As FCSI consultants it’s our job to take great care of our clients, by definition and ethic, we aim to provide the world’s best solutions. Are you taking equally great care of yourself and your team? Here are five steps to support more energy, ongoing growth, a strong sense of well-being and even better solutions.
Breathe
Breath is obvious. Follow these four steps to breathe with impact:
- Sit with your head, neck and trunk erect, feet planted evenly on the floor.
- Next, rather than take a breath, exhale completely … long and slow. Empty your lungs completely, all the way.
- Now, inhale with equal speed, slow as possible. A complete breath is one cycle of this full exhale and inhale, as slow and even as possible.
- Do three to five complete breaths and notice what happens for you, your brain, and body.
Bonus: No one even has to know you’re doing complete breaths. Try this in a meeting and notice how differently you notice what you notice.
Meditate
With a soft gaze or eyes gently closed, and with your new breathing skills, take ten 10 or 20 minutes to just sit. Focusing on breath, let emerge what does. If thoughts of work show up, let it go, and stay with your breath. Just pay attention to the cycle of your breath.
This experience might be uncomfortable at first, even, undoable. Do it anyway. First 10 minutes, then 20.
Bonus: When you come back to work, watch work improve.
Exercise
Take it from me as a cancer survivor, exercise may be as simple as taking a walk. Exercise may be pickle ball instead of tennis, walking nine holes on a golf course instead of using a cart.
Start easy; and notice, you can use your “complete breathing” skills as you move.
With anything more strenuous than a walk, do yourself a favor and stretch before and after, and at least after exercise. Stretching can be exercise in itself.
Be gentle with yourself – be your own guide. As you stretch, notice how your ability evolves, strength and stretch a little more, then more.
Bonus: Let the ego go; just start, be gentle with yourself, and notice.
Study, read, ponder
What are you learning? What’s new? What are you reading or watching or listening to? Keep it up! Most of us, including FCSI professionals have forgotten as much as most consultants know… that said, keep learning and exploring! Sure, artificial intelligence has changed the world around us. All the more reason to breathe, meditate, exercise, all of which are an investment in you, watch your value go up.
Bonus: Far more fun mentoring, and offering new solutions to clients.
Apply the learning
Remember that learning is not enough. Share the learning and apply your learning. In this case, share what you learn from new exercise with breath, with the discipline to exercise to expand your personal learning. What a gift for your team, your clients, and your family.
Bonus: What a life!
Rudy Miick FCSI is the founder and president of The Miick Companies, LLC.
Send your questions or comments to rudy@miick.com
