Building your personal brand

Finding joy in caregiving

organizationalhabits Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , ,

One of the cool things about bringing programs to our library is that I get to choose the topics and speakers, and I get to attend! I have learned so much over the last two years about squirrels, birds, writing, songwriting, democracy, art, travel, and much more.

Last week I had a new author in, John Eric Baugher, to talk about his book Contemplative Caregiving: Finding Healing, Compassion, and Spiritual Growth Through End-of-Life Care. Here are seven things I learned from John’s 25+ years of working in hospice that every end-of-life caregiver should know.

And honestly, I’m posting these today because they’re great advice for all of us no matter what we’re tasked with. Continue reading →

The importance of being playful

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Business tips, Decision making, Finding your "why", Setting organizational priorities, Staying focused , , , , , , , , , ,

We had Christopher Phillips in as a speaker at the library this week. Chris is the author of Socrates Cafe and Democracy Cafe which we used to model some of our programs at the library. Chris is an interesting, engaging, fun guy so we asked him back to talk about his latest book, A Child at Heart: Unlocking Your Creativity, Curiosity, and Reason at Every Age and Stage of Life. 

Here are some of my favorite take-aways from Chris’s talk: Continue reading →

What do you do?

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Decision making, Setting organizational priorities, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , , ,

For those of us who have a number of jobs, it’s tricky answering the simple question, “What do you do?” People like clarity and telling someone “what you do” helps them understand who you are and how you fit within the community. If you hesitate answering, you see them smile and take a step away. People who can’t say what they do are suspicious!

But what if you’re retired? Then you end up explaining “what you used to do.”

What if you don’t have a job? How do you define yourself then?

And what if you do volunteer work. Is that “what you do?”

And how about when the job you have doesn’t define you in any way? “Well, this is what I do but I don’t really like it.” Continue reading →

Health is Happiness

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Planning impacts on your health , , , , ,

Each spring, I learn something new listening to the Food Revolution Summit. One of my favorite take-aways from last week’s Summit was about “lifestyle medicine” which is all about being healthy (and productive!) with help from lifestyle changes versus being healthy from taking meds.

One lifestyle change you can make is to eat more plant-based food and fewer animal products. If you think about the entire history of mankind, it’s only recently that we’ve had the money, refrigeration, and resources to eat meat up to three times a day v. just on special occasions! And it’s only been recently that we hear about diabetes starting earlier in life. About more heart disease. About more cancer.

So why not fight back and take a baby step to change one meal a day to be plant-based? Continue reading →

Add some G-BOMBS to your diet

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Planning impacts on your health, Staying focused , , , , , , , , , ,

Healthy people get stuff done. We are focused. We have good energy. We are productive.

A huge, huge part of being healthy and feeling great depends on the food you put in your body. If you feel bad after eating – you’re tired, acidic, foggy – that’s your body’s way of telling you that something is not right. If this is happening to you, track what you eat and how you feel after eating for a week or so, and then start experimenting to isolate the variables. Continue reading →

Pay attention to coincidences!

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Finding your "why", Working with your guides , , , , , , , ,

Life is full of chance encounters that aren’t as random as they seem. The person you sit next to on a plane that gives you an idea for a new project. A conversation you have that months later leads you down a new path. The choice you made buying a house or choosing a school that led to all sorts of new relationships. A book you pulled from a shelf that gave you new insight on how the world works.

My latest awesome coincidence came out of the writers’ group at the library. One of our attendees mentioned, in passing, that she had a friend who wanted her to read The Artist’s Way. That led to our Artist’s Way group which has set me off in all sorts of new directions with writing as well as with beads. And all it took was listening as Tyche mentioned a book and a desire. And then listening to my gut to take action.

When I started this blog, I wrote about my Book of Coincidences. Here’s how that started… Continue reading →

Out of a rut and onto a curious path

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Business tips, Changing habits, Decision making, Productivity tips for work, Staying focused , , , , , , , ,

When you’re in a rut it’s a great idea to get off the path you’re on. You never know what cool thing is just around the corner. Or maybe your next great idea is hiding in front of you in plain sight. All it takes to find it is a little curiosity.

Here are a few ideas to jump-start your energy and get you onto a new, curious path. Continue reading →

The Food Revolution Summit is coming right up!

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Planning impacts on your health , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you’re not healthy, it’s hard to get organized. And what’s at the core of good health? Good food!

Every April, the Food Revolution Network holds a free online Summit with a mix of speakers talking about the latest in food health. That may sound dry, but I’ve listened for the past 5 years and the content is always insightful and helpful. The speakers are top-notch; many are doctors with new ideas about food-health. And it’s free – as long as you resist buying their “empowerment” package! Continue reading →

Add a spoonful of JOY

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Finding your "why", Organizational Exercises , , , , , , , , , , ,

When people are struggling to get organized, the weirdest piece of advice I give them is to add something to their to-do list: Joy. It is counter-intuitive. Why not just focus on the multitude of tasks at hand?

Because if you’re struggling, it means you don’t want to tackle the tasks at hand. They seem like chores. They’re heavy. They’re things that have to be done. Yep. So add one more: Joy.

Continue reading →