Unlocking those beliefs that hold us back

So…
As you may have guessed my regular exercise of choice is
swimming. About a month ago a leaflet dropped
through the door to advertise our local gym. I had been using the swimming pool
at the local leisure centre however I calculated that I would actually save
money if I joined the gym as it contained a decent sized pool.
On my first day the lady informed me that I would need a
padlock to secure my valuables in one of the lockers. ..
And..
for £5 I could purchase a shiny new one . Now this seemed
like a reasonable price for a combination lock until I actually got it out of
the packet.
Because there in front of me was the most cheap- looking
padlock I had ever seen… a padlock so shiny and light I thought it was
plastic.
‘What a piece of rubbish’, I told myself as I struggled to
set a combination code I could remember.
So for the next few weeks I diligently swam every other day,
looking with distain at this awful security device each time I got changed.
What made it even worse was the shininess meant it picked up the intensity of
the changing room spotlights above so I could barely read the numbers. This
often resulted in me taking a couple of minutes to fiddle the right combination
into position.
Then last week disaster struck. After taking my shower I once
again struggled to locate those magic three numbers. However many times I
tried it the lock wouldn’t budge.
I was beginning to get annoyed… very annoyed!
Five minutes later I was still there, dripping away,
desperately trying and retrying to locate my code. Finally I felt I had no other
option than to seek help.
So off I went to find a member of staff.
This involved me having to head into the main gym area in my towel, much to the
bemusement of other members. After finally locating a member of staff I explained my
frustration with their cheap lock which had left me in this rather embarrassing
predicament. He calmly followed me into the changing room and had a look at the
lock, tried the combination.. without success and then asked me if this was my
locker.
Now I was really getting cross… ‘Of course it’s my locker’
I replied desperately trying to keep my cool. Interestingly there were four
neighbouring lockers with the exact same padlock securing their owners
valuable.
‘Well I wonder if this really is my locker‘I thought to
myself.
Sheepishly I attempted to unlock the neighbouring locker and
without any trouble the lock pinged open in front of me.
Of course the member of staff was desperately trying not to
laugh as I apologised for the inconvenience caused.
Reflecting on my way home I wondered how I didn’t even think
to try the neighbouring lockers even though it was the logical thing to do.
Simply…
my belief about the quality of the lock has got in the
way of all logic and reason, fogging my mind and preventing me from thinking
straight.
And in business, how many times do we hold onto a belief that
gets in the way of decisive decision making and logical thought.
Worth a thought perhaps?

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Have fun giving back

Mark Twain suggested that 'work and play are words used to describe the same thing under different conditions.' Employees don’t necessarily associate the workplace as a ‘fun’ environment however companies can consider ways of creating energy and interest into the business without compromising productivity.

Stress in the workplace is becoming an increasingly challenging issue which is borne out by a recent report that suggested that the use of anti-depressants had increased by 40% in just the past four years.

If you go back to the ancient times an investment in humour, courtesy of a court jester, was considered a necessity. Some American companies have even introduced a ‘Director of Mirth’ to co-ordinate fun in the workplace. Now this maybe a step too far for UK companies but I believe it is useful for senior management teams to introduce humour and fun where appropriate as research has shown an improvement in creativity and productivity where successfully implemented. John Cleese suggests that a sense of humour moves us from a closed to an open mode faster than anything else. Humour is also good for customer relations as a shared moment of amusement is one of the quickest ways to build good relationships.

Humour can have a positive impact on your employees’ health as research has shown that laughter ultimately relaxes the body, lowering heart rate and blood pressure by promoting deeper breathing.

Giving something back gives people satisfaction and a sense of purpose. Many successful companies encourage their employees to enjoy working together to fundraise for local or national good causes.

Some actions for your consideration

1. Introduce an element of fun to the Monday morning briefing. A very simple way to do this is to introduce a competition between departments to predict the weekly sales or profit performance.

2. Consider ways of improving presentations to engage employees. Starting a presentation with a question or mini quiz stimulates interest. Use of images that are totally unrelated to the subject in hand can be effective as it creates inquisitiveness. For example, I used a popular TV quiz show format to help the audience appreciate the targets we needed to hit to great effect.

 3. Icebreakers are often used to warm colleagues up at meetings or conferences and it can be a challenge to come up with something a bit different. The best ones I've used involve people working in small teams to achieve a task. When sensing a drop in energy levels, initiate an impromptu massage session with each participant massaging the back and neck of the person next to them.

