The Business Skills Collection E-Book

Nicholas Bate

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 254

Beschreibung

Introducing the 30 minute reads e-book series! You're half an hour away from a pain free working life! So why not fill your down-time with some up-skilling? The average commute to work is 30 minutes. Why not kick start your New Year good intentions by using your commuting time to skill-up?! And with five books in the series you could have the most productive week of your life! Digitally native content optimized to be read on-screen Each book contains 10 short, sharp and to-the-point chapters, finishing with an 'Action Plan' with clear, super-structured, super-easy steps to no more pain! * Brand new series of short form e-books * Each can be read in just 30 minutes! * Covering core business skills and problems to make your work life more productive, less painful and more successful

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Bags of Energy Now

Boost Your Productivity

Give Great Presentations

Go Home Email Free

Make Better Decisions More Often

Table of Contents

Title page

What will this book do for you?

1: Boosting Your Physical and Mental Energy

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

2: Meditation: Relaxing Your Mind

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

3: Exercise for Boundless Energy

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

4: Nutrition for a Healthy Body

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

5: Blissful Sleep

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

6: “Hands-On”

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

7: Understand the Journey

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

8: Group Connect

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

9: Switch Your Perspective

The Challenge

The Detail

The Story

The Solution

10: Your Action Plan

End User License Agreement

What will this book do for you?

Energy. If you are reading this you would probably like some more. Perhaps to be able to stay fully alert in all those meetings, to feel like going to the gym at lunchtime, or simply to just do something with your evenings. What happened? Once, when you were a toddler, nothing could stop you! Then, as a child playing 5-a-side every lunch time and even as a teenager who could skip a night's sleep with no real downside. But now … now you seem on autocue and survival mode a lot of the time, clutching your latte to go: the “buzz” has gone.

Most of us would probably distinguish two kinds of personal energy. There's the “mental” kind: that's feeling like doing something, hav­ing the willpower to make it happen. You've just come back from a fantastic vacation feeling pretty well-rested and had planned to go for a swim most lunchtimes but somehow a spot of retail therapy seems more attractive: you lack the mental energy, the willpower to make the swimming happen. And there's the “physical” kind: that's the “oomph” in your muscles. So although you would actually really like to get out into the garden, as it is such a lovely summer's evening, and do a bit of watering and tidying up you are just so physically shattered from the long day at the office, you cannot get off the sofa: you lack the physical energy.

The two are strongly linked: the salesperson who closes a great deal (a wonderful mental boost) she has been chasing for months suddenly finds untold reserves of physical energy and decides to go hit the gym before going to celebrate at the pub. The person who takes a walk every lunchtime whatever their work load or the weather finds he has more “drive” to cope with poorly-run conference calls with head office in the US.

The goal of this book is help you have more energy. Energy for every day, for dealing with the kids and the team and the email, as well as energy for the “other” stuff such as your start-up plans and archery class. We will look at the two threads we have mentioned: physical energy, that is the stamina and the “oomph” we need for so many activities; and the mental energy, that is the focus, clarity and willpower.

Here's the structure of Bags of Energy Now

Section 1: Boosting Your Physical and Mental Energy. We'll introduce you to two simple approaches, one to boost physical energy and one to boost mental. Both are straightforward and easy to implement.

Section 2: Meditation: Relaxing Your Mind. Our first big idea – that we can keep stress at bay and hence we can reduce the impact of one of the biggest removers of our energy: anxiety.

Section 3: Exercise for Boundless Energy. This won't surprise you. You know that when you feel fit you feel you have boundless energy. But this section will show you how to do it easily.

Section 4: Nutrition for a Healthy Body. A simple diet for more energy.

Section 5: Blissful Sleep. One of the biggest daily problems for so many: poor sleep and hence tiredness and a lack of “oomph”. How to restore great sleep and all that comes with that.

Section 6: “Hands-On”. We're “in our heads too much”. Restoring the energy balance with some “hands-on” work.

Section 7: Understand the Journey. Feeling you don't know where your career is going or what you are trying to do … it's no wonder your top energy drains. How to get clarity and understanding of what you are trying to do.

Section 8: Group Connect. Friends, family … they keep the energy drainers at bay. How to keep connected in a busy, busy world.

Section 9: Switch Your Perspective. The stress buster. Just when you feel energy plummeting, switch your perspective, look at it another way.

Section 10: Your Action Plan. Your personal checklist to success.

