As charity leaders we take on a wide variety of tasks from strategy development through to chairing meetings and are confronted with a whole host of weird and wonderful situations we need to navigate. But believe it or not charity leaders are human and feeling stuck or stumped by a task happens to the best of us.
The great news is there are ways to move from being stuck through to being in full flow. That is exactly what Ella Forums charity leaders experienced in the Speaker Session with Abbi Buszard and Natalie Villarroel Redureau last week. Abbi and Natalie shared their top approaches to get us all back into flow, allowing creativity and ideas to dominate and fear and frustration to subside.
1. You can trick your mind into a place of flow
2. There is a four-box matrix for everything
- Actions: What am I doing? nonverbal and verbal (e.g. pacing, procrastinating?)
- Cognitions: What thoughts am I having right now?
- Emotions: How am I feeling? (e.g. scared, excited)
- Sensations: What sensations am I having? (External (5 senses) and internal e.g. tight/relaxed muscles, butterflies in my tummy)
The idea is very simple really, once you are aware of how you feel, then you can imagine yourself into flow state. You can take the same framework and imagine what it feels like to be in flow and the process of doing this can take you closer to it and allow you to bring creativity to the table.
3. Find what works for you
The beauty of human beings is we are all different and what works for you might not work for me. The charity leaders at the session cited singing, taking to others, going to the driving range, going for a walk and putting the kettle on as things that help them to get unstuck.
What struck me was the commonality of stepping away from the task that has you in a bind and giving yourself space to do something different. I have been known to have my best ideas whilst on the loo so maybe taking that comfort break could work for you!
Well, there we have it, my musings from our September speaker session.
