Is your state appropriate to the task in hand

It's my birthday today and many of the cards are wishing me a happy birthday (Fab at 50 seems soooo long ago!). In 6 weeks time (to the day folks) it's Christmas, and in even fewer weeks than that merry Christmas cards will start arriving.

At these times we're being wished a state that it's generally easy for us to take on ie happy or merry (however you wish to define merry!).

However there are other days when, not only do we not get the reminder from others, but we also have difficulty being in the right state. Especially if the number of tweets wishing it was Saturday are anything to go by!

You know the times:

• You're just about to stand up and present your strategy to the board and your heart rate is sky rocketing and you don't seem to be able to remember anything you were going to say
• You have 15 tender responses to analyse, and you can't concentrate
• It's your team away day and you just want to sleep and stay away from everyone
• It's opportunity analysis development day with the project team and creativity has flown out of the window
• You have an annual review with a team member and you just can't stop talking!
• You're sitting there staring at the excel spreadsheet and the logic of how to pivot the table is eluding you
• Your boss is telling you what she needs you to do whilst she's away and you can't listen
• You have a difficult phone call to make and you keep finding other things to do

Times when the right state is no where to be felt - rights states such as those listed below

I'm sure you can think of many more examples.

The key is starting each day/meeting aware of what state you're in and what state you need for the task in hand. Once you understand the gap then you can identify how you're going to close it.

My prescription for positivity might help identify some suggestions for closing the gap. Over the coming month, as I'm attending a workshop and then working with a client out of the country, blogs are going to have to be shorter. So think I'll just pick a state and explore the means of accessing it - suggested states most welcome.

Alison Smith
Inspiring change inside and out - when what you're doing isn't working

Cards shown are from the Frameworks for change coaching process I use in individual coaching, and in group facilitation sessions.