Quick recovery

“The breaking of a habit doesn’t matter if the reclaiming of it is fast” - James Clear, Atomic Habits.

Growth continues even through dips, falls, missteps, slow periods,…I feel it’s easy to say this in a moment of reflection, harder to acknowledge in a moment through the day when we actually need it. I’ve heard through different thought leaders and I believe it that a capability worth building is how we get through the dips. How we minimize the depth of the dips so the length of time we spend in the dip is less. It’s like a graph that the line is moving upwards to the right but it’s jagged-y. The trend line is still going upwards (even with the dips). I believe that trying to make the chart a straight line is fighting what it is. It causes more heaviness which slows us down. There is no guarantee that this will be our chart but it can be. It can be if we have faith in that it is our chart and that we don’t force it to be a straight line chart. We cannot make it something it is not. We can work with it. We can use the dips for learnings. We can build capabilities to minimize the depth of the dips (=how long we’re in a rut) and shorten the length of time we’re in the dip. I’ve leaned into this and it has made a difference.

Every dip is meant to be, it’s what learnings I take from it and how I move with it on my way up that make the difference.

Agility is powerful & fun

Agility is more than moving quickly. Agility to me is like a jaguar that uses its existing strength, balance, gratefulness, power, flexibility and any existing ability to go after something. Being agile is a superpower worth growing and growing. I continue to lean into it and be agile, when…

• demands are high,

• time is short,

• creativity is needed in the task and the process, and

• I am committed to getting things done and enjoying the journey.

I love being agile! It’s fun to improve :) What’s a word/concept that easily propels you into the energy you like and in the direction you want to do?

Goals & New Me

It’s my birthday! I like to use my birthday as a time for setting goals that feel like a new me…without throwing out the old me.

I have moments of hesitation around setting goals because of past missteps, missed goals and obstacles that I didn’t overcome. It can easily roll into doubt, shame and uncertainty…until you hit a point when you think AND know that’s enough! And then it’s like you shake your head ‘no’ and leap into action.

Have you been there?

It’s great to breakthrough in that moment to take action. It feels amazing! It feels confident, light, decisive, agile, free and powerful.

How do we get to that moment sooner?…and with less of the negative, yucky feelings…

That’s exciting to me! Going beyond achieving goals, to growing at the process of achieving of goals. Who I am while achieving goals. As I look at my goals for the next year and think of who I want to be, setting a development goal like this will help across goals and span all future years. This goal is to a) research consistently to learn from experts, b) bring more mindfulness to when it’s happening in my own life and c) lean in to bite-sized, experiments to shift my growth.

It’s not about throwing out the old me or feeling bad about history. Leaning into me 2.0…3.0…37.0…is about growing how I go after goals as I grow into the new me.

Starting the week strong

Woohoo TGIM! It’s Monday - let’s go! The week is off to a a great start because I did a morning stretch for 15-20 mins (while watching a favorite YouTuber video). It seems small to do some morning stretches but after a week or so of not working out or stretching near as much as I know I like too, this feels great.

Mantras are very much just self-talk. I like to think of them as our go-to self-talk that have CHOSEN. This morning, a few mantras that came to mind and I chose to move with were:

• I got this. Let’s start strong!

• Do it now. It will feel good.

• Small yet mighty. Even just stretching will set our energy in the direction we want for the week.

I’m finding myself more and more aware of how complex our mind, emotions and energy are. There is no need to beat ourselves up for not doing what seems simple. Our ingrained ways are more complex that we allow ourselves to acknowledge a lot of the time. So use small tricks to nudge ourselves in the direction we want to go and let the snowball pick up momentum, bit by bit. I’m choosing to do small steps today that set a great week in motion. :)

Learning by doing

20 weekly notes! It feels good to accomplish this ‘action’ goal. Setting out to write a weekly note had multiple reasons with practice being a central one. Practice writing and sharing. I’ve worked 1:1 in sessions with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs-to-be for the past few years which has been amazing. It’s reinforced to me a need that is there. A need for putting ideas into action. I want to support more and more people but more and more clients is not the answer for me.

So I set out to create other ways of support. Moving from one form (in-person) to another (written form) requires learning. I’ve had a few frustrating days of writing. But they are short lived. It still feels like practice more than accomplishment many days. And that’s ok too. I can see real progress. Progress that would not have come just by reading, taking a course or speaking with expert. There is a time for doing. Doing to learn.

This weekly note was what kicked it all off. It’s simple yet effective for practicing writing and sharing in a new form. So today and this week, I’m celebrating the commitment I made to practicing to learn and grow. I hope that you see the progress you are making this week on a goal and enjoy the practice : )