Exercise · Managing Your Inner Resources: Energy, Motivation, Recovery
Balls and Stones
See completed and unfinished tasks and move one "stone" — a task that has been hanging around for a long time.
Time30 minutes
ParticipantsIndividually, then round
MaterialsForm in the workbook, flip chart
From the trainingManaging Your Inner Resources: Energy, Motivation, Recovery
Why this exercise
Unfinished tasks are like open tabs in a browser: each one takes a little of your attention. Closing them — or honestly deciding "I'm not doing this" — frees up energy. And the completed tasks, the "balls", are a reminder that you already have experience of seeing things through.
How to run it
- 8 minutes, individually: write the work tasks and projects you have completed on the "balls", and the unfinished ones that have been hanging around for a long time on the "stones".
- Choose one "stone" that you want to move and where the reason lies mainly in yourself rather than in external circumstances.
- 12 minutes, general round: if you wish, say what is getting in the way of this task. The trainer writes the reasons on the flip chart: "boring", "no time", "lack of knowledge", "no one to do it with".
- 10 minutes, individually: what needs to change or be added for you to want to do this task.
Debrief questions
- Which reasons come up for different people?
- Which of them are about energy, and which are about organization?
- What first step on your "stone" will you take tomorrow?
Tips for the facilitator
- If a participant chooses a "stone" from their personal life, that is acceptable, but suggest using work examples in the discussion.
- It works well together with the work values exercise: "stones" often go against what matters to the person.
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