Then you get invited to take part in #CommsChat to discuss themes from research you’ve had a hand in publishing. (#CommsChat is this fine magazine’s highly regarded weekly Twitter discussion for anyone who hasn’t yet had the pleasure). Problem – the time and date clash with exquisite precision. Do you a) Withdraw from the AGM, even though you have a part to play in it (‘work comes first’)? b) Decline the #CommsChat opportunity (‘prior commitment’) or c) Say yes to both because you feel you can’t turn either down and because you’ll figure out a way for your brain and hands to be in two places at once and for your tweets to transmit from a sports pavilion without WiFi. Somehow.

After all, it can’t be more difficult than playing cards while driving down the M40 with your eyes closed, can it? Both a) and b) are mature responses. Sadly, this is a true-life story and I chose c) until the eleventh hour when even I realised how trying to please everyone would fail miserably. So for anyone who felt short-changed by my recent ‘no show’ on #CommsChat, I apologise. However, it did make me reflect on the less obvious attributes we need to function effectively in our roles. Clearly technical and organisational skills are important. They give us our licence to operate and enable us to manage risks and opportunities in the corporate environment. But we need to master ourselves first in order to keep two nostrils above the waterline in our ever-rising tide of work.

We need to treat time as our most precious, non-renewable asset, because, as Mark Twain once observed of land, they’re not making it any more. Being able to manage our time is fundamental. And so is conserving enough energy and brain-space to get everything done. Keep a plentiful supply of all three, stress levels are manageable and there’s a sense of being control. Run your stocks down, though and it’s easy to lose a grip on workload – and judgement.

Right now, in the midst of the institute’s busiest season (financial year-end, conference, change of board, AGM, awards, recruitment…), time, brain-space and energy are at a premium. When competing priorities clamour for attention, it’s sometimes tempting to play the macho mariner and try steering the ship and hoisting the sails at the same time (batten down the hatches and splice the mainbrace, we’re in the grips of a full-blown metaphor here). Tempting, but dangerous (I’ll avoid references to running aground). Better to pause and reflect on the best way to apportion the time and energy you do have.

Learning to say no to jobs when no is the smartest answer you can give is also difficult. But we have to protect our time, apportion our brain-space wisely and expend our energy in a measured way. It’s true that sometimes, when fully energised, it can feel as if we can take everything on at once, to keep not just a few plates but an entire dinner service (from the captain’s table, of course) spinning in the air. At other times when the batteries are empty and stress levels high, even having to breathe both in and out can seem like we’re over-committing (‘What? You want me to both breathe and type…?! But that’s multi-tasking!).

Mastery of yourself is about making choices: a) or b). Otherwise, you may find yourself all at c).