The last few weeks, I’ve found myself helping a couple of my clients improve their productivity and reduce their stress levels. And to do this we’ve been working on improving organisation in their daily lives and we have spent some time dealing with procrastination.

Last Friday morning, I sat at my desk and looked at my own ‘to do’ list. Being organised is not one of my natural personality traits; it’s something I have to constantly work at.

As a coach, I work with the theory on a regular basis, but it is one thing to know how to do something, yet quite another to do it.

It is time to ‘walk my talk’ (again)

Some people are ‘list people’ and some people aren’t. I’m in the latter group. In fact for decades I would only sit down and write a ‘to do’ list when I felt overwhelmed or tasks started to really get out of hand.

I like spontaneity in my life, so the idea of sitting down and structuring the day or the week into tasks has never appealed to me. Seeing my week ahead all filled up in the diary made me feel trapped, boxed in – as though I had no control.

It seems quite funny now, because generally speaking, we all like a certain level of structure in our lives. It gives us certainty – we know the sun will come up tomorrow (unless it is cloudy!), we know the dog will want to go for a walk!

The trick for me was to find a way to make it all work.

If you regularly use a ‘to do’ list, but you don’t complete all your daily tasks, your list will grow and grow until you have list overwhelm. (And I’ve had a lot of that too.)

Today, I scheduled a ‘catch up’ morning to do a handful of tasks that I missed last week. One of the items that got carried over from last week’s list was to write a post for this blog – which is why I’m writing this now.

Unfortunately even the best plans can be interrupted and this morning is no exception. In another 60 minutes, the power will go out for the rest of the day as our electricity company does some work in the street. So I’ll have to be quick doing all the things that need electricity.

Anyway… the blog post is done. Now, what’s next on my list?

When she first signed on as a client with me a year ago, she was a mess. She was on medication for chronic depression, she hated her job, her family was neglected and she completely lost any sense of focus and direction… and that was just the start… over the last year we have seen some big changes in her life, but this email shows me that it has all been worthwhile. In part, she said:

“I’ve made sure that I’ve left work on time (unfortunately traffic has been an issue this week) and kept my promises to myself around being home to cook some meals and help (the kids).

As I’ll be away for 4 weeks (husband) and I have signed up for PT Sessions with (trainer) so that (husband) can continue to do Tuesday evenings with (son) as my stand in. In the mean time I have my (fitness) program to use at the motel gyms, in my room and outside along with my food diary so that I continue to make conscious decisions around my intake given that I will be quite sedentary for the best part of the day. I have promised myself that I will get up early and get some exercise (probably the gym) and also use the evenings to exercise either walking around Docklands and Collins Street or walking in the pool.

I have also decided that I will not be doing more work in the evenings as exercise and (hobby) will be my main priorities along with phone calls home. I’ll let you know how each week progresses as a means of debriefing myself.”

It has taken a while, but she has really grabbed all life has to offer with both hands. It is great to hear that she is taking control of her life, and feels comfortable setting her own agenda.

What I especially like about her progress is that not only has she been able to bring herself out of the depilating state she was in, but also her whole family have directly benefited by the new mindset she has attained.

Well done.

If you’d like to know how you can beat depression, perhaps the process we used will help you too. Feel free to get in touch and let’s have a chat.

My workbench under construction

As I was working on the project, it occurred to me that a large percentage of men don’t do anything constructive either at work or at home. Office workers for example, attend meetings, sit in front of computers, write documents and shuffle papers. None of these activities provide them with the physical challenges men really need.

Many of the people I have met over the years have no constructive hobbies. By this I mean they may follow sport or enjoy the movies but they don’t do anything that involves physical labour that culminates in a sense of achievement.

Last Tuesday I attended a Rotary dinner where I met a man who runs a government funded men’s centre. The centre provides counselling for men who have become lost in society.

One significant thing these men have in common with each other is that their self-esteem has been slowly eroding away, to the extent that they have completely lost confidence in themselves. Often they have no job, no immediate family (by choice or circumstance) and they have lost hope – they have given up on themselves.

Back to my work bench…

I didn’t buy any materials to build my workbench; I hunted around the yard. I had a long piece of timber under the house that I cut for the four posts and the rest of the timber came from scraps that were stacked out in the weather near the back fence or on the trailer ready to go to the tip. The shelf was once the top of a broken coffee table and the dark timber bracing the back is the top is off an old desk.

The completed workbench. Now I'm sorting out my tools so I can make the shadow board

I’m no carpenter, I’ve never made a workbench before and I didn’t have a pattern, so constructing a bench from scraps was a challenge. The materials at hand dictated the size and form the bench would need to take.

