On our last day in St. Augustine, Florida, my sister, niece and I stumbled on a textile shop that felt like it came directly out of the 17oos. The shop featured historically accurate clothing, leather shoes, bags, wooden games, and mock guns. It was a delight to all senses.
My sister asked the proprietor a simple question: “How’d you get started with this shop?” And that’s when the passion energy started to flow. Continue reading
If you’re serious about cleaning a room, make it messier before you clean it up. Pull things out of drawers. Empty closets and shelves. And clear off the tops of every horizontal surface.
Then sort out what you have by putting similar items together, looking at each item to decide if you want to keep it (because you really love it), pitch it, or give it away.
Then clean all the surfaces, reassemble putting everything in a thoughtful place, and throw out the trash.
Easy peasy – the room is decluttered and all is well.
Except if you still have an edgy feeling that you aren’t doing something, or that you’ve missed something big. Now the issue isn’t a room that needs to be decluttered – it’s your head and heart that need a cleanup. Continue reading
Have you ever found yourself racing through life. And then something happens that brings you to a halt and you realize you never intended to be where you are. Or to be doing what you’re doing. Or to be acting like you’re acting. Somehow you got to this point. How did that happen?
In Julia Cameron’s book The Vein of Gold, she talks about plotting the major stepping stones in your life. Plotting out your stepping stones is particularly helpful if you feel in need of making a change and aren’t sure what direction you want to go.
What were key turning points where you made a decision that pushed you to change direction? Or maybe you didn’t decide – sometimes fate decides for you with illness. Or an accident. Or perhaps you had a move, job, or relationship change that was beyond your control. Continue reading
I just returned from a weekend at the Kripalu Center in Western Massachusetts. The class I took was on Creative Myths and Monsters and was taught by Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way. I have all sorts of ideas to pass on to you but will start with the last discussion we had – talking about the Crazy Makers in your life.
What’s a crazy-maker? Think about someone in your life who may be charismatic, charming, and persuasive, but who also: Continue reading
It’s so easy to waste time. Look at all the temptations! TV, Netflix, Facebook, email, computer games, movies, parties, magazines… What’s your poison?
Distractions can be fun and have social elements to them, but are they the best use of your time?
It’s hard to hold the line, once and for all because your time demands and needs change. For me, the #1 reason to not do an activity is if I lose energy even thinking about it. Continue reading
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
I heard a great segment on NPR last week about a Council of Mayors from around the world who meet annually to share best practices about how to get things done. Mayors aren’t like national politicians. Mayors live in the communities where they work. They have to know which roads and bridges need repair. Which schools need help. And how, or if, the community is working together for the good of all. They deal with local businesses as well as residents, and they have to get things done because they’re going to run into you at the grocery store or at a school event, and they know that you’re expecting them to do good work.
In Thank You For Being Late, Thomas Friedman writes about this from a slightly different angle. In St. Louis Park, the city in Minnesota where he grew up, the City Council awards grants to neighborhoods to help them organize community events to help foster a spirit of inclusion across a neighborhood – whether someone’s lived there for 30 years or they’re brand new. 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
A friend from high school asked me a question.
“How do you take that next step when you don’t want to hear the criticisms…. constructive or not? I am a big believer that art, whatever the medium, is a personal expression… So how can one tell you what you created is wrong?”
What a great question as we try to do good work, try to be helpful, and try new adventures.
I have so many thoughts on this. Here are the big three. Continue reading
Organizational Habits 