I was chatting to a leader about how his team were doing, and what he was noticing in his world of work: “I don’t know what to call it” he said. “Is it burnout? Wellbeing? Change fatigue? Mental health? I don’t know. I just feel like we don’t have the same resilience we used to.” […] The post Are we collectively holding our breath? appeared first on Grace Marshall ..read more

I’ve been hearing from a lot of people recently that they feel busier than ever, but when they look at what they’re actually accomplishing, they can’t work out how, or why. You know what, I suspect it’s a cumulation of things. …it’s a lot! And by the way, stress reduces our cognitive and emotional resource […] The post Been dealing with a lot lately? appeared first on Grace Marshall ..read more

“In my early days of parenting I struggled…what I needed wasn’t a fixer…I needed a witness… The fixer wants to take our burden. The witness gives us strength” Struggle Question: Any practical thoughts on how to be a strength giver? My good friend Sean asked me this and this is what I shared with him. […] The post Practical thoughts on being a strength giver appeared first on Grace Marshall ..read more

One thing I often explore with a team or organisation in a Struggle talk, is the culture around making mistakes. Specifically how safe is it, to talk about and learn from mistakes? And what helps? Here are three practical ideas: #my-latest-mistake At Think Productive, we have a Slack (our internal comms) channel called #my-latest-mistake. Here’s […] The post 3 ways to create safety around mistakes appeared first on Grace Marshall ..read more

Sometimes our fight/flight instinct is really easy to spot – like when we’re in complete procrastination or avoidance mode, or when we’re gripped by email rage (like road rage but with email). Other times it’s more subtle. It doesn’t look like panic or rage. It looks more like resentment, defensiveness, feeling got at, taken advantage […] The post Noticing resentment appeared first on Grace Marshall ..read more

This one’s coming up a LOT recently. Are you feeling it too? One big factor I’ve noticed is all the stuff we’re starting anew. New school year. Return to the office. In person events. Weddings (so many weddings!) There’s a certain intensity to doing new things. We know that. But we forget this can also […] The post “Why am I feeling so exhausted?” appeared first on Grace Marshall ..read more

Saying no is like a muscle. You get stronger with practice. If you know you could use some practice, here are three supporting ideas, curated from Twitter for you. The No folder This is brilliant because often the immediate pain of saying no overshadows the long term gain. Collecting up your ’no’s helps you to recognise your progress and reinforce your decisions. When you look back and realise you don’t regret any of those ‘missed opportunities’, your future self really will thank you for it. The No buddy / committee A comment further down the thread also refers to this as the No committee ..read more

This one’s coming up a LOT recently. Are you feeling it too? One big factor I’ve noticed is all the stuff we’re starting anew. New school year. Return to the office. In person events. Weddings (so many weddings!) There’s a certain intensity to doing new things. We know that. But we forget this can also apply to old things we haven’t done for a while. My husband found this on his first visit to the new office after starting a new job during lockdown. Commuting is something he’s done for years, yet this time he said it felt like he was going to a high stakes job interview. The nerves took him co ..read more

One of the unintended benefits I noticed when the pandemic first hit, and we all had to get used to working and living in a very different way, was that our collective tolerance for imperfection increased. We were all trying new things, reinventing business models and practices, using unfamiliar technology, and getting to grips with a whole new way of working. We had the freedom and permission to do it imperfectly, and to learn as we go. I wonder, do we have that same tolerance now? Or is our talk about “can’t wait to go back to normal” in danger of creating an expectation where we just sail s ..read more

Thanks to Marie Kondo, so many of us are currently asking this question about our stuff. But what about how we spend our time? There was a moment recently when I spotted an email that got me surprisingly excited. It wasn’t a big deal or opportunity. It was my new violin teacher following up our first lesson with a few recommendations of music scores to buy. But there was definitely an ‘ooh!’ and maybe even a little squeal of excitement when I spotted it. It sparked joy. How much of what you spend your time on sparks joy for you? Now I’m not suggesting that everything that doesn’t spark joy is ..read more