Can Carnival Celebrations Cultivate Career Creativity?

Can sequins, bright colours, feathers and loud pulsating Caribbean music teach you significant, thought-provoking lessons about maximising your career development efforts?
No?
An understandable assumption, but you’re wrong... and I'll tell you why.

Do ever feel exhausted when you think about your work week ahead? Wonder how you managed to make it through another weekend without getting enough rest or switching off and having enough fun?

My recent annual pilgrimage to the streets of West London – to ‘play mas’ (participate) in the Notting Hill Carnival reminded me of a few things:

• Actively participating in an activity / hobby you love is so good for you… it’s incredibly ‘freeing’ 
• Hanging out with a group of friends that you – generally speaking – don’t see nearly often enough is food for the soul 
•    Switching off from work for a few days (whether to dance down the road with a drink in your hand or go out of town to get away from it all) gives a fresh and creative perspective on day to day life – including your career.
  

So… incredibly energised and inspired by my weekend of carnival celebrations, I decided to have some fun pulling together some career development lessons that we can glean from some of the most popular soca tracks from 2013. Get ready to jump and wave your way closer to your career goals:

1.    Track 1: Float: - (Arguably?) The world’s premier soca artist, Trinidadian Machel Montano has had thousands upon thousands of revellers at carnivals worldwide singing along to his catchy hook… “We not staying down… we getting off the ground!”

#SocaCareerDevelopmentMessage1: Float past your challenges

Even when feeling down, out and overwhelmed in your job or business – have the confidence in yourself to know that you can ‘float’ past your current challenges and onto something better. Machel references ‘floating like Superman’ in the track – and if you find the motivation to get you from A to B, I know you can also find your own internal superhero when you’re up against it!

2.    Track 2: Possessed: - Machel is back and this time teaming up with fellow soca artist Kerwin Dubois and… stepping out of the realm of soca as fans know it, they have collaborated with world-famous South African band Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The uniqueness of this track made it one of the most popular songs at Caribbean carnivals all over the world in 2013.
#SocaCareerDevelopmentMessage2a&2b –

 2a) Fight the temptation to be complacent & 2b) Good teamwork is magical: 

 Even when you’re at the top of your game (like Machel), doing something different… truly different in a strategic way will help ensure that people don’t take your talents for granted and instead will make people sit up and take notice. In career terms, although your boss/team may recognise how good you are - you too can increase the quality of your work through a strategic (potentially surprising) and mutually beneficial collaboration. Perhaps you can work with a colleague from a different department or a fellow entrepreneur who has similar, complementary goals. Even if you’re flying high in your career… you can pull a rabbit out of a hat by challenging yourself and stepping beyond the expectations of those that know you… and this can keep a job that you have been in for awhile exciting for you too.

3.    Track 3: Call my name: In this catchy up-tempo track, Destra encourages a boy to call her. With lyrics including “Call my phone… dial my number anytime… call me whenever” - this classic ‘boy meets girl’ scene is a familiar one. Nonetheless, some of the other lyrics in the track inspired another career development lesson.

#SocaCareerDevelopmentMessage3: Expect the unexpected / Be prepared for any opportunity.

I came to this interpretation through taking the notion of ‘calling’ a bit more figuratively – i.e. responding to an opportunity (nothing to do with responding to someone you’re attracted to – that’s a whole different career strategy and not one I advocate!)

Remember, you may have a plan to work towards a promotion… or even a slight change in career direction within 12 months. You have a plan, you’re working hard and you intend to get there. But what happens if the phone rings with an appealing opportunity after 4 months… instead of 12. What happens then? Are you slightly spooked by not feeling ‘ready’ or do you train yourself to be constantly poised to take advantage of whatever exciting opportunities may pass your way – even if it’s on a different time frame to what you envisage.
Do what you need to do to be ready move your career along as you desire… even if it involves an unexpected twist or two along the way. 

So there it is. Creative Career lessons inspired by carnival celebrations. If you have ever felt like you are spending an uncomfortably disproportionate time working versus 'living' then the above has hopefully put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.

