Changing habits

In defense of chewing your food!

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Smoothies are all the rage and when you drink one, you feel awesome. You just consumed enough fruit and vegetables to get you through the day!

The goal is wonderful, but the vehicle isn’t.

Here’s the thing. Liquids process so quickly in your body, your body hardly knows they’re there. That’s true no matter what you drink which is why water is always your best bet.

But you drink smoothies partly for the fiber they contain. Doesn’t that take a little longer for your body to process? Nope. Continue reading →

5 tips to be a successful leader

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Business tips, Changing habits, Decision making, Productivity tips for work, Setting organizational priorities, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , , , , ,

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 →

Are you participating, or visiting?

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

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 →

Eyerolls and sighs

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

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 →

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 →

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 →