Stressing Out on Problems
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Business Computing Tips
By K&K Fainges kfainges@bigpond.net.au
I am often guilty of sitting down to work and playing a game instead of doing
something 'worthwhile.'
We all have times when the problems just feel too much to handle. And we all
have our time wasters, the things we do to avoid dealing with the too hard
basket. So how do we turn that game of Free Cell into a valuable stress relief
tool? All it takes is five steps.
1 Realise that sometimes you have to take a break. 10 minutes won't mean the
end of the world. Use the time to empty your mind.
2 Write down the one thing you would like to achieve. This is
important. WRITE IT DOWN. You never reach your goal if you can't work out what
it is. It might be how to shift those tiles you can't get rid of. It might be
approaching the boss with some new ideas. It doesn't matter what it is, just
pick one thing.
3 Do something mindless. Play a couple of games. Spin on your chair. Link up
some paper clips. Anything that puts your mind on hold.
4 Then brain storm for five minutes. Go silly. Don't analyse it, just write
down whatever pops into your head. A good way to get rid of tiles is get an
elephant to sit on them.
5 Then go back to something else. Forget completely about it. Don't let your
conscious mind go back to it. Then next break, this could be first thing the
next day, open up your notepad and look at what you wrote. Now have a serious
think about the problem. You will be amazed how much clearer it appears. There
is a very good reason for this. The subconscious mind is faster, better and more
accurate than your conscious mind. Those games have forced your mind to switch
from using the subconscious to worry about the problem to making it work out a
solution.
Why do this on the computer?
Good question. The answer is you don't have to. Sometimes, making best use of
the computer means not using it at all. Having said that though, if you use the
Wordpad from the Accessories file on your system, it allows you to turn those
ideas into a report in a matter of moments. Why write things out twice?
CHEAP HINT
If you would like some more ideas about goal setting, feel free to look up my
book, "Marketing Your Place". It is available from the web, and the
first chapter is completely free.
Find it on