This is a blog post I didn’t see coming but I felt so moved by the carnival fun I had recently and thought my Limitless Community would also feel inspired… at least by my enthusiasm if nothing else. I would LOVE to know your thoughts about this post… please take a couple of moments to comment below…

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Gina Visram is a career coach, speaker, mentor and author who works with ambitious, multi-tasking women (and men!) who are ready to work hard at being successful in their careers and personal lives - on their own terms. She has recently published Happily Ever After for Grown Ups: A Post-Wedding, Blues-Busting Guide for Newlyweds" and is committed to helping people get over overwhelm and achieve the career success/life balance they seek. For more information and to sign up to her free newsletter visit www.limitlesscoaching.com. 

How to Prioritise: Tools, tricks and tips for busy professionals (Part 2)

Since posting part 1 of the “How to Prioritise” blog a couple of months ago, I have enjoyed hearing from people who took the time to tell me that they found the tips useful in reference to helping them balance their responsibilities / tasks. This series of posts is designed to help you feel more control, get past ‘overwhelm’ and ultimately - give you the tools to help you answer the question “what did I achieve this year” with your head held high.

You can check out “How to Prioritise: Tools, tricks and tips for busy professionals” (Part 1)  here… and check out a few more suggestions below:

Embrace Mind Maps – Part 1 of this blog mentions making a written task list, however it’s worth bearing in mind that sometimes thinking in a linear fashion doesn’t necessarily channel the information you need for that list you are looking to create. By (literally) spreading out your thinking through creating a mind map – your thoughts sometimes flow more freely. Once you’ve done this, you can then categorise or order the varying things on your list – to help you prioritise.

Set deadlines - In the same way that you had deadlines at school, set deadlines against the items on your to do list. This works on a variety of levels. On a straightforward level, it gives you the opportunity to think through the range of tasks in your life and means that you have clear dates to work towards. Do you have a big project deadline at work? Do you have a birthday or anniversary card to send? Are you applying for business funding? All of these things will have pre-set deadlines so you can stick to those dates or impose your own date in advance - allowing you to make these tasks as seamless as possible.

For anything else that may not be as clear cut - set deadlines anyway. If you stick to them as per the above that's the ideal situation but if you don't you can show some flexibility and provide a new deadline when necessary. Yes, I know what you're thinking. Sometimes there are things on your list that get moved and moved and moved. That's still helpful believe it or not... let me tell you why. Tasks which have endlessly moving deadlines generally eventually result in one of two responses:

1. You get so sick of seeing this same task pop on on your to do list that you either just do it as the fact that it's still there is really ******** you off [insert appropriate term of frustration here].

OR

2. You have a hard long think about this task and what it will really take to do it. At that stage, either you'll give it a much more realistic, considered deadline OR you will just take it off your list full stop. Maybe it just isn't that important to you anyway.

You now have 5 tools, tricks and tips for prioritisation between these two posts and I hope you'll take the time to give them a try if you would like to improve your ability to prioritise. Maximising productivity sounds good to me. You too?

I've also recently recorded video blogs with even more "How to Prioritise" content so sign up here to keep up to date about when you can access those (and other useful content).

***** 

Like this blog?:

Share it! Please share this on your social networks. When forwarding it, let your friends know that the best way to keep up to date with this content is through subscribing to my newsletter here.

Want to use this article on your blog or ezine? No problem... you just need to include the below:

Gina Visram is a career coach, speaker, mentor and author who works with ambitious, multi-tasking women (and men!) who are ready to work hard at being successful in their careers and personal lives - on their own terms. She has recently published Happily Ever After for Grown Ups: A Post-Wedding, Blues-Busting Guide for Newlyweds" and is committed to helping people get over overwhelm and achieve the career success/life balance they seek. For more information and to sign up to her free newsletter visit www.limitlesscoaching.com. 

 

How to Prioritise: Tools, tricks and tips for busy professionals (Part 1)

As we rapidly approach the second half of 2013 (yup… the time is nigh) – conversations I have recently had with colleagues, clients and friends led me to the conclusion that it was time to write a short, thought provoking, action-orientated post on “How to Prioritise”... so here goes:

Why?