The majority of the sections will start with the big idea (e.g. getting exercise to work) and then explain how to address that challenge in more detail. There will then be a mini case study: those at home or work with the same challenges you have, that we all have; this gives us a chance to see how they implement practically the concepts. We'll also make sure your toughest questions are answered before a final summary. Everything in this book is tried and tested: it is both pragmatic and practical. We encourage you to start using the ideas immediately as that's the way this digital version was designed.

Read on …

1

Boosting Your Physical and Mental Energy

The Challenge

“Having energy” can appear elusive and complicated. We certainly remember a time when we had loads and we can still have our great days. Holidays do help but too often we simply come down with the flu. An extra coffee is OK in a meeting but one in the evening spoils our sleep. We don't allow the kids cola, so why do we knock it back several times a day to try and keep alert? And sometimes we'd like to push back on a daft idea in the marketing meeting but to be honest we simply can't be bothered. Yes, that mental buzz and that physical drive seem horribly elusive.

In this first section, let's simplify the concept and understand how it can be within your grasp.

The Detail

Firstly, the two kinds of energy, mental and physical, are interrelated. So the good news is that anything you can do to improve physical will help mental and vice versa.

And for each kind of energy, there are four main drivers or initiators of great energy.

Firstly, physical – the drivers or components of great physical energy are:

1.Sleep. Ask your family doctor what's the biggest worry for which his/her patients seek help and they will reveal that it is “TATT” or “tired all the time” syndrome. And that's because for an increasing number of us, sleep is not doing what it's meant to, i.e., taking a pleasantly tired body, allowing it to drop into that wonderful state called sleep for around eight hours and waking up totally refreshed and ready to face an exciting brand new day. Instead, sleep has become a troubled, low-quality experience, which seems increasingly problematic as we get older and/or take on more responsibility. We're going to show you how to get great sleep, consistently. And thus boost your daily energy reserves.

2.Exercise. This won't surprise you. You know how fitness not only gives you strength and stamina, but also helps you feel good. But there are so many challenges: finding the time, the possible expense of a gym and/or pool and not least, the “pain” of getting fit again. We'll show you how to overcome every one of those apparent problems and much more easily than you might currently suspect.

3.Diet. Most of us would probably agree that too much alcohol the evening before an important busy day is not a wise move. But if alcohol is the most obvious one, what else affects your energy? What does boost your energy without “cheating”? (A coffee, as you will see, is an example of a cheat. Nothing wrong with that so long as you are aware.)

4.Meditation. Time out. Increasingly recognized as critical in a world of interrupt, distraction and too little time to just “be”. We show you a simple form of meditation and answer all of your questions. From “I have no time with my young children” to “you won't catch me doing something as weird as that”. It will also be revealed that meditation is a particularly powerful energy booster in that it not only helps you to feel physically better, but mentally, too. So it really does bridge the two approaches.

Each of these processes supports the other; just a little moderate exercise will help your sleep. With sound sleep you find it easier to resist junk food. A balanced, integrated approach is far better than going overboard on any of these. We have all met people obsessed with one particular approach, be it running or a certain food or the latest yoga. A healthy, well body will provide stacks of energy and it's pretty straightforward. We'll actually look at these in the order Meditation, Diet, Exercise and Sleep and will refer to the “MEDS” approach.

And mental – the drivers or components of great mental energy are:

1.Switch perspective. We're naturally going to talk about stress and you'll be aware of how much harm it can do to your mental energy i.e., your focus and will and simple sense of perspective. However, there is a powerful tool, which is often intuitive but with practice can save you so much heartache and that is to switch your perspective, to change your perception. Thus: it's the biggest argument ever with your girlfriend about mismanaged finances (debilitating) or it's an opportunity to sort out your shared money and responsibilities and start saving for the future (enlivening). Mmm … powerful! But perhaps you are thinking, it's not as easy as that though is it? Stick with us.

2.Hands on, brain off. One of the many attractions of alcohol is that at the end of a demanding day we can “get out of our head”. More and more of us do spend our days in our head. Staring at screens and PowerPoint slides. Handling email. Huddled in meetings. Reading the Metro or a book on our iPad mini on the tube. It was never meant to be so. We're a mind-body creature. We love the physical side of things: we need to bake more bread! Seriously? Sort of; much more coming up about how getting more physical paradoxically gives us more mental energy.

3.Understand the bigger picture. It's tiring when you feel you are merely a cog in a machine. You become dulled: you commute, you drink coffee, you go to the gym. But what's it all about? We need a bigger picture. No – you need your bigger picture because when you do, you'll fully come alive. TBC!

4.Group connect. A friend or two. A lover maybe. Possibly some family. A listening ear, a sympathetic word, a supportive hug … these are the people who put things in proportion; keep you grounded; help you get through the tricky times. Everybody needs to connect. More in a later section.

