Working with your guides

Taking the first small step

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I had a big, cool idea in the 1990s. I wanted to write a book. I decided this at a crazy-bad time. I had two little kids at home and a demanding job. But I thought about writing all the time and had to figure out a way to bring a novel to life.

My first baby step was to make a list of novels I loved and characters I wanted to meet in real life. I gave myself a week to brainstorm all of my favorite books and characters.

Then I took another week to think about common threads. What appealed to me most in my favorite novels? And what types of characters was I most drawn to? Continue reading →

Making a Big Decision

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When you’re faced with a challenge, you feel it first in your gut. Something is up. You think and think about it, but how do you decide when so many factors seem to weigh in equally? Back to your gut. This isn’t an intellectual problem – big decisions come from your gut. You want to be decisive. Why is making a choice so hard?

  • You don’t want to make a mistake.
  • You don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings.
  • You don’t want to flip-flop on something you decided before.
  • You may not want to stick out in the crowd – or within your friends and family groups.
  • Habits are hard to break; it’s hard to start a new routine.

So look for common threads. Continue reading →

What are you leaving at the door?

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Finding your "why", Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , ,

“We all want to belong and to love each other.”
~ The Rev. angel Kyodo williams

The Rev. angel Kyodo williams was one of my favorite speakers at the Good Life Project camp a few weeks back. Thoughts from her talk continue to roll around in my head.

Most of us give up something in order to belong. We dress a certain way. We speak a certain way – and don’t speak a certain way. We don’t want to offend anyone and we don’t want to make anyone angry. It’s all really civilized but it isn’t always real.

What would it be like if when you entered a room, you brought in your whole self? What if you brought everything in with you? Continue reading →

Words can start a revolution

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“Every conversation won’t change your life. But any conversation can.”

Like much of what I’ve posted for the past week, this idea came up at the Good Life Project camp last weekend. I’ve been thinking about this in a couple of ways.

  1. Listen – new ideas and insights can turn your head.
  2. Start a conversation – you never know what you’ll learn.
  3. Speak up – your voice is a gift and it’s important to speak your truth.
  4. The world is mysterious. And being open to the idea that new thinking can come from anywhere is one of the most delightful mysteries.
  5. You don’t always plan change – sometimes it just falls on you.

Continue reading →

Being grateful for the irritant

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

At the Good Life Project camp last weekend, founder Jonathan Fields did a talk on podcasting. We were chatting about what makes a great interview, and of course, it’s when the presenter has a good story. But a good story is rarely a story where everything goes right.

Why? Because:

  1. No one believes the presenter.
  2. There’s little emotion or take-away.
  3. We don’t tend to like a person who tells us everything in their life is perfect.

Jonathan gave the example of a person who says he grew up in a terrific family, got into a great school, and ended up in investment banking – only to find out he really, really loves investment banking. This may sound like a great life but it isn’t a great story. Continue reading →

What if?

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At the Good Life Project camp this weekend, the opening and closing question was the same: “What if?”

GLP is a camp for entrepreneurs who would like to change the world, so the keynote speakers’ “What ifs” were bold. Continue reading →

Fresh sailing

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I’m spending the weekend at an entrepreneur’s conference in upstate New York. Our host is podcaster and author Jonathan Fields. About four years ago, Jonathan published a video blog about how cool summer camps were for kids and wondered why adults didn’t have the same kind of fun. So he invented The Good Life Project Camp.

I have attended every summer since.

Here’s why. Continue reading →

Taking time to ponder

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Meditation, Organizational Exercises, Productivity tips for work, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , ,

Do you wake up to an alarm? If you do, you may be missing some of your best thinking time. When an alarm goes off, your mind is jarred and any thoughts are generally lost. If you can get to bed early enough to get a solid night’s sleep without waking up to alarm, it’s fun to let your mind wander before you jump out of bed.

“Theta time” is when you’re kind of groggy but awake. If you can push yourself to stay in bed and float for 10, 20, or even 30 minutes, you might be surprised what you come up with. Continue reading →

The glass is already broken

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Meditation, Organizational Exercises, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , , , ,

When I’m feeling too attached to something – an object, a person, or an outcome – I meditate on the Buddhist saying, “The glass is already broken.”

When you start to sweat the small stuff, and remember that it’s all small stuff, you have to know that this will pass. We’re in a constant state of change with new beginnings and new endings every day.

And, like the glass, we’re here for a short time. Continue reading →