I am in Florida for a few days, navigating a real estate transaction.
Met with Olga, my agent. The listing is up. Immediate showings. More showings. Fast, fast, fast.
My head is spinning a bit. My brain feels like it will explode. I have feelings about letting go of this condo I love.
DUH.
The moment I remember that yes, DUH, I just stepped into a big life transition, I suddenly start to remember all I know about transitions.
Exhale. Not just the big life transitions. No, our need for simple everyday transitions as we navigate our packed lives.
Honor the space between no longer and not yet.”
Nancy Levin, best-selling author
I learned about the power of transitions several decades ago when I was a trainer for Langevin Learning Services, the largest train-the-trainer company in the world. I delivered 20 different programs, each designed by a professional instructional designer.
Here’s what the designers built into each program. After learners returned from a break, I would not immediately delve into teaching new content. I would, instead, deliver a short brain teaser to allow learners to transition from hallway chit-chats, phone calls and email catch-ups, back to the focus of a learning environment.
This was based on heaps of research about how adults learn: A brain teaser would take no longer than 5 minutes. When you don’t build in a transition and go straight to content, learners are not ready to fully focus on what the trainer is about to present. Their mental energy is still on what they were thinking about in the hallway.
5 minutes buy a much higher degree of focus. Much better work happens because participants are able to transition into a learning state-of-mind.
I’m not proposing you do puzzles all day, just as I’m not suggesting you start each meeting with soft chit-chat, as often happens in a business meeting these days.
But have a transition mindset. And consider the following specific ways of putting transitions into action throughout your workday.
Instead of launching into your day first thing in the morning with a crucial meeting, schedule 30 minutes of private time before you “go public.” Think of these 30 minutes as your preview time. You look ahead to your day, the meetings that are in store, the deadlines you must meet. You consider what you need to do to bring your Best Self to all of these circumstances.
While a preview is not a transition, it affords you the opportunity to consider your transitions for the day. What do you need to do, at any given moment, to be mentally, emotionally and spiritually present? What do you need to do to remain energized until the final meeting? Sure - review key documents that will help you to contribute meaningfully in a meeting, but also consider the sort of transitions that will help you to move with grace from one situation to the next throughout your day.
Prepare with data and information. And prepare for flow.
Where can you find 5 minutes in-between meetings, tasks, obligations to simply stop? 5 minutes is the magic number I followed at Langevin. 5 minutes facilitated a much richer engagement in the minutes that followed a break. The moment we decide, we will always find the 5 minutes, no matter how busy we are. Trust me.
Only you know what will be regenerative for you in 5 minutes. Close your eyes and meditate? Step outside and enjoy a change of scenery? Look at a bit of nature? Have a quick jog? Eat a power bar? Chances are, going on social media or chit-chatting with colleagues, no matter how much you like them, won’t do the trick.
Choose an activity that is realistic and do-able for you. Make this activity a habit. And make your 5-minute regenerators a habit you don’t negotiate away.
Surely you can take a minute, just ONE minute, to focus yourself before you join a meeting. A minute in which you mentally and emotionally put yourself into an optimal state of mind.
What do we do in that minute? What will help us focus? If our mind is chattering away with fears and predictions, consider taking a few deep breaths, eyes closed, to bring yourself back to fully being in your body. If you want to make sure that you will be a helpful thought partner in the meeting, affirm that it will be so. I am a thoughtful and valuable contributor to each meeting I attend. Affirm this quietly, a few times over, in the minute before you join. It will calm you and affirm that it will be so.
Anchoring techniques (an affirmation IS an anchoring technique) are powerful self-management techniques that quickly put us into an optimal state of mind. They are the sort of techniques actors use before they need to act and athletes before they enter a race or competition. Visualize the perfect meeting with an impeccable exchange of ideas. Listen to your favorite piece of music that instantly lifts you into a great mood. Curious about anchoring techniques? Do your google research. Anchoring techniques are perfect helpers in your 1-Minute Focus Moment.
Meetings tend to shift and swerve. Sometimes they veer into unexpected directions. We have all sat in that meeting where a topic was covered, the conversation has moved on, and someone harps on something that was talked about and tabled 15 minutes ago. Dude, you think to yourself, we’re done with that one. Move on!
The individual who harks back to previous matters has not transitioned to where the conversation has evolved. They simply have not noticed. They have not adjusted or transitioned with the flow of the conversation.
A 15-Second Reset is internal. It happens in the midst of a conversation. It is based on our observation of the collective mood of the moment. This topic is done. There is no collective appetite to kick this around anymore, even though it really matters to me. Let me switch along with the group.
Simple. Helpful. Quick. And most importantly, conscious.