Again, each of these processes supports the other: some “hands-on”, e.g., baking bread can help keep your mind from overworking and generating extra anxiety. With some work on your bigger career goals you will find you are much calmer about the coming re-org at work. And again, a balanced, integrated approach is far better than going overboard on any of these: ruthlessly setting goals which MUST be hit for every aspect of your life will simply set stress levels soaring rather than what you had hoped. We'll actually look at these in the order Hands, Understand, Group connect and Switch and will refer to the “HUGS” approach.

MEDS will support HUGS and vice versa. If you do a little on each of the eight directions there is no reason why you cannot get the healthy reserves of energy you seek. And if any particular aspect is having a hard time, e.g., there is a newborn in the house and sleep in understandably broken, then the other strands of MEDS and HUGS will compensate.

The Story

Marcus is tired. He's tired of life. Tired of his job. Tired of his teenage kids. But most of all he's tired of feeling tired. And he doesn't know what's wrong. He remembers himself as a graduate trainee starting out some fifteen years ago in corporate banking as someone who could drink anyone under the table and still do a stunning pitch and win the deal at 9:00 am the next morning. But no longer. Life is about airports, email, PowerPoint and quarterly reviews. And his demanding teenagers; did he mention those? Er, yes he's married. Sort of.

Marcus is tired. Sometimes he can hardly get out of the business lounge chair, join the conference call on time or be bothered to celebrate his own birthday. Oh, what he would give for some serious energy.

But we're going to help.

The Q&A

You haven't mentioned illness at all. Surely that affects your energy?

You are right of course. What we can say is that if you follow the strategies we will talk about in MEDS and HUGS you'll have more energy to fight such illness. And if you do go down with the flu, you'll bounce back up more quickly.

Of course when you are ill the main thing is to respect that illness and if you feel tired, then that is for a reason: the body seeks rest, so rest!

The Solution

1. Decide that you are going to get your energy back.

2. Or increase it.

3. Or make it more consistent.

4. Be willing to tackle both the mental side.

5. And the physical.

6. Start.

2

Meditation: Relaxing Your Mind

The Challenge

One reason we don't always have the energy, the enthusiasm, that “buzz”, for life is stress. Stress, that “catch-all” modern term for the wide range of irritations from interminable transport problems to difficult clients, that brings our mood and our energy down. Stress is a very individual sufferance, affecting us in a variety of ways but most would agree one sure fire way to experience the feeling is overload. For all of us there is a threshold when too much traffic, too many emails and too many demands from toddlers will cause us to crack. Thus one of the best defences against stress is the opposite of overload: down time, quiet time and minimized data input. Data input: yes, that's anything from watching another TV programme to Facebook updating. Putting it bluntly, our brain needs a rest so that it can cope again.

The Detail

You see, once upon a time, data deprivation was built into our lives. Imagine it's 1968 and a business person is waiting for a train; while he waits, what does he do? Possibly reads the paper, possibly has a cigarette. But there's no coffee to go; he is not checking his phone. On the train journey he doesn't catch up on email and nobody can phone him. Are we saying those were better times? Of course not: simply different. But what we can recognize is that down time, recovery time, meditation time was built into the day. Now it's up to us.

So how do we go about getting some data deprivation, some meditation into our day? Here are some ideas, starting really simply and you can see how far you wish to take it as you notice the results for yourself.

Level 1: The break, the breathing, the observation. It's very easy in this busy, busy, busy world in which we live to be awoken with an alarm and then tumble though the day with no real break, no real fresh air, no real perspective, no real pauses, no real grounding and then finally collapse exhausted at the end of the day. The first and simplest level of data interrupt is to take a break as often as you can during the day. Short, discrete, maybe even as little as five minutes. At the break get away from your desk, step outside if you can. Sip some water, look up and around. Stretch. Breathe fully and just notice what's happening around you. This simple grounding process is very powerful and is easy.

Level 2: The switch off. Once you can achieve a few of those during the day, the next level is the total switch off. Lunchtime would be good and certainly your evening when you get home. At lunchtime are you sitting at your machine and half doing a spreadsheet and half eating your tuna baguette? Leave the spreadsheet alone. Have an electron-free 45 minutes. Although of course it is nice to catch up on personal texts, even leave that for a while and take a walk.

Level 3: A simple breathing meditation. Try the following simple breathing meditation technique:

Sit easily and comfortably in an environment where nothing will suddenly disturb you and as close to quiet as possible. An upright chair is ideal.

