Have you ever found yourself on a call with a client, even though you have lots of important matters to discuss you find yourself scrolling through LinkedIn, reading the news or running a google search for what a chair would look like if our legs bent the other way? All of a sudden you realise that a couple of minutes have passed and you have got no idea what was just said, you attempt to get back in to the conversation realising the only angle of attack is to just make and few grunts of agreement and throw in a few uhuh’s here and there.
I think you would agree that expectations, constant pressure and distraction plague everyone, the only exception might be a monk who has spent years mastering a zen like approach to the world. It can feel like a daily challenge, we often find ourselves feeling guilty about reacting the wrong way to a colleagues request, or beating ourselves up because rather than completing important tasks we got sucked into the vortex of mindless social media scrolling.
Imagine if every single day you were deliberate in your actions, your focus and how you interact with people, what would the impact be? How would this change all your relationships in business?
16 years ago I experienced a huge challenge in business which made me view the world through a very negative lense - if my view of the world at the time were an instagram filter it would of been called ‘Crapola’ - I was going about the world as captain negative, spreading my doom and gloom, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of most of the people I met, the big problem was I had no idea I was doing this, that was until a good friend decided to be brutally honest and in one sentence hit me with the baseball bat of reality. It was such a moment of awakening for me that I changed instantly, I realised that I was 100% responsible for my actions and behaviours, my ability to move forward was down to me, if I didn’t become conscious of the way I was behaving things would only get worse.
I have since been on a journey of what I am calling living consciously, this may sound a little woo woo and spiritual - which it could be if that is your flavour of living - for those of you who are a little more factual or how-to minded, what I mean is simply being aware and deliberate. For example, in my Keynote I share the 3 C’s of Conscious communication, one of these being ‘Conscious Mindset’. This is about checking in with yourself and deciding who you need to be and what energy you need to bring to the different moments you face throughout each day. As we have already established a few sentences back, we are so busy, under pressure and distracted that we are moving around on autopilot, it is not often we take a moment and ask ourselves ‘what tension or stress am I holding that I need to let go of before I walk in to the room?’
16 years ago I didn’t have the added distraction of social media, a barrage of daily emails and a TV in my pocket, fast forward to today, for us to live consciously, create business relationships formed on trust and have maximum impact in the way we communicate we need to be very deliberate in our actions and behaviours. I believe that those people who take action and start to live consciously will find success far quicker, be more engaged with their lives and ultimately be happier.
If you are still unclear exactly what I mean by conscious communication maybe this three step process will help.
Conscious Communication
Step 1 - Decide what energy you need to bring to the interaction
Step 2 - Decide what your intention is
Step 3 - Walk in the room
Thanks for stopping by,
Anthony Laye - Live Consciously