Seize the moment at work!

When I was a kid I had a friend who lived opposite the beach. On hot days we’d cross the road for a dip. My friend’s parents would come to supervise us as there were no life guards around this area. On this particular day, my friends mum decided it was a gorg day, and she too should take a dip. She hadn’t fore planned it so didn’t have her togs. Rather than nip home for them, she stripped off her clothes and trotted into the surf in her bra and knickers. My friend was absolutely mortified (as you are when you are 11) that her mum was wearing nothing but her ‘intimates’ in front of her friend!

I on the other hand thought it was hilarious and lots of fun (as did her hubby who was keeping a pervey watchful eye on his lovely wife from the shore)! I admired her zest for life, the way she ‘seized the moment’ and just did it. Which is why I remember it to this day many years later. So many people are too conservative, shy and ‘sensible’. They don’t act on impulse EVER, they would never get involved in a water balloon fight (their clothes would get wet), they would never schedule something at the last minute as they weren’t ‘prepared’. More people getting involved makes life more fun! Her running into the sea to have fun with us, made the swim so much better. We were laughing and our energy was sky high.

It is the same at the office. Impulse could be the boss doing a random coffee shout on a Friday morning – watch peoples collective energy and motivation soar then! It could be deciding to close early for drinks because there is something to celebrate, or better – just because. It’s about not being scared to break the mould – doing new and different things.

RE: more people getting involved, it can be demonstrated with the boss pulling up their sleeves and getting into it when staff are under pressure. The boss demonstrates they are REALLY part of the team. It is so motivating for workers to see its ‘all for one and one for all’. They see the boss isn’t ‘a cut above’. At the end of the stressful day, the boss really does understand what life was like for the workers.

Where can you harness the energy of impulse and ‘seizing the moment’ in your workplace? (Just don’t strip down to your undies!) What opportunities to do this have you missed in the past?