Organizational Zen comes from spending time on your best work. It’s that “ah” feeling of knowing you’re using your time wisely, of being in the zone, of being on top of your game.

If you’re not feeling the Zen, ask your guides for help. We have all sorts of guides who help us through life. We have the ones you expect – teachers, parents, bosses. And we have surprise guides – authors, song lyrics, a perfect stranger who sits next to on a plane, even the voices in your head.

The trick to working with guides is to recognize that they are everywhere – both visible and invisible. My most reliable guides include my husband, my mom – and writers like Seth Godin, Leo Baubata, David Allen, Pema Chodron, and Elizabeth Gilbert. I also think there are mystical guides who help us through the day. Elizabeth Gilbert calls this magic and I think she is right. You would not believe how much my travel guides help me – especially when I am looking for a parking space downtown! If that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.

The weirdest thing about guides is that a guide may be super helpful – or they may be someone who is driving you crazy. You know that super critical person you work with? Or that annoying family member who is always finding fault? If they tell you something about yourself that makes no sense, enjoy the feeling of having the criticism pass right through you. If what they say is nonsense, waste no time pondering the meaning.

If, however, a guide tells you something that really bugs you, take a breath and think about why their punch landed so squarely. If something really irritates you then it’s probably worth thinking about. What is this person seeing that you aren’t seeing?

In addition, a really bad boss teaches you how to never act when you are the boss. An overly critical friend teaches you to treat others with compassion. I wouldn’t recommend spending a lot of your precious time with these folks, but be grateful for what you learn from them as you move away from their negative energy 🙂

Here are few tips on how to work with your guides:

1. Recognize that you have guides everywhere – both visible and invisible.
2. Ask for help. No one likes to ask, but asking for help shows that you are vulnerable; you are human. What could be better than that?
3. Recognize the help you get; it may not come in the form you expect!
4. Be grateful – thank your guides. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
5. Be sure you return the favor. Ask for help, and be open to helping others when they turn to you for a hand.

I’ll leave you today with a photo from a recent trip up to Bar Harbor. The whole island is breathtakingly gorgeous. Come up and visit!