Often we can get information overload and walk away making no changes and therefore not growing…
When you come across an interesting podcast / book / course… look to apply one thing in the next week…
It’s amazing the power of compounding little changes over time. It sustainable and sticky.
Try and change a bunch of things and you’ll make no change at all.
What is one thing you want to apply this week?
Have you ever stopped to consider that one can never attain purpose, fulfilment, without others being in the picture. Even most goals require others.
If you are the centrepiece of your story, if it’s all just about you… then your story and your world are very small indeed… and yes, your story sucks!
It’s in connection, in helping others, that we make a life.
How are others entwined in my story?
Am I the be all and end all of my my story?
How can I live in a bigger world?
An excellent question to ask oneself on the regular is how comfortable am I?
We have such a strong desire for comfort… however, growth and peak health is only found I. The uncomfortable.
Am I comfortable in my spirituality / relationships / personal growth / work / etc?
Where do I need to get uncomfortable?
Serendipity = an unplanned fortunate discovery.
It’s important to plan and work towards creating memories, reaching goals, networking, etc. but often our greatest memories, strides towards accomplishment and connecting comes via serendipity.
It’s not either or, but both and that we should strive for in our lives.
So plan, and also be open to the moment and the unexpected treasures it brings with it.
Like trying to turn a car that isn’t moving… trying to find clarity while taking no action is just not going to happen. You’ll always be filled with self doubt and feel paralysed not knowing what action to take.
But, should you take action, the momentum creates clarity, and even if you have to make a u-turn, it’s much much easier because you’re moving already.
Here is a list of questions to ask yourself as you evaluate your past week:
1. What self care activities did I practice this week?
2. What made me feel alive this week?
3. What distracted me this week?
4. What were my wins?
5. Who have I connected with?
6. Knowing what I know now, what would I do differently?
7. What is my focus for next week?
Purpose must consist of 3 elements:
1. It must help others
2. I must be good at it
3 It must energise me
If any one or more of these elements is missing, you will feel a blackhole of emptiness that refuses to be satisfied with anything and everything else.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish...”
Proverbs 29:18a KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.29.18.KJV
When people loose vision / hope / meaning there is a great black hole of emptiness in your life.
But once you find a vision / meaning / purpose then you are energised and enlivened.
Creating memories and good times requires planning and forethought / fore planning.
Am I creating time to plan for planning and thinking?
The Pareto Principal states that 20% of our effort produces 80% of the result.
Question we need to ask ourselves is what is the 20% of my tasks that produce 80% of my results
And to take it even further, what is the 20% creating the 80% of my results to the answer above?
Now commit to expending your effort there…
A co worker today said as he finished the shift, “Thanks for all your help today. I really appreciate you.”
Those words were so meaningful.
Never underestimate the power that your words of encouragement carry.
Become proactive in giving this gift to those around you.
Life is a lot less messy without attachments…
Without kids and pets and causes you care about…
But it’s all empty without the mess!
“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.”
Proverbs 14:4 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/pro.14.4.ESV
The hardest person you’ll ever have to lead is yourself.
We are very good at ‘reasoning’ our way out of doing what we should.
We are very forgiving when we don’t do what we preach.
What are you doing to lead yourself and how are you holding yourself accountable?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount and complexity of tasks / projects.
To overcome our tendency to procrastinate we need to break these down in small bite size chunks and then practice non-zero days.
GTD taught me the power of breaking a task down into very small bites.
Eg. Get Sel a Christmas present.
This can be broken down into several steps:
1) brainstorm what I’ve heard her say she would like
2) narrow the list down to 3 possibilities
3) find out where I can get these items
4) find out the price
5) get the item
6) wrap the item
7) hide the item
Non-Zero days
The idea is to do something… anything towards the goal…
And the bonus is once we start, we’ve gotten over the hardest hurdle… starting.
Once going you may keep going and get a chunk done
Or
All the little bits soon add up to a lot!
Either way… a big win!
I’ve always considered myself a very positive person…
So I’m always taken back when someone suggests I need to watch my attitude… like when a customer comes in and they’re negative regardless of. How you greeted them or tried to help them…
But how did they get to this place? Bad service. So I can’t be a victim and think they will always be like this. I need to empathise and then act to change their mindset.
Victimitice is very dangerous and takes away your power to change circumstances and create opportunities.
I have also noticed when I’ve had a bad sales day and have seen two attitudes in me… 1) the victim… the woe is me, why didn’t I get any sales today… and guess what… that’s how the rest of the day goes too! 2) I haven’t sold yet, but I’m gonna nail these last few hours… and 9/10 times I do amazingly!
Attitude determines altitude.
I can always choose my attitude!
Simply gaining “experience” doesn’t teach you anything.
There are plenty of people with one year’s experience repeated 20X… they simply aren’t learning and growing.
Only evaluated experience leads to growth.
We need to plan time in each day, each week, month, term and year to evaluate and plan.
During meditation you can have days when you feel like you’re in the zone… you’re going deep and can feel tremendous benefits to your meditation.
Other days, your body releases stress - you’re constantly fidgeting and your mind is all over the place… it feels like you’re only in the ‘shallow’ end of meditation.
But ‘shallow’ or ‘deep’… you’re getting wet!
Either way there are benefits to your practice.
Stop judging and just be… here, now.
You can be perfectly ok, and then the minute you tell yourself that you want to meditate, then all of a sudden you become restless, and unable to focus.
Tell a kid it’s bed time and they become hypo.
Whenever we commit to strive towards a goal, all of a sudden we find all manor of resistance manifesting.
Push through. Because on the other side of resistance is our goal.
Expecting resistance and accepting it is half the battle one. The rest is grit.
Use or loose it.
It is amazing how quickly atrophy sets in.
In what areas have I atrophied in?
If you’re not moving forward… you’re moving backwards!
Failure is something that we try to avoid like the plague.
And yet all successful people know that failure is something to be embraced. It is a teacher. It means you’re trying something new. It means you’re growing and learning.
That is of course as long as you’re evaluating what happened and how you can learn from the experience.
Failure is what will move you forward, as long as you’re willing to embrace the lessons it has to teach you.
