A Coaching Power Tool Created by Lucy Romao Vandepol
(Wellness Coach, CANADA)
As the years go on, life seems to fly by and there never seems to be enough hours in the day, or days in the week. In a society where being busy seems to the norm, multi-tasking is often seen as a prominent skill included on resumes. Many pride themselves on the ability to do many things at the same time.
Multitasking has been creeping into many aspects of our lives, including our down time. We sit down to watch television while scrolling through our phones. We check email while on the treadmill so that we can get somethings out of the way before we start our days.
Recently, we are starting to see a shift towards being more mindful, and possibly even single tasking.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is about being present; it is about being aware of our thoughts and actions in a non-judgemental way. It is about being, more than doing. With mindfulness, what you are doing is not as important as your awareness of what you are doing.
What is Multi-tasking?
Multi-tasking is about performing more than one thing at a time. It is about doing, more than being. With multi-tasking, the focus is on doing as much as you can, it is about performing multiple tasks. When we are multi-tasking, we often move through actions on autopilot without an awareness of our actions and behaviours.
Coaching application
This power tool can be used with clients who have identified that they want to be more mindful in their actions. This power tool can also be used to help clients become more aware of how they are living their lives. It can also help clients analyse their behaviours, explore changes, move towards more conscious actions and being more present in their lives. It can also help clients become more self-aware and bring a higher level of awareness into their lives. When we realize why we are behaving a certain way, we are then able to make changes.
Reflection
How do you typically spend your leisure time?
Think of a time when you were multi-tasking.
- What were the various things that you were doing?
- Why were you doing these things?
- Where these work or personal tasks?
- How did you feel?
- Can you remember what was going on around you?
- What were the results? Did you meet your goals?
What prevents you from focusing on doing one thing at a time?
How can you create more opportunities for mindfulness in your daily life?
How can you be present in your daily activities?
Think of a time when you were present in the activity that you were doing.
- What were you doing?
- Why were you doing this?
- Was this a work or personal task?
- How did you feel?
- Can you remember what was going on around you?
- What was the result? Did you meet your goals?
Compare the two scenarios.
It is good to explore these questions and to reflect on your answers to help you better understand your behaviours and actions. In addition to using these questions with your clients, coaches are encouraged to spend some time reflecting on the above questions as they pertain to themselves.