How much do you know of your family history?
You most likely know back one generation to your parents. Maybe you knew your grandparents. And maybe you were lucky enough to know your great grandparents. After that, things usually get a little fuzzy. But how much do you know about any of them – even those who have been part of your life? Continue reading
When I was working my way up through the business world, I had very few bosses I emulated. It appeared to me that to “make it” to the top, you had to work 100 hours a week and expect your employees to do the same. You had to be somewhat cut-throat and keenly competitive with others at your level within the organization. And it didn’t appear that empathy had anything to do with business.
I know a lot of that still goes on but was encouraged to read an article today in The Washington Post by Aaron Gregg and Thomas Heath about three executives from the DC area who were rated “the highest” by their employees. These are bosses you can look up for who they are – as well as for what they accomplish.
What’s cool is that these principles apply whether you’re running a small, medium, or large company. And they apply if you aren’t running a company at all! They’re simply great life ideas. Continue reading
I’m traveling this week spending time with family at a quiet beach on the “forgotten coast” of Florida. My work consists of chatting, eating, kayaking, biking, walking, writing, and reading. It’s bliss :).
Here’s a quick reminder from poet Mary Oliver about how important it is to participate, truly participate, in your life. Thanks to Jonathan Fields at The Good Life Project for posting this earlier this week. Continue reading
I’m a big believer in following a high energy path with anything you’re working on. If you don’t feel energy at the center of your body when you think about next steps in what you’re doing, it may be time for a change.
Eye rolls and sighs are your body’s clue that you’re on a low energy path. Sometimes these are obvious – oh, my! But sometimes only you can see and hear them like maybe when: Continue reading
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.Â
Here are some of my favorite take-aways from Chris’s talk: Continue reading
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
“Plant both feet firmly in the ether.”
Bruce Lipton, The Biology of Belief
I just finished Bruce Lipton’s book, The Biology of Belief. Here’s the premise. We’re made up of over 37 trillion cells that work together in amazing ways. If we can do that as cells, can we also do that as individuals and as a society?
What’s cool about cells is that they each have a built-in road map (DNA), but DNA is triggered by the environment the cell lives in; DNA by itself can’t take action. In a healthy environment, a cell thrives. In a toxic environment, a cell dies. In between, proteins that coat the DNA open up to expose some DNA traits and hide others.
If you want to avoid catastrophic illness, you give yourself the best shot at health by eating well, watching your weight, exercising, meditating, and being happy. Healthy living isn’t a guarantee you won’t have to deal with illness, but it gives you the best shot at keeping those cellular proteins wrapped tightly around potential DNA triggers.
I have two big take-aways on this. Continue reading
Last week, I facilitated a meeting of a new Entrepreneur’s Group here in Cape Elizabeth. Our guest was Peter Bissell from Bissell Brothers Brewing. If you don’t know anything about the business of brewing, it is thriving! Here in Maine, we have over 130 breweries and that count is growing by the month. If you love beer, Maine is a great place to live and to visit.
But what could we learn from this young entrepreneur? A ton! Here are my notes.
A friend of mine at last night’s Artist’s Way gathering said she was having trouble getting organized and asked for some advice. You know my ears perked up at that. She pulled a few examples out of her bag of various spreadsheet attempts. All had different sortations looking at a mix of times, days, and tasks. She said nothing was working.
And here’s the thing: She’s retired and has a problem many folks face. When you have too much time and lots of stuff you want to do but don’t have to do it’s hard to get motivated and it’s hard to stick to a task that has no deadline.
Here’s the advice I shared. Continue reading
Organizational Habits 