You’re smart.
You have a plan.
You have a vision.
You move through life making decisions and feeling in control of the direction of your life.
AND you know that stuff happens that sends you off in new directions on a pretty regular basis.
AND often, it’s long after you’re pushed off track that you look back and see that what happened was exactly what had to happen. Continue reading
In the “old days,” we attended K-12 classes. Then maybe you went to college, got a degree, got a job and progressed by working hard or making lateral moves to other companies to get ahead. Throughout your career, you learned from experienced people you worked with, and maybe you got a grad degree, but even with that, you mostly had to figure things out for yourself.
In Thomas Friedman’s new book, Thank You for Being Late, he explains why this learning pattern doesn’t work in a time of super-accelerated technological change. Today, most schools don’t even teach the latest technology because things are happening faster than teachers are being educated. So how are we expected to keep up? Continue reading
I just finished reading one of Cesar Millan’s books on understanding dogs and was struck by this idea: When you’re choosing a dog, you’ll be happier in the long run not by picking a certain breed, but by picking a dog that matches your energy. I was helping place puppies last weekend at the Animal Refuge league and offered this advice to a number of folks looking at puppies – some of whom were mellow and others rowdy – and it seemed to help our visitors choose a puppy that was a good “fit”.
Afterward, I got to thinking about how this same energy assessment applies to work. If you’re at a company where everyone works 60-70 hours a week and you like spending less time at work and more at home, good luck feeling in balance. Conversely, if you have a job that requires you to sit all day and you’re high energy, you either sit and aren’t happy. Or you’re up and around all the time making it hard for others to work! I felt this when I worked for a big company that was all about the status quo when I wanted to try new things, to create change. It was a bad match! Continue reading
What you eat is at the core of how you feel. And how you feel has a direct impact on your ability to get good work done.
If you’re looking for healthier ways to eat this year, here are 10 ideas to get you started. Continue reading
If you want to do really good work it helps to understand how you tick.
If you want a snapshot of this that comes right from your gut, try making a soul collage.
You’ll need a few supplies: Continue reading
I was walking Grace this week and decided to take one of her favorite paths up behind Crescent Beach. The path alternated between open dry grass in the sunny areas, and a mix of snow and ice in the tree-shaded areas. I was carefully choosing my steps with Grace off-leash when I heard voices up ahead. I could see a couple of moms with little kids so I clipped on Grace’s leash.
Just as the leash clicked, Grace spotted their dog and with a “woof” of greeting, took off at full tilt with me riding behind her, on my butt, across what turned out to be a particularly icy stretch of path. Continue reading
There are so many ways to get good work done. Getting grounded in a hygge atmosphere can bring you back to simple pleasures in life that are easy to miss in our over-planned, e-driven world. Hygge (hoo-gah) is a Danish word that has many, many layers – each one more inviting than the next.
I just finished reading Meik Wiking’s Little Book of Hygge. Here is Mike’s “Hygge Manifesto.”
How many of these elements can you invite into your life, praise them for being in your life, and talk about how cool they are to have in your life?
Atmosphere
Create an atmosphere at home and at work that’s warm and inviting. With lamps that create pools of light. Candles. Great music mixed with times quiet enough to listen to the weather outside. Natural wood and colors. Vintage furniture. Plenty of books. Plump pillows. Continue reading
Close your eyes and picture the last time you were really happy.
[pause to ponder – I’ll wait!]
What were you doing?
Who were you with? Chances are you were with somebody because at our core, we’re social animals and being around people and animals we trust and can laugh with is a big part of what makes us happy.
When you picture that happy time, do you feel an energy bubble in your gut? Continue reading
My #1 suggestion for anyone thinking about getting organized is to start by getting healthy. If you aren’t feeling healthy, the last thing you want to tackle is a major decluttering/reorg of your life.
An important part of getting healthy is being really picky about everything you put in your body – including medications. Personally, meds don’t work well for me. I know for many, they seem to work well but are they good for you in the long run?
Consider this from an article published last Friday in the Washington Post. Continue reading
Organizational Habits 