BEING IN FLOW

Do you ever have days when everything just seems to work out? Of course you do. Days when, however busy you are.... you just manage to do everything that needs doing, easily and effortlessly. In NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming), this is called being in flow.

I had one of those days today, in fact, I've had one of those weeks! It's been an important week for me. My younger son started at secondary school and loves it..... and I've rearranged my working week to a pattern that feels fantastic. Instead of spreading my 3.5 days of GP work out over 5 days, I now work three full days in the surgery. This gives me two full weekdays to devote to coaching, writing, personal growth etc. 

It may only have been week one but what a week it's been. Despite being very busy in the surgery I have felt really enthused and energized there. Today was a classic example. Not only did I have two very sick patients this morning who both needed emergency ambulance transfer to hospital but we had a major computer failure this afternoon. It was also extremely busy with lots of patients needing to be seen before the weekend. It could have been chaotic, I could have really struggled..... but no. Not only did everyone get sorted out efficiently but it felt effortless and I really enjoyed myself. The whole team were fantastic today - and I made sure that they all knew it too.

Experiences like that are great. They nourish and sustain you through the tougher times, but how can we repeat them? In NLP this is called modelling - looking at what works well in a situation and repeating it. What were you thinking, feeling, doing in a successful situation.... and how can you make sure you replicate that when you need to perform like that again?

Think about a time when you've experienced a challenging situation and performed in a way you've been really proud of. Think back through it in detail - what was happening in you that made it so good? What were you saying to yourself? What were you thinking? How were you behaving? Think how you can get back into that positive, resourceful mindset for next time you need to be on top form.

Life is easy when you are in flow like this. Spend a few moments now thinking about how you can use your past experiences to create a better future. What are you waiting for?