Scheduling Life

Life doesn't unfold in consecutive and determined chunks of time that we can plan and schedule. Life happens as it happens and concurrently.

You can't leave your personal life behind completely when you go to work and you can't park all that you do or think about doing with regards to work until you walk back into the office the following day. Life isn't scheduled. Choices are.

If you choose to take on more than is humanly possible to do in a day, then you'll deal with the consequences tomorrow. And if a monkey wrench gets thrown into the equation if you get a flat tire or someone, yourself included, gets sick. You'll have to deal with that too. Either let life happen and choose a path along the way or, at the very least, learn to schedule in your emergencies. Life will still happen regardless.

Gift of a Gift

I just received a gift of the book Gift from the Sea. Just by reading the introduction I've already fallen in love with this book and know I will be reading it more than once. To quote the intro "The book makes it possible to quiet down and rest in the present, no matter what the circumstances might be. ....Even the sway and flow of language and cadence seem to me to make reference to the easy, inevitable movements of the sea."

I love being by the water, whether a lake, river or ocean. It's powerful while at the same time, mesmerising and helps me maintain my center and a sense of calm.

I often ask my clients to think of a place in nature that they can visualize when in the middle of a crisis or challenge. By closing their eyes even for a few moments and thinking of that special place, they find their center, breathe differently and after a minute or so can re-enter the chaos in a more reflective and responsive way.

I just ordered 5 more to give to the special women in my life. Gift From the Sea was a gift in more ways than one: Firstly that a dear friend thought of me to send it, the gift of the book itself, and one that I can pass on others to enjoy as well.

 

You're a Manager...Now What?

People in positions of leadership aren't necessarily great leaders. Many are promoted into high level positions and they're not sure they can do the job. Many think if they refuse a promotion it's a career-ender. So they take a breath, take the job and then ask "Now what?"

I just read an article from the Wall Street Journal "Bosses Overestimate Their Managing Skills". Many never questioned their ability to lead others in their first year as a manager. In my experience Shadow Coaching clients to help them integrate into their new role, many don't question their ability to lead because they're afraid of looking at what comes up in the answers.

People don't necessarily have blind spot about where they're weak. They do have fears about others seeing weakness which is why they rarely shine a light on them. Thing is, most people will say they respect a leader who admits to not having all the answers, especially when they listern, learn and co-create with their peers and staff.

What do you think?

Reality Checker Posters

Many of my clients have been after me to start selling my reality checker posters so we listened!  

We'll be updating our offerings regularly as we format them  for high resolution printing so visit often to check them out. .

Click here to check them out

The Real Conversation is...

This morning I read an article by Preston Manning about political discourse in Canada. A question he posed was, "Why is it so difficult to have meaningful debate on health-care reform or environmental conservation measures in Canada’s political arena, despite the importance of such issues and the desperate need for action on both fronts?"

I would like to say the column is relevant and applicable beyond Canadian borders. How many times have you listened to a political debate in the US when the discussion (if you could call it that) promoted fear, slammed the opponent and totally ignored the issues at hand?

What happened to generative dialogue when two people come to the table, listen (yes, that word) to each other and then generate something very powerful for the sake of sustainability, thrivability, to serve the people they're supposed to be or wanting to be representing? What would it take for them to get over themselves and be present to the issue and challenges at hand?

How does this apply around a board room table? Governments? The UN? Executive committees? What would it take to make it stop?

Change Master

I just finished reading MJ Ryan's manifesto called Change Master. " In order to not merely to survive, but to thrive during the greatest period of transformation humans have ever experienced, we are all being called on to stretch mentally, emotionally, and spiritually into the future."

Now how relevant is this? There isn't a client organization I walk into these days that isn't dealing with change, transformation, downsizing, staffing up, redefining, centralizing, de-centralizing, going virtual...you name it. Change is a constant and until you're able to contextualize it and integrate it into what you do every day, you're going to struggle.

This manifesto is a keeper. Read it. At least twice. Share it with others and then discuss it. You'll be amazed at what emerges.

And here's a book that I just bought on my Kindle that's giving me a great deal of food for thought and to get me going on a few projects. "GIST" ("great ideas for starting things"). If you want to check it out, first link is for books, second for Kindle.

 

Commitment - Part 2

"The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." - Goethe

Years ago I adopted the motto "I live my life in direct proportion to the commitments I make and keep". That applies to my life...personal and professional. We seem to live in a throw-away world where we throw away people by disrespecting or ignoring them, throw away jobs as we run from what might be difficult, rather than learning from difficulty, run towards something we might think is easier, when it usually isn't and throw away things when they lose their novelty.

When we honour our commitments, we honour ourselves and those we've committed to. If for some reason the status quo has changed, then we still honour ourselves when, if need be, the commitments are redefined and not ignored or not thrown away.

For me, that's called authenticity.

But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, am I?