Facing Challenges - Two Tips
The UK is entering another period of lockdown. My heart goes out to all sorts of people, including those who have been so excited about getting back to face-to-face training. I understand how disappointing this will be for you.
This has certainly been a year of unparalleled challenges, professionally and personally. I’m writing this week’s Insight surrounded by boxes as we’re due to move to a new house (in France!) on the 13th November. You can imagine there’s a great deal of uncertainty and some anxiety at home at the moment!
Here are my two tips that I hope will help you cope with challenges, as they do me:
Tip 1 - Invest time in an activity that gives you mental space
By activity that gives you mental space, I mean something that is so engaging, that requires so much focus, it takes your mind away from the wider world and, most importantly, keeps you in the moment. A lot of stress is caused by worrying about the future, and reliving the past, so this mental break from those stress points is really important.
For me, increasingly this year, I’ve found that escape in Creative Writing. Writing stories allows my imagination to run freely and, personally, I find it keeps me in the moment and focused far more effectively than say, watching a film or reading a book.
Whilst I do publish some of my stories here and on Pen48, I don’t really worry whether anyone else enjoys them; doing so would just create a new trigger point for stress. It’s important to remember that the real value in doing something that keeps us in the moment is what it does for our own mental health.
Tip 2 - Be prepared
Paradoxically, given my love of all things creative, I am the king of contingency, spreadsheets and lists. I always have more than one option available to me, so that if one path becomes blocked, there are others I can follow.
A lot of this year’s preparation has involved embracing alternative ways of delivering training. I’ve learnt, and helped others learn, how to deliver experiential and engaging training remotely.
Now, as someone who has spent 20 years expounding the virtues of face-to-face training, this involved a massive step outside my comfort zone at the start of the year. But, as many of you know, I’ve become a complete convert. Indeed, in the nine months since we started building our library of training materials for remote delivery, I’ve learnt that training via Zoom can be every bit as engaging, interactive and powerful as training delivered in the classroom.
And this new approach has opened new pathways to success that I’d never envisaged twelve months ago. I’ve met and worked with people across the globe that I might never otherwise have met, and I’m now finding I need to run my events more frequently because they’re so much easier to fill.
Having options doesn’t mean you have to use them; but it does mean you’re better able to adapt if the situation you’re in changes abruptly. Learning how to deliver training remotely, without reverting to ‘Death by PowerPoint’ does not mean turning your back on face-to-face training. What it does mean is gaining new skills that not only help you cope, but to thrive in today’s challenging environment. And it means equipping yourself with tools that could help you manage future challenges successfully too.
If you’ve not embraced remote delivery yet, or even if you have, Trainers’ Library can help. Its library of innovative, engaging training materials for remote delivery is growing every week.
If you’re nervous about delivering this way, then my Discovery Days give you a fantastic opportunity to test and develop your skills in a supportive environment, and my Creative Training Essentials courses give you the skills to deliver training remotely that learners will remember and be inspired by. Check them out here.
Until next time…