When I first got the email from Scott Eblin, a friend and sometime client, about his new book, Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative, I was happy for him and secretly hoping that he wouldn’t ask me to do anything hard for him, like actually read the book. You see, I’m way too overworked and overwhelmed to need another book to read. They already pile up to dangerously high levels on, beside, and near my desk as it is.

Scott’s too nice a guy to press me; he left it all up to me. I got the irony and read the book. And I’m glad I did. Mindfulness is awareness of externals and internals – and intention. Once you’re aware, what are you going to do about it? The book goes on to suggest some useful strategies for responding to our current Western World state of overworked and overwhelmed and changing things for the better. I started thinking about what this all might mean for a public speaker.

First of all, speakers certainly share in the perpetual motion machine feelings of most of the executives Scott describes. Between living life on the road from one gig to another, handling all the logistics that enable the life on the road, then keeping the sort of thought leadership going that leads to those gigs in the first place, any speaker in the biz has got to be struggling with feelings of too-much-to-do-too-little-time-to-get-it-all-done-and-then-what-about-a-life?

What’s the cause of this stress? Scott focuses on the economic pressures since 2008 and the smart phone. The first makes life harder for everyone (except the guy who sold short in the summer of 2008) and the second means that we’re never away from it all.

There’s a further trap that he doesn’t discuss, which I think also stems from perpetual connectedness: the increase of Envy Moments – those pictures on Facebook that make you think everyone else is leading an idyllic life full of sunsets, beaches, clifftops, champagne, selfies on the Great Wall, Paris Cafes and meetings with the President.

Of course, logic tells you that it’s one or two moments per Facebook friend, and that even your own sorry life has those too, but what does logic have to do with it? You’re feeling overworked and overwhelmed, and at any given moment the Great Wall looks better than the airport Starbucks you’re checking Facebook from.

OK. Public speakers have feelings too, and have to cope with the same stresses. So what do we do about it, Scott?

Here are a few of the tips from Scott’s book, which I recommend highly, by the way, that will help you immediately:

1.Take Three Deep Breaths, Mindfully. Readers of this blog will know that I regularly push the virtues of breathing. I start every day with 100 deep breaths, which is easier than it sounds, except for the days when I’m tired and keep falling back asleep because deep breathing is so relaxing.   Just now, reminded of the importance of breathing, I took two deep breaths and got distracted before I could take the third. Pathetic, I know.

2. Decide What Your Best Looks Like, and When You’re In the Flow. I personally think this is one of the big enemies of living the mindful life. We’re all too busy doing everything and too distracted by it all to focus. And yet, the only great things anyone ever accomplishes come from focus – focusing on what you do well, and focusing on doing it completely when you’re doing it.

3. Constantly Ask, Is This Really Necessary?   There is always going to be a certain amount of stuff you gotta do just to keep going, so making sure that list hasn’t become bloated over time is important. Keep throwing out the inessentials. Push the reset button on your calendar and clear it for the important stuff.

4. Structure Your Day to Get The Important Stuff Done First, and When You’re at Your Best. There’s a tug of war between these two desiderata. I’m a night person; I’d much rather give my speeches at night, but unfortunately most people are day people and so….Life’s a compromise. But within working realities, get the big things done first and during that part of the day when you’re at your best.  

5. Give Your Unconscious Mind Time to Work. I was very glad to see this one on the list. Readers of this blog and of my new book Power Cues will know that I’m a big believer in putting the power of your unconscious mind to work for you. To do so, you need to understand its rhythms and needs so that you can use it effectively.

6. Don’t Look for Work-Life Balance, Look for Rhythm. Less is more, timing is everything, and mindfulness is key. You will not find work-life balance in a successful, Western-World, 21st Century life if you are subject to economic pressures and iPhones. Not to mention Facebook Envy Moments. So instead, find rhythms that work for you.

7. Build Movement Into Your Life. Don’t sit, move. The human body was made to move. Remember when we used to tell children not to fidget? OK, the message has changed. Start fidgeting! Scott likes yoga – in fact, it probably saved his life, since he found out he has MS – but do what works for you. Just do. As Yoda taught us.

8.Take Action Now.   If I took all the time I spent worrying about the future, panicking about the present, and obsessing about the past, and put that to productive use, I’d have built the damn cathedral by now. Just saying.

9. Listen More.  What I do with my clients first is listen. It’s getting harder and harder to do well because of all the distractions, which means it’s becoming more and more precious. So practice listening. People appreciate it deeply because no one else listens to them – not their friends (they’re on Facebook), not their work colleagues (they’re too busy) and not even their loved ones (they’ve heard it all before).

10. Take Time for Spiritual Reflection.   If you don’t reflect, you won’t know what you’ve done, and then what was it all for? Time for reflection is essential, even if it means not doing one of the other things on your list for a moment or two.

A lot of Scott’s ideas come from other places; what I particularly like about his book is that he puts it all together into a whole that feels quite reasonable and manageable. I’ve only given you a taste of it here, and I’ve pulled bits and pieces unsystematically from the book that struck me particularly. So give his book a read, take the time, and change your life. You’ll be glad you did – and what’s really important, you’ll have the time to reflect on those glad feelings.

And when you’re there, please remember to post them on Facebook so that I can envy you.