The delicate art of spinning plates, and what to do if you drop them!

One of my cheeky little ‘trip me up’ traits is that I try to do all the things, and when I try to do all the things, it’s easy for me to slip up. Kind of like spinning plates, it all looks dextrous and skilled, until you take your eye off the porcelain discs and they all come crashing down in a mess.

I would guess that we’ve all been in this situation before. The important question is how you respond to it, do you then a) sweep it all under the rug, and slink off ?(albeit in a slightly crunchy pottery manner…) to lick your wounds, never to spin a plate again.

Or b) do you hold your hand up, ‘fess up and go grab a broom? Vowing to come back spinning, with greater intention on focus and consistency.

And that’s how it goes, it’s life innit?!? Over the last three weeks I have managed to not send out three newsletters AND more embarrassingly, I forgot to tell the Body Geek Club members about their monthly live session with me… I mean, really Carrie…

Now, I’ve been at this self employed gig for my entire adult life, so I know myself pretty well. I could go hide in a cupboard, but in reality, I know that shame loops serve no one and in reality it’s just the result of tiredness and bad planning, so...

Let me just go grab my broom…

The irony being, that in writing that last sentence, I remembered I needed to upload the rest of this week’s Body Geek Club session...I shit you not. See. There are a lot of tasks to balance.

Hokay! Videos are being uploaded...now, where were we?

So, when you find yourself in plate spinning mode what can you do?

My top tip is, give yourself a break. Practically no situation is made better by telling yourself off (is there a situation where it is made better?). It happened, so give yourself a bit of compassion.

Instead, ask yourself if there is a way to make it easier? A way to automate the task, or set yourself reminders? Personally, I found two things that work for me, the first is to batch jobs together. So Monday I make Body Geek Club videos, Tuesdays and Thursdays I see clients and on Wednesday I write. I have found that I feel much calmer and more together when I have a routine to stick to (Dammit, I so wanted to be a free spirit, but nope…)

BUT I also give myself wiggle room, because I know how fickle life can be. So this newsletter is generally written on Wednesday, but not sent until Saturday, which means if I run out of time or get distracted by some shiny object, I still have a couple of days to sort my shit out. (Although the last couple of weeks I had zero inspiration and many distractions hence no newsletter!).

That does sound like a dichotomy doesn’t it, but it works (mostly!) for me.

Also, think about what plates you are spinning. Do you really need to be dealing with all of them? Could you ask anyone else to help? Would it be helpful to focus on them one at a time? Or do you need to schedule time into your diary with a determination that they must be completed in that slot - Parkinson’s law is an adage that states that work will expand to fill any amount of time it’s given, so give it less time and it’ll be done quicker. True dat.

You could also get curious as to why you end up with so much to do and so little time to do it in, if that’s a pattern for you. Try asking yourself how this behaviour serves you? How do you feel in response to it? Where else have you seen this pattern modelled? These can be hard answers to stomach, but useful to work through. Feel into where you hold that tension or resistance in your body, thank it for keeping you safe and breathe as you bless and release it (you may also wish to take a deeper look at the dynamic behind the behaviour and I’d be happy to support you with that)

Big love,

Carrie