat and full of beans. While it was not good that I awoke in that frame of mind, what was good was the fact that I was aware of it and the contibutory factors. What was also useful about that awareness was that I avoided a round of self-sabotage which I would of been prone to in years gone by. I got up and went for my usual run determined to shake of the blues. Whilst it did not have the full impact that I’d hoped for, it did atleast present me with some time and space to gather my thoughts.

Contributions

As my thoughts came together, it was clear to me that there were several contributions to my mood. Firstly, I had asked a colleague to help out one of my network contacts with a guest blog post and after a couple of weeks and no action, I felt a bit let down and responsible. Secondly, I have so many great things lining up that I am really excited about, but I have let my enthusiasm and desire to get them up and running get ahead of me. The reality of delivering them means that I need more time to get them where they need to be.

Concern, Influence, Focus

Circle of concern, circle of influence, circle of focusAs I was contemplating these things this morning, the model from First Things First by Covey, Merrill & Merrill came to mind. If you’re not familiar with it here is a quick precis:

  • Circle of concern: all of the things that we have some concern or interest in. However, many of which we have no direct control or influence over.
  • Circle of influence: these are things that concern or interest us that we have some ability to influence or make a difference about, but we still do not have direct control of.
  • Circle of focus: those things over which we have the most direct control and influence. By focussing here we maximise the use of our energy and time

What was it about this model that interested me? Well, I realised that some of the things that I was getting fed up about (such as the guest blog) were things that ultimately I had little or no influence on, so to waste my time and energy on continuing to mull over them was fruitless. The positive outcome was then to focus on the activities that I have direct control of and get on with them!

A quick thank you

I want to say a quick thank you to those people on Twitter who gave me encouragement when I tweeted I was deflated, that helped immensly. As did the energetic and humorous meeting I had with some colleagues.
I will also thank all of those people that have been my creative influences and inspirations over the past few months, without you I would not have the luxury of all these great things lining up.

No need for that compressor, I’m fully inflated now!