Well 2013 seems to have the potential to turn into another one of those ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ years. You know the ones. The ones where January comes and the year feels like it’s full of promise. You take a deep breath and exhale when you think of the promise of the blank slate ahead of you. This will be the year that X, Y and Z happens. This will be the no-nonsense ‘I can do it’ year. 

Suddenly – before you know it, it’s July and although you hopefully have some of your main goals ticked off your list, you realise that unless you get your skates on- you’ll have less to celebrate by the end of than you would have envisaged. 

With that in mind, read the points below (and those in the rest of this series of posts) – designed to give you the tools to help you answer the question “what did I achieve this year” with your head held high. Have a look and adopt, remember and/or repeat anything which takes your fancy. Remember, when it comes to achieving your goals, the adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” applies if all is going as you’d like it to… but if you feel like you can stretch yourself even further – try something from the list below that you have not yet explored this year.

·         Make a (written) task list – This is a back to basics approach to prioritising, but SUCH an important one. Remember, your brain is crammed with the goings on of your day job; the funny YouTube video you watched recently; the conversation you had the other day which upset you; your exciting plans with your other half/friends for the weekend and more. A MENTAL CHECKLIST IS NOT ENOUGH. Whether you (like me) take the old school approach of a pen and paper list, use a time management app or anything in between – make sure you write down your to do list to give yourself the best possible chance of actually getting some things done.

·         Get to know your A, B, Cs – Once you have your written list – prioritise the tasks on your daily list using an ABC approach:

-          As are the tasks that are must do today – these are the TOP PRIORITIES and if you have more than one of these – prioritise them further using A-1, A-2, A-3;

-         Bs are important but less time critical – if not done, someone may be inconvenienced, but it is nowhere as important as an “A” task. Returning an unimportant telephone message would be a “B” task and to keep your head above water, you should aim to get all “A” tasks complete before moving onto these; and…

-        Cs reflect something that would be nice to do but really have no bearing on anything work critical. These tasks include phoning a friend or completing some personal business during work hours. Activity in the ‘C’ category has no real impact on your work life.

[Please note – this may not be mentioned by the ‘time management gurus’ out there but it’s something that has worked for me.  Sometimes, I reward myself with tackling a ‘C’ task when I have gotten through a number of As. For example – if an item on my list is to contact a friend to book a time to catch up – that would fall into the ‘C’ category – and although it’s not important on a work / professional priority level – it is a priority when it comes to feeding my soul! With that in mind – when I work my way through a number of A tasks – I’d take 5 minutes to focus on one of these tasks before getting back on track.

·         Real life doesn’t always fit on a daily task list – When it comes to prioritising and being ‘on task’ – remember that not everything can go according to plan or will be on your initial list. Sometimes life happens external to our priority lists and swoops in presenting you with something that becomes more important than anything you have written down. This may be dealing with a health issue; grieving a loss; going on an important trip; dropping everything to see a parent or friend due to an emergency and many others.

What do you do then? Be flexible, change your plans and go with this new priority.  9 times out of 10 – these sort of emergency priorities require our full attention so when they occur – try to tackle them head on and with your full attention. Your ‘to do list’ will still be there when you get back and  you will be in a much better position to keep working through it when you feel confident that you have wholeheartedly handled any other (albeit unexpected) priorities. 

So, here are three things to explore / remember when it comes to prioritising. If any of these speak to you – do implement. Give it a go and see if anything increases your productivity. 

There are many many more “how to prioritise” tips so this is the first in a series of posts addressing this topic. Stay tuned for more.

In the meanwhile, do share your comments, own experiences/tips and any questions in the section below. I’d love to hear from you… 

*****

Want to use this article on your blog or ezine? No problem... you just need to include the below:

Gina Visram is a career coach, speaker, mentor and author who works with ambitious, multi-tasking women (and men!) who are ready to work hard at being successful in their careers and personal lives - on their own terms. She has recently published Happily Ever After for Grown Ups: A Post-Wedding, Blues-Busting Guide for Newlyweds" and is committed to  helping people get over overwhelm and achieve the career success/life balance they seek. For more information and to sign up to her free newsletter visit www.limitlesscoaching.com.