Rest your hands in your lap, note the time on your watch or phone, close your eyes and take a slightly deeper breath.

Continue for around 10 minutes simply breathing easily and following the rise and fall of your breathing. When it comes to mind check the time.

At around 10 minutes, open your eyes slowly, stretch a little. Sit for a minute or two.

Slowly return to normal activity.

The Story

Marcus knows he's got to do something and data overload rings true so he starts doing two simple “nothing to be lost” things (he'd be the first to admit that he's a bit of a cynic …). Firstly, whenever he takes the train from his home in Brighton into the city, which he does two or three times a week, he now meditates during the first part of the journey. Initially he was just falling asleep but now finds it deeply relaxing and “comes out” of it surprisingly alert. He started with 10 minutes and now does 15. Secondly, at work he tries very hard to walk out of the building and around one block at least once every two hours. Working in Soho, it's an easy area for walking.

After a month or two of this, Marcus definitely has more energy. We're making progress.

The Q&A

I'm a call centre manager. How can I be seen to be taking a break?

Sure, the pressures in the business world at the moment are huge. However, are you going to wait until you fall over with exhaustion? Or have a nervous breakdown? You need a break and are due a break. Have the conversation with the relevant person and start investing in yourself: you'll be a better manager.

I find the meditations hard: I want to get up, move around. How do I really clear my head of thoughts?

Sitting quietly is very unusual for many people. If you feel restless, simply open your eyes for a moment to reassure yourself all is OK, then close your eyes and then follow your breathing.

The Solution

1. Realize that you are not a machine and that you cannot keep on the go 24/7.

2. To do so will introduce significant “stress” to your life.

3. That will play havoc with consistent and steady energy levels which most of us seek.

4. Decide to allow yourself some proper breaks, to have some “switch it off” time; and

5. Most boldly, try some formal meditation.

3

Exercise for Boundless Energy

The Challenge

We all know that when we exercise and feel fit not only do we have more energy we build reserves of energy. But it's not easy: exercise is disappearing from our daily lives whether it be less and less need to take the stairs or self-opening store doors. Fitness needs time. Often it needs money. And it certainly needs consistency.

The Detail

As you consider the details of your exercise programme you should ask: what does it need to contain and how do I make it successful?

What does it need to contain? A successful exercise programme will give attention to:

1.CV or cardiovascular. The area with which we are all familiar: the “puff and pant” bit and for most of us the most clearest indicator of our energy levels. Can you half run across Terminal 5, catch your plane and sit down without becoming a heavy breathing, perspiring wreck?

2.Resistance or weights. Often ignored as being not that important and often ignored by the ladies who are fearful of “building big muscle” (it needn't, by the way). Essential for strength and stamina as well as vital for bone health.

3.Balance and stability work. The human body undergoes a huge amount of wear and tear every day. So compare the grace of a young child who can move around a room or park in an apparent effortless manner and that of somebody 40 years on: it's not just that the adult is unfit, it's also that their body is no longer in balance.

How do you make it happen?

1.Everyday not just classes. The gym, exercise classes and even spending money on a personal trainer are wonderful components of your exercise programme but the biggest breakthrough is to make exercise part of your day. Walk when you can. Take the stairs when you can. Get out of that chair. Stretch and move when you can. Notice your posture when you sit. Take the advice from your classes and reading and wire it in to every day.

2.Make it a ritual. We brush our teeth because it is a ritual. It's not on a checklist, it's not on a motivational poster and yet it happens. Daily. Twice daily without fail. Could your exercise get to that point? Of course. One simple idea is to create some kind of simple programme you can do at home. Some stepping, some skipping, the use of a boxing bag. One or two dumb-bells and stretch mats. Keep them all in a box and get yourself to do 15 minutes every day: work up a sweat and get breathless. Supplement it with your classes or big gym sessions.

3.Think bigger than “this is wasting my time”. “I don't have time” is a regular blocker to stepping outside and doing 15 minutes skipping or heading off to the pool at lunchtime. Rather than playing games with excuses, give yourself a mindset shift. You may not have time but how much time do you lose every day by not having enough energy? How many evenings have you lost by feeling exhausted?

4.Start small and easy. Of course (especially if you're a bloke) you too would like to be able to bench press your own body weight. But don't do it first off. It's not just that you are likely to hurt yourself but if you wake up in 48 hours feeling totally wrecked you are much less likely to return to the gym. Demand something of your body sure, but no more than that. If the body is stretched, it will grow and develop to accommodate that challenge. That's all you need: not injury, nor exhaustion.

