Ask Warren Buffet or Bill Gates what the most important trait is for success, and they’ll tell you “focus.”
You hear that. It totally makes sense. You think, “Of course. Do one thing at a time and really focus.” And then the phone rings. Or someone texts you. Or you get that overwhelming urge to check your email.
The focus was there, then it was gone in the blink of an eye.
Here are five prompts to help you stay focused. Continue reading
How much of your life do you choose? And how much is you walking down a path you’re on?
Before you roll into weekend plans, I challenge you to pause and think about what your intent is for a myriad of aspects of your life.
Did you choose, or did you happen upon:
Before the Easter Bunny shows up bearing baskets of holiday treats, consider this: Sugar.
Need I say more? Okay, I will.
An Australian documentary filmmaker did an experiment on his own body maintaining calories but ingesting 40 teaspoons of sugar a day – all from what we think of as “healthy” food – like juice and sauces.
The resulting impact on his health in just 3 weeks tells a powerful story. Here’s a link that includes clips from this documentary. Continue reading
Ready to do a little spring cleaning? How about doing some decluttering as you go?
Decluttering can be intimidating if you think about your whole house. So start small. What’s a single area of your house that’s been calling to you? The refrigerator? The cabinet under the TV? A bedroom closet?
When you have a target in mind, here are three steps to get going. Continue reading
In an organization class I took about 20 years ago, one of the exercises we did was writing our obit. When you spend time puzzling out what you want to be remembered for, top priorities on your daily to-do list are magically re-arranged.
When I did the obit exercise, a top priority that popped out for me was that I wanted to write a novel. I love books. Books on the shelves. Books by the bed. Libraries. Bookstores. I still have many of the books I read as a child because the characters and stories are real to me and have helped shaped who I am.
How could I die without adding to the book-ness of the world? Continue reading
Sharing ideas on “best practices” is a great way to learn from someone who’s doing work that’s similar to what you’re doing. When you learn something new, you feel a jolt of positive energy. And when you share best practices in return, it can make someone’s day. You win. They win. And we all get better work done.
A couple of years ago, I was getting back into consulting work and decided to go on a road trip to hear what friends in the direct marketing industry were doing for best practices. I planned a week-long trip through western Massachusetts with a zig to upstate New York, then down through the mountains of New Hampshire with a few final stops in Vermont.
I headed out and all was well until day #4 when I realized I was on the last disk of a Dennis Lehane novel – and that was it for audio books. Anytime I’m in the car I listen to audio books. I get them from the library and listen to them to learn new stuff as well as to be entertained as I drive. I’m pretty much never without an audio book in the car. But as I pulled into the parking lot at Kripalu in western Mass, I broke into a cold sweat. My next stop was Burlington, Vt. There’d be plenty of bookstores in Burlington, but that was four hours away. Continue reading
I read a science article this week that said we are completely different at age 77 than we are at age 17. I found that hard to believe. Inside, I feel like I’m the same “me” I’ve always been; it’s just the circumstances around me that have changed.
But when I think about how much I’ve read. And how much I’ve learned. And how differently I think now than I did growing up, I get the change. Maybe it’s just my energy and core interests that are the same.
So here’s what I think is important: If we’re completely different, then other people are too. And how often do we recognize that? When someone you’re close to changes, do you accept it? Or do you hold onto who you think they are, to the person they used to be? Continue reading
I was giving a talk this week on Organizational Zen and asked the participants to jot down what their intent was for attending. There are a couple of things I like about focusing on intent.
I’m working my way through Thomas Friedman’s book, Thank You For Being Late, for the second time in as many weeks, and am struck by the immense power of a connected community.
Organizational Habits 