Quotes

I love quotes. Quotes distill long, deep thoughts into simplicity. That simplicity can shake us and reset us in a moment.

Today is my dad’s birthday :)

One quote of his that is true and also makes me chuckle:

”If the going gets easy, it might be because you’re going downhill”

He said it jokingly one day yet it’s true. It COULD be because you’re going downhill. I like to work hard and there are times that working feels easy and that’s a good thing. There’s also times it feels easy because we’re losing sight of our goal and getting lax in our steps. The lack of results or ending up in a different direction will catch up to us.

Find that quote that feels right this week for the focus and energy you need this week.

Setting a weekly intention

I like the idea of setting an intention at the start of something - start of the year, a month, a week, a project,…

Setting an intention has direction to it yet flexibility.

It has an openness to it, an ease, a lightness that enables coming back to what’s important more easily, moving from one tactical focus to another throughout the day and seeing the ‘how’ more easily. Working hard can have ease that flows all around it.

Spring cleaning at work

There is a lightness in the air in the Spring. The season changes and it opens up the possibility for the new and refreshed to lift low n slowed energy. Many things can be underway and things can be busy yet still feel slowed. Slowed progress versus what we want.

Metaphors have power. Using a spring cleaning metaphor for reseting a physical workspace, virtual file storage or simplifying priorities for a new quarter can give that energy boost needed to get it done in less time and with more oomph. Or whatever energy word feels like POW! BAM! ;)

What is your writer’s block?

‘Writer’s block is actually just the fear of writing badly…” - Seth Godin

Isn’t it great how that takes something that is overwhelming and out there to something that is actually simple and in reach. Good writing takes practice. Practice is do-able. That is why I have this weekly note or blog. It helps me to improve my writing by committing to do it every week. Committing to the whole process, including putting it out there into the world before being a great at writing.

I think this idea of the fear of doing something badly can apply to other areas where we procrastinate, over-engineer, over-think, over-plan and even over-learn before actually doing the thing. It could be putting a thought piece out in the world, testing a new offering with a small group of potential customers, delivering an existing project’s materials/reports, sending emails or any other part of work that can be delayed because of a fear of doing it badly. It’s worth getting decisive and doing the thing so we can get better at it. Doing it more quickly and more often will lead to growth and to the quality we are after. Happy Monday and here’s to doing more of the things that today we’re bad at and tomorrow we will grow and be great at :)

#takeactiontuesday

#TakeActionTuesday can be a rallying cry, call to action, mantra or whatever you classify it as that gives a quick surge of energy to get things done.

I like using short sayings that summarizes a longer approach when I want to quickly change states. Like when I need to get momentum going again, like after a dip or obstacle stall, I will use small easy to accomplish tasks to get momentum happening. There is something very special about getting that internal energy in motion FIRST before trying to accomplish the big, really important items.

Lately, I’ve used sayings like this to tap into that side of me that can be quick, agile and gets things moving. Then I will use my Time Cube for setting 30 minute sprints to get through emails or get through a list of tasks. It has helped beyond just the email reset or checking off the list of small tasks. It really does create the focused, strong, confident, forward moving, decisive energy needed for all other tasks. Funny when we learn tricks like this that have bigger impacts on our work and life than what at first glance it may seem ;)