Working with your guides

Is singing the new exercise?

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Planning impacts on your health, Working with your guides , , , , , , , , ,

No matter what type of work you’re doing, finding a “like” community can help you accomplish more and have more fun with what you’re doing.

In Daniel Pink’s book, When, he writes about the benefits of choral singing – a unique kind of community. If you’ve ever sung with a group, you know how it lifts your spirit even more than singing solo. “Happy” countries, like the Netherlands, have regular gatherings where everyone sings. And I think group singing is why so many of us love theater – both participating in it and being part of the audience.

It’s not a stretch to think that singing makes you feel good. But check out the other benefits Pink lists for choral singing: Continue reading →

Stay humble. Stay grateful.

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Planning impacts on your health, Productivity tips for work, Working with your guides , , , , , , , ,

As you may remember, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how important it is to take breaks and how hard it is for me to take a break. And if you saw my post from last week, you know that my refusal to take a break resulting in the Universe knocking me flat with a broken ankle. Won’t take a break? How about a nice, quiet week in bed?

I’m going to take a risk here and admit that as bad as I am at taking breaks, I’m also terrible about asking for help. I love being efficient and independent. I’m the one who is here to help you! You do not need to help me.

Except that I’m in a cast for 8 weeks and can’t drive!

Here are my organizational lessons, and lessons in humility, from the past two weeks: Continue reading →

When the Universe grants your wishes

organizationalhabits Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Planning impacts on your health, Setting organizational priorities, Working with your guides , , , , ,

As you may recall, I did a post a couple of weeks ago talking about how important it is to take breaks, and how terrible I am at it. I ended the post vowing to try to take breaks during the day. I went another week and did not make any progress.

So you know what the Universe did?

Continue reading →

Be

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Organizational Exercises, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , , , , ,

I know that title looks like a typo, but I was inspired this weekend by a sign promoting joining an art gallery: Belong.

That got me thinking about a bunch of great “Be” words that could help define your work this week: beloved, beautiful, benevolent, beginning, believe, become…

Continue reading →

Feel gratitude for everything

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My daughter, Samantha, graduated from Duke a couple of weeks ago. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, was the commencement speaker and gave a great talk. I love that we have guides everywhere. When you’re open to new ideas, a hot morning in a football stadium can turn into a cool well of inspiring thought.

Here were a few of my favorite take-aways from Mr. Cook. Continue reading →

Picturing your space

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

As I get to work in our yard and gardens, I’m reminded how calming it is to get your hands in the dirt, to actually get “grounded.” Being outside in a garden touches on most of your senses – from the feel of the dirt in your hands, to the look of freshly trimmed perennials, to the smell of cut grass and early spring flowers, to the sound of surrounding birds. It’s a whole-body experience.

If you’ve never gardened, even a small flower box or barrel planter will give you the taste of setting a plan, purchasing what you need, and creating something beautiful.

AND if you don’t have room outside or know you don’t have time to keep up even a small garden, how about creating a paper one inside? Continue reading →

Tripping over the truth

organizationalhabits Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Changing habits, Decision making, Working with your guides , , ,

In Chip and Dan Heath’s The Power of Moments, I love the concept of “tripping over the truth.” There are some truths in our lives we choose to not see. Then we trip over them and the pain of the stumble brings us insight we’d rather not acknowledge. But there it is. You didn’t see it coming but now that you’ve stumbled over it you recognize it as a truth that’s probably part of a larger pattern. Continue reading →

“Never take chaos personally”

organizationalhabits Baby steps to start getting organized, Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Business tips, Changing habits, Decision making, Setting organizational priorities, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , , ,

If you’re a planner, like me, you like linear patterns. If you do A, B happens. If you get a good education, you’ll get a good job. If you eat good food and exercise, you’ll be healthy. If you do work you’re called to, you’ll be successful. Life is logical and fair.

Except when it isn’t.

The Universe actually prefers chaos to straight lines. How many straight lines do you see in nature?! You tidy up; things get messy. Sidewalks crack. People age. The most natural thing on earth is that things we build up break down. Continue reading →

Starting a Kindness Ritual

organizationalhabits Big project ideas, Building your personal brand, Business tips, Changing habits, Decision making, Organizational Exercises, Staying focused, Working with your guides , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m listening to an excellent audiobook called The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life, by Michael Puett. This is one of those books I’m going to have to read as well because there is so much content I want to digest.

Here’s the thought for today. We know that much of what we do is based on habit. What time we get up. What we eat. When we eat. How we get to work or school. How we function there.

Habit even shapes many conversations. I say this. You say that. And on we go with our day.

If you want to make changes to your world, you have to think of inventive ways to break habits because they are powerfully engrained in our day-to-day life because you repeat them over and over!

I think of habits as functional tasks. Michael Puett looks at them as ritual. For him, a ritual is something you do and repeat until it becomes the norm. And you mark it in some special way to treat it as unique each time.

And here’s his question: Can you make a ritual of being kind? You could also think of this as a “kindness habit” but the idea of ritual carries sanctity and reverence. This isn’t a kind gesture; it’s a new norm. Continue reading →