 4. Add some light-heartedness to meetings. During breaks, consider introducing a fun game. It could involve doing something physical such as throwing balls into a waste paper basket or a mental challenge such as listing all the songs with a particular word in the title. It’s even better if the word relates to a particular challenge that the group is working on. Saying that I can’t think of many songs that have the word ‘productivity’ in the title!

5. If innovation is an essential requirement of your business, why not create a room to stimulate the creative juices? This could be as simple as painting the room a different colour or colours and introducing a large white board to capture ideas. Replace traditional office furniture with coloured cubes or exercise balls to create a totally different environment.

6. Get involved in a charity event. You don’t need to create your own charity event. Find out what charitable events are already planned for your area which your company could support. For example, the British Heart Foundation organises a variety of sponsored activities (hiking, swimming, or jogging and even parachuting) throughout the year and across the country. http://www.bhf.org.uk/get-involved/events.aspx

7. Raising money doesn’t need to involve completing a marathon or carrying out a three-peak challenge. It can simply mean wearing a particular piece of clothing for charity such a 'jeans for genes day' or a pink shirt for breast cancer awareness. Last year, I took part in a ‘Movember’ fundraising event and grew a rather dodgy Seventies-style moustache to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity. http://uk.movember.com/?home

More ideas and thoughts around helping businesses become Fit for Business can be found in my free book. Just click the link below.

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/

Post holiday wellbeing commitments

As we leave the summer months behind I have no doubt that whilst taking a well deserved break many of you were considering committing to some kind of improvement activity. Many of us find the relaxing time spent on a beach an opportune time to reflect on the things we really do need to try and start doing. It's almost like a going back to school mentality where starting the autumn term was defined by new uniform, new teacher and shiny new pencil case.

And it's funny when considering how we can improve our wellbeing that the very thing right in front of us is often disregarded. I'm talking about water, whether it be the sea or pool and the art of swimming.

Now I’ve never been a particularly good swimmer historically and would struggle to complete more than a couple of lengths at a time without pausing for breath. A couple of years ago my brother came to stay with us and suggested going swimming one afternoon. Since then I have steadily worked away at improving my technique to a point where I recently completed a one mile sea swim to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

So why am I so passionate about swimming?

Well…

Fundamentally swimming is a great way to exercise so many different muscles in your body. It is also is a low impact activity which is great if you suffer from a bit of osteoarthritis. For me I like the fact that my body doesn't overheat in the way it often does when carrying out over cardio activity. 

And there’s more..

for the reason why I personally love swimming is the calming benefits it has on the mind. I often find I can go into an almost trance like state after a short period, finally leaving the pool feeling totally refreshed, re-energised and calm.

I have also found swimming excellent when needing to work through an issue in my mind and for some reason I seem to gain a greater clarity of thought with better options emerging. I'm aware that there is some science behind this however I'm not going to explore this in detail right now.

So if I have inspired you to at least consider trundling off to your nearest leisure centre pool here's a few ideas and advice for you to consider.

 - Have a go and see if you genuinely enjoy swimming. It's not for everyone.

- If you do enjoy it then consider having a few lessons early on to improve your technique.

- An interesting swimming technique often used by triathletes is called ‘Total Immersion’ which was developed by Terry Loughlin. This option is also favoured by ‘4 hour week’ author TImothy Ferris and is described in his comprehensive guide ‘The 4 Hour Body'.

- When practicing focus on one particular element of your technique and really master it. For example getting the breathing right will make a huge difference to both the quality and duration of the swim.

- Buy yourself some good googles... I've tried many and the best by far are the Aqua Sphere Kaimen brand which simply doesn’t leak. Another huge advantage is you can adjust them without removing them from your head.

- Don't swim in your baggy shorts. I did this for the first year not realising how much resistance they produce. Opt for a streamline speedo trunk cut off just above the knee cap (not the tiny trunks unless you really want to) and save the shorts for holidays.

- If you can start practicing in a smaller, shallower pool as it's easier to focus on your technique.

- Many leisure pools offer discounted bulk sessions

- Don't swim on an empty stomach. Most people know not to swim just after eating however you aren't doing yourself any favours if you swim on a totally empty stomach. Have a light snack about 30 to 60 minutes prior such as yoghurt, fruit , or some hummus and vegetable crudités depending on the time of day.

So there you go.. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

If you would like a copy of my free book 'Fit for business' then please just click on the link below

http://www.martincrisp.com/freebook/