Yesterday I ran a business motivation workshop for inmates at the Men’s Open Prison on the Isle of Sheppey. This is the third session I have run for the prison. There were 10 men, all really keen to understand more about running a business, or how to get back to running a business. We talked about tax, employing people, business plans and so on, but the most valuable part of the day was the more emotional side of running a business. In fact, emotions in general really.

I asked them how they were feeling about their lives right at this time. You may think that would be a daft question and that the answers would come back as quite negative – after all, they had been deprived of their liberty. But, once again I was amazed to get their replies. All 10 of them were in a good place and excited about the future.

Now maybe I shouldn’t have been that surprised as this had happened on my previous visits there, but this time I wanted to investigate more. So I asked them why was it that in most of my other groups outside I get replies such as ‘overwhelmed, stressed, fed up, anxious’ but with this group their responses were quite the opposite.

The answer was ‘Time’. They had time and lots of it. Doing ‘Time’ seemed really appropriate. This forced stop made them evaluate where they were going and what they were doing with their lives as a whole. They had time for discussions which each other and to learn about how different people think and act. One guy had been taught to read (actually by one of the other chaps on the course!) and he described his time at the prison as ‘at times emotional’.

I was fascinated by this eclectic group of men of all ages, race and intellect, all telling me the same thing – when you have time to think about things you start to see things differently. There are other issues though like becoming institutionalised and then becoming anxious about coming out, which are not so positive, but I learned a lot from those boys yesterday.

We MUST give ourselves time. That means stepping out of the rat race regularly. Sometimes the only time we do this is when we go on holiday and then we have other pressures. It still isn’t a state of nothingness.

So I guess if we want clarity, then we need to create space in our lives to let it in. Maybe some meditation or just some good old thinking in a quiet room or writing in a journal. It empties the brain, allows us to let go of the clutter and so let the new stuff come in. We can all use the excuse ‘ I don’t have time for that’ but that is just an excuse. In our busy lives you have to make time. Afterall, we all make time to watch the TV.

So challenge yourself in 2010 to regularly give yourself  ‘nothing’ time to reflect and then let go of anxieties and worries to let the new, good stuff come in!