Lead a vivid life that does good
I don’t get time to … think
I don’t get time to … exercise
I don’t get time to … read
I don’t get time to … do good
I don’t get time to … play with the kids
I don’t get time to … relax
I don’t get time to … [fill in the blank]
You are right of course.
You only get time to do the things you choose to do. You can’t make time, but we can lose it doing the wrong things.
Like me you probably need to stop doing some things, to make time for the things that are really important.
It was a bleak, grey morning, and my 14-year-old daughter sat on the couch in her pyjamas, really struggling to get started on a massive homework project that she had. It was as though the burden of the project hung over her as dark as the clouds outside. The project seemed daunting and unachievable.
After some cajoling, I managed to get her to get dressed and we headed off to a cafe down the road. And that’s when I started to teach her (as best a dad can) to work out what the next step was. I asked her to break down the next step … then break it down further … and then break it down even more, until we got to the real simple achievable next step.
The problem a lot of us have when we’re faced with a big task, or with an assignment or with a massive project, is that we keep thinking about the outcome, and we fail to break it down to the next step.
What is the very next thing that I need to do?
In the case of my daughter’s protest poetry, she had to first narrow down who it was she was going to protest about. She had to find two or three people, or causes, that she could protest about. Once she had those, she had to decide on one! That was the next step.
And then once she had that, she had to break that down and learn something about the cause that she was protesting for. Then brainstorm the verses of the poem. Then she was away.
Easy … or at least easier.
When you’re faced with a challenge, or a project or an assignment, how can you break it down further?
How can you look for that next step?
What might that next step be? One that you could complete in a few minutes that would move you forward.
Once you are moving it’s surprising how momentum follows.
Are you an introvert or extrovert? It’s a question many of us been asked.
If you are an introvert, we’re told, you have a tendency toward your own thoughts and space, and if you are an extrovert you supposedly like to obtain gratification from outside yourself through others.
So which are you, Introvert or Extrovert?
You are probably both.
Over the years science has discovered that Introvert/Extrovert is not one or the other, like people imply. Rather it is a scale, a bell curve in fact. Most people sit somewhere close to the middle. You may be slightly more introverted, which explains why you are shy in some settings and the life of the party in others. Or you may love being around people, and yet often need your own space.
And of course, like every bell curve there are a few people, very few, at the extreme and these people are the people we usually think of when we hear the term.
For years I felt because I was shy and enjoy my own thoughts that I was an introvert. At the same time, I love being around people and actually enjoy standing and speaking in front of large crowds of people which feels more extrovert. I often defined myself as an Introvert by nature, possibly because the first Myers-Briggs test I did, gave me an I (Introvert) instead of an E (Extrovert).
Self-labelling can be dangerous, and I or E is not an exception.
Few of us are really an I or an E as the tests describe at face value. You may be 40% Extrovert and 60% Introvert, which means you can be both. You just need to push a little harder to be an Extrovert and Introvert comes a little more naturally BUT you can be both.
And reminding yourself that you can be extroverted just as you enter a room of strangers can be incredibly liberating and rewarding.
I or E isn’t important.
What matters is growing in both.
It was a pain in the neck, quite literally, the project that I was working on. The tension in my neck and shoulders were leading towards a lovely mid-afternoon headache. I thought about opening my bag to retrieve some Nurofen or Panadol, but instead I asked myself a question.
What’s your body telling you?
My body was telling me that it was tired, my body was telling me that it needed some fresh air, my body was telling me that I had had enough of staring at the screen in the hope of finishing this project.
For once, I listened to my body. I got up, went out into the beautiful crisp winter’s day and went for a walk. Almost immediately I felt the pressure on my neck start to relax. Quickly, I felt refreshed and rejuvenated, all because I had listened to my body.
Often in our constant quest to be more productive and effective we ignore what our body is telling us. When we have headaches or pain, our initial response to keep going and to use painkillers just to get us through the day. Maybe we’re over tired, so we drink Red Bull; or feeling down, so we reach for our latest comfort food.
While that response can keep us going, it’s often not what our body needs.
And sometimes it’s just plain unhealthy.
What is your body telling you?
Is it telling us to reach for another Panadol … or for that energy drink … or for that food?
Or are our bodies suggesting that, now is a good time to get out, have a break, relax and unwind a little bit?
Maybe after we’ve done that for ten minutes, we’’ll come back feeling alive and rejuvenated and our work will actually happen a lot quicker.
Maybe, it’s time we listen to our bodies.
Recently, one of our business divisions was audited by an external auditor, and the comment was made that a particular process is the best that she’s seen in the industry. The irony is that these processes came about because we failed, and by that I mean failed significantly, three or four years ago.
This got me thinking about what it takes to be the best, and whether being the best, at some point, requires massive failure.
Is it possible that failure causes us to reflect, to learn, to change? Is it possible that failure causes us to radically change things so that you can actually strive to become the best?
Being the best is not just a decision you make when things are going well, being the best is something that is refined through the dark patches, risks taken and failed, and through lessons learned the hard way.
What will you do to be the best?
Is that the challenge at work, or failure, or relationship issue, that you’re going through right now could actually hold the key to being the best?
Maybe it’s time you took some massive steps to change.
Then quite possibly, in the future, someone will notice that you are the best!
© 2024 People Matter ∴ Do Good
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