5.Get good advice and hence good technique. At the start get an expert to show you. And show you fully. Good technique, be it from lifting a weight to how to skip to how to do swim crawl is a tremendous investment in you enjoying yourself and thus keeping it going.

6.Do it properly. Do it properly and do less rather than do it more and do it badly.

7.Variety. Once you do get good at one thing, give your body a new challenge. A new exercise or a new sport or a new goal.

8.Go holistic. Think CV, think resistance, think bal­ance. Work at all three as they will reinforce each other.

The Story

Marcus hates the gym. Always has, always will. Did so at school. Does so at his smart corporate membership in London. He decides to do two things. One is no longer will he drive to the station in the mornings. It'll be a twenty minute walk morning and evening but he now does it rain or shine. Secondly, he no longer takes the elevator up the four floors to his office. He used to be up and down that elevator all day to meetings, or out to Starbucks. That must be a huge amount of CV.

Marcus is feeling good. He's going to do two more weeks of this and then join a lunchtime Pilates class. Step by step but it's working and he's feeling good.

The Q&A

But what should my personal programme be?

Cleary we can't give you that here. But here's how to work it out. Step 1 is a check up with your GP. How fit or not are you? What are his/her concerns? Next take those concerns to your local gym and ask them to create a simple programme for you. Give it six months and then re-evaluate.

The Solution

1. Focus on CV and resistance and balance.

2. Start small and easy.

3. Look for consistency.

4. Build it into dally life.

5. Start.

4

Nutrition for a Healthy Body

The Challenge

This is not about “go on a diet”. This is not a debate about body shape. No, this is a simple, easy-to-implement, helpful plan so that what we eat gives us more energy. Energy to get us through the day and to avoid those dreadful slumps just as we go into the afternoon project review meeting or ensure that after supper our plans are more than just “watch TV”.

The Detail

It ought to be pretty simple. School science tells us that we need calories for energy: so food in, energy out! How difficult is that? Basic science can also tell us approximately how many calories we need per day for our particular lifestyle depending on whether we are a petite office worker who sits all day or a large-framed rugby instructor who is on their feet often outside and in cold weather. The problem is that food (and drink) doesn't just bring calories, it brings other effects: we all know that carbohydrates tend to be more about energy and that proteins are more (in an adult) about repair and that vitamins are essential to keep particular problems at bay. What's the right mix?

And to make it more complicated we get “sound bite” messages thrown at us via newspaper headlines about what is good and what is bad which make any kind of consistent approach very difficult. So without getting complicated or too off the wall, what are good practices to give us great energy? Here are 10 simple approaches which work. Experiment with them:

1.Calorie triangle. Most people work better with more fuel earlier in the day. A common routine is to leave the house with nothing and to grab coffee and muffin at the station, eat a sandwich for lunch at the keyboard and then eat far too much in the evening. Try inverting the calorie triangle so that more calories are going in at the start of the day when they are needed and the body has finished much of its digesting when it needs to settle down to sleep.

2.More plant protein. Much data on what is good for us is contradictory. But one area that you can discuss with your doctor or Google for yourself is the simple benefits of a plant-based diet. Eat more and consider one or two vegetable-only meals. Learn how to steam them and roast them for a variety of wonderful tastes. Your favourite celebrity chef has probably introduced his or her “mainly vegetables” cookbook to support your shift. Study it.

3.Respect your food. Eat slowly and do nothing else while eating. Don't do email, watch TV, cross the road …

4.More variety. Try more grains, try more spices and herbs, try different breads and try more fruits: all to access other nutrients.

5.More fresh (and by implication, local). It's a no-brainer, really. If it's fresher the nutrients will be more active.

6.Less processed. Read the label and discover what's been done to the food you are about to purchase. Even better, buy food which has no label, because nothing at all has happened to it. If there's a label look for a simple list of wholesome ingredients and one that is chemical-free.

7.Less sugar. One of the big “cheats” for any of us whose energy is low is to throw sugar at the problem: a couple of spoons of sugar into the coffee, perhaps knock back a cola … The trouble is the more we take it, the more we need it. Try an experiment: reduce the volume of soda you drink, and your dependency on it, by ensuring alternate drinks are simple water.

8.Fewer stimulants. Another cheat is the caffeinated drink such as coffee or tea or, again, soda. Coffee can be a huge pleasure of course, but when it becomes something upon which you are dependent then again use the alternate drink strategy.

9.Eating for nutrition not just fuel. Change the way you look at food: any drink, any snack, any meal, any bag of crisps. Apart from satisfying hunger and/or thirst, what is it doing for me?

10.Know the calories and look for redundancy.