Boss of Busy, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 10Chunk it

The cost of Freak Out is our sanity, because we feel like we're making millimetres of progress in a million different directions, but not going anywhere fast. This is where our friends are sick of hearing how we are going to save the world, and our teams play bingo on the number of motivational clichés we use and roll their eyes because really nothing has changed.

The thing that we hold dear — our gut instinct, our intuition — seems to be giving us the wrong message because nothing is happening, or certainly not happening the way that we had hoped it would.

After the last chapter, though, we've got a blueprint mapped out. You've incorporated the stuff that matters and the plan looks epic. It's amazing, your best work yet. The Freak Out has started to subside because now you have a clear direction and it looks doable — it's big, hard work, but still doable.

This is the danger zone that very few of us talk about. The reason it's a danger zone is because our anxiety has been significantly reduced by the planning. Working in clinical settings I would see this with individuals all the time. The anxiety and unrest prompted them to pick up the phone and make an appointment, and the need for things to change instigated them attending the appointment. The situation had become bad enough to be a catalyst for action. Do a good job as a psychologist of alleviating that anxiety, however, and the drive to get uncomfortable again is gone. We need to move out of this danger ...