STEP BACK

Norman Drummond's third book is a further distillation of practical wisdom based on his wide range of experiences. Norman is the founder of Columba 1400, an award-winning charity that seeks to change the life outcomes of young people from harsh realities, a former BBC governor, head teacher and Chair of BBC Children in Need as well as the current Chair of the Scottish World War I Commemoration Panel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Chaplain to the Queen in Scotland and visiting Professor of Education at the University of Edinburgh. In addition, he is an internationally known coach and speaker on life and business (www.drummondinternational.com). I mention all this as it informs the content and direct style of the book.

I imagine the message of the title will resonate with every reader as our frantic busyness means that we rush from one task to the next without making time to reflect on our values and on what really matters. This reminds me of the aphorism of Archbishop Fenelon, who urged people to meditate for at least one hour a day and, if very busy, then two hours. The book consists of two parts, covering the rich rewards of stepping back and the many ways of doing so. Themes include the importance of attitude, the need to find your path as well as care for yourself, growing wisdom and letting go of negativity, escaping limitations and stepping up to opportunities, focusing on what matters and overcoming failure, taking stock and keeping going, having faith and making a difference. This last point is crucial as Norman's own life is devoted to service.

Stepping back can help us develop the key qualities of integrity, courage and open heartedness while restoring balance and rhythm to our lives. One of the features of the book are many pertinent quotations, such as this from Eleanor Roosevelt – 'do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you will be criticised anyway.' Here we need to have clear values and our own sense of integrity as well as courage. In his coaching sessions, where he probably speaks only 15 to 20% of the time, Norman listens deeply and finds that many of his clients suffer from the NQGE syndrome (not quite good enough) when in fact they are MTGE - more than good enough. Sometimes, by doing less we can achieve more, and the book's many panels of questions for reflection will help us in this regard. The core Columba 1400 values are also worth pondering on – awareness, focus, creativity, integrity, perseverance and service, and it helps to have our own space or place where we can go to reflect more deeply on a regular basis.

There are many instructive and amusing anecdotes in the book, including his son Christian getting him to promise that he would watch the whole of a DVD with him on Boxing Day, without realising that the series lasted 11 hours! Another story about Charles Swindoll struck a chord – in his zeal to fit too much into his life, he was caught up in a hurry-up style and became unbearable at home. One evening, his daughter Colleen wanted to tell him something important and began, "Daddy, I want to tell you something and I'll tell you really fast", whereupon he realised what a pass things had come to and said she could say it slowly - to which her response was: "Then listen slowly!" On another occasion, a self-important businessman came to see Mother Teresa and told her about all his achievements, to which she replied "And what do you do that matters?" The story that made me laugh out loud was a simple parable about a group of forest animals who were discussing a new animal – a bear – who had a list of animals who will die. The lion and the fox stepped forward first, but they pined away and died when they found they were on the list. Many other animals followed, with the same outcome. Finally, the tortoise makes it to the bear and finds that he too is on the list. Okay, says the tortoise, you can take me off the list - he walks away and lives happily for a long time. We can all choose to get off the list and find our own path.

The second part advises on how to put stepping back into practice. The first thing is to plan to make a start. Without planning this will never happen, and it is best to start small. One easy way is to have a quiet period of prayer or reflection in the morning, as Norman himself does and indeed I do myself. Retreat periods can help us to reboot, also silence or even solitude. Norman suggests a number of searching questions that we can put ourselves (p. 145). As it happens, I was asked to take a walking day myself today with Marianne and some friends, but I have too many book reviews to write, so I will have to plan this for next month! This is truly a book for our times, with its simple message of slowing down, focusing on what matters and keeping things simple, and it finishes with the challenge of daring to look for the best in others and in ourselves - if we want to find a way forward, then it's time to step back. I am glad that Norman took the time to step back to write this book, and I urge you to read and apply its advice yourselves.