Learning and Development Roundtable – Simple tools to stop you and your brain from being overwhelmed

🗝️ A key heads-up: this is truly the final post of our month-long celebration of the Transformative Trainers Academy one-year anniversary. I was originally going to announce the winner of the 1:1 call with me today, but realized I needed to get out this RoundTable invite to you. So I’ll announce the winner next week, which gives you an extra week to enter! Now on to …

You know the feeling. 

You sit down to focus, and it’s like 47 browser tabs are suddenly open in your brain. Three unfinished tasks are quietly nagging at you. You’ve made about two hundred tiny decisions before 10 am and you haven’t even had your second coffee. And somewhere in there, you’re supposed to also be creative, patient, a good decision-maker, and a collaborative team player.

That’s not a willpower problem. It’s an overwhelmed-brain problem

Turns out there’s actually a name for what’s happening: cognitive load. 

Your brain has a limited amount of working memory at any given moment, and modern work asks it to juggle far more than it was built to hold. No wonder you’re wiped out by 1 pm.

Here’s the good news: overwhelm isn’t something you have to white-knuckle through. It’s manageable, with simple, practical tools you can start using immediately, no willpower required.

In this free workshop on October 15th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

• Gain insight into why cognitive overload is SUCH an issue and why everyone’s suffering from it

• Learn seven simple tools to reduce all that clamoring and hammering in your brain (emphasis on simple)
• Uncover the ridiculously simple way to be kind to your future self and the massive payoff re overwhelm when you do
• Reduce your own overwhelm by getting all the Roundtable resources in one sweet place with a workbook and replay
• Gain access to 13+ years of Learning and Development Roundtable resources
• Count the workshop towards your annual UN professional development (if you’re UN staff — but know that you don’t have to be UN staff to attend; any and all are welcome)

Come ready to feel your shoulders drop an inch or two. This one’s practical, and genuinely fun.

RSVP using this link by October 13th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.

Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request. And please double-check the time in your time zone because, well, time zones are tricky. Use 10 am EAT as your comparison.

• 8-9:30 am London
• 9-10:30 am Paris/Rome
• 10-11:30 am Nairobi, Beirut, Mogadishu, Amman
• 11-12:30 pm Abu Dhabi
• 12:45-2:15 pm Kathmandu
• 3-4:30 pm Manila
• 4-5:30 pm Fukuoka

Can’t make it live? Don’t worry, by registering, you’ll get access to the recording.

If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry … as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free), you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more, plus all 13+ years of Roundtable resources.

Take Action Now – go on and learn, laugh, and lead

Learn

• RSVP for this Roundtable by October 13th, and you’ll automatically become a member to receive invitations to the monthly Roundtables and get access to all 13+ years of Roundtable resources.
• And don’t forget to enter the contest to win a 1:1 session with me (details here).

Laugh 

• Stressed and overwhelmed?  You’re not alone.

Lead

• Share the Roundtable invite with a friend and/or colleague and register together; the more the merrier.

P.S.

• The live Transformative Trainers Academy call was today on tips and tools for self-paced and digital learning.  Curious?  Consider joining us. 

Since 2009, I’ve been writing weekly posts across five topics. Click into whichever one makes you lean forward just now … you’ll find everything I’ve written on that topic waiting for you there.

• Working Better Together – communication, conflict, creativity, collaboration, change. The so-called soft skills that turn out to be the hardest ones.
• Learning and Development – practical tools and fresh thinking for your own growth … because you deserve the same attention you give everyone else.
• Training of Trainers – if you’ve ever been asked to teach, train, or share your expertise with a group, this one’s for you.
• Tech Tools – not the scary kind, I promise. The kind that saves time, cuts overwhelm, and makes you look and feel like a rockstar.
• Life Lenses® – because the lens you look through changes everything. Posts on perspective, perception, and the Life Lenses® framework for understanding why we all see things so differently.