When I finished, I felt a great sense of satisfaction. It is solid and it is functional. From a pile of junk that was lying around the yard, I now have a workbench. I have challenged myself and in succeeding, have helped fed my own self-esteem.

Back to the men’s group…

All men need opportunities to be challenged and opportunities to work as a team to resolve problems.

Counselling for men is a great start, but to really get results and help men regain their self-esteem, I think counseling for men should be done in conjunction with activities that are physically and mentally challenging.

Why not challenge men who have lost faith in themselves by asking them, as a group, to build something? Even if they have no skills, they will construct something – and whether or not it is good is of no consequence, because the shared challenge will give them the opportunity to do something constructive.

It is through doing something constructive that men are challenged and it is through succeeding at these challenges individuals will begin to regain their self-esteem. If they work as a team, each of them will share in the experience and benefit from a shared sense of heightened self-esteem.

Do you give yourself enough physical challenges?

The City2Surf is an ‘all in group fitness challenge’ and I know many people (myself included) use this event as a focal point to help them keep fit over the winter months.

Like me, thousands converge on Sydney to test their fitness, meet up with friends and enjoy a sunny afternoon relaxing on Bondi Beach.

This year a torn calf frustrated me six weeks prior to the event and with three weeks to go, it was still causing a problem, so I decided to rest it until the day. Unfortunately my conditioning suffered, but I basically came through unscathed. Under the circumstances I’m just glad I managed to do it in under 90 minutes.

I took my phone along and captured the day on video as I experienced it. Love to hear your stories too.

My First City2Surf in 1971

The City2Surf Route

How to avoid the Vindaloo Line

I just made that up… (I had a particularly hot vindaloo last night, and I know you don’t want to feel like I did first thing this morning!). The Vindaloo Line is what I call (as of now) all those people who line up at the port-a-loos at the start and along the run. This untimely stop can cost you many minutes.
There are only two reasons you’ll need to stop, (lets call them ‘no.1’ and ‘no.2!’)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8UOUbPILkw

How to avoid no.1

The trick to managing no.1 is to fully hydrate yourself the day before. Don’t be one of those people who skull water before the event – believe me; it will want to come out just as quickly as it went in.

Your body can’t absorb water at that rate, it will just fill your gut and if it doesn’t make you feel that you want to go, it will hang in your gut and weigh you down. Remember, 1 litre of water weighs 1 kilogram.

It takes time for your body to absorb water. You should drink a minimum of 2 litres the day before the event, and drink it in small sips throughout the day so your body can fully absorb it into your cells. (We should be doing this all the time anyway… but how many people actually do!)

If you are fully hydrated at the start, you can easily make it to the first drink stop. And there are drink stops all along the route. If you take a small amount of fluid at each drink station, you’ll be fine. After the run you can skull what ever you like.

How to avoid no.2

This is the big one, (a bad pun I know, but apt!). Learning to time your no.2s can be a little harder (you can’t avoid puns here – that was unintentional).

What works for me is to eat early the night before and top up with a light breakfast on Sunday morning. I find dinner at around 5pm to 6pm at the latest on the Saturday night produces the result you want when you get up.

Don’t eat too much for dinner or for breakfast. If you are like me and travel interstate to get to the event, there is a tendency to meet up with friends at a nice Sydney restaurant and then one thing can lead to another and the next thing you know you are full. You don’t want to feel ‘full’, but rather simply adequately satisfied.

Italian restaurants are particularly popular in Sydney on the night before the City2Surf so you may need to book early.

Have a great day

The most important thing is to have a great day, enjoy the festival atmosphere. Maybe we’ll catch up after the run. Good Luck.

Related Articles

View this training schedule on Google Calendars
or download it and add to your computer’s calendar.

City2Surf Training Plan -- Lifting Your Game -- Overview

• City2Surf Training Plan Stage One
• City2Surf training plan – Stage Two
• City2Surf training plan – Stage Three

• Week 11 -- Introduction to a routine (Rest Day) (First gym day)
• Week 10 -- Start off Nice and Easy
• Week 9 -- Continue at an easy pace
• Week 8 -  Noticing changes in yourself
  Jogging and Running : what’s the difference?
• Week 7 -- Step it up a notch
  Calculating your Ideal Training Level
• Week 6 -- Focus on Breathing
• Week 5 -- Arm Power
• Week 4 -- High Effort
• Week 3 -- Steady as She Goes
• Week 2 -- Focus on Endurance
• Week 1 -- How to Cut minutes of your City2Surf time with 24 Hours to go
• City to Surf 2009 -- We are off