Category Archives: Attitude

Unplug it

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“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

—Anne Lamott, American Novelist and Political Activist

Image of an unplugged plug

Image from Flickr by Daniele Margaroli

How are you at problem solving and troubleshooting? When was the last time you were really grinding on a particular issue with no success?

Today’s quote points to the simple yet often effective technique of taking a break to allow a change of perspective. This gives us opportunity to come at a problem with a fresh set of eyes.

EXERCISE:

How often do you find yourself putting in marathon levels of effort with somewhat diminishing returns?

Where and when would it be appropriate and more helpful to unplug from a particular issue in order to gain greater workability?

How Big You Play

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“It’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play.”

—John Wooden, former UCLA Basketball Coach

Image of basketball players at the net

Image from Flickr by Chad Cooper

What do Keith Jennins, Isaiah Thomas, Earl Boykins and Spud Webb have in common?

Given that today’s quote is from John Wooden, the famous basketball coach, you would be correct in assuming it has something to do with this popular sport.

The athletes I listed are among the shortest professional basketball players of our time.

What made each of them special was how big they played throughout their careers. Spud Webb, at just 5’7” in height, even won the Annual Slam-Dunk Competition in 1986.

EXERCISE:

Regardless of your size, status, or position in your personal or professional communities, how and where can you step up to the line and play a bigger game?

judge the whole

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“By a small sample we may judge the whole piece.”

—Miquel de Cervantes, 16th Century Spanish Novelist

image of a hand holding a bite-sized cupcake

Image from blackboard blog

When was the last time you dined at a smorgasbord, buffet, or pot-luck dinner? What was your strategy to identify and determine the tastiest items available?

If you are like many people, you might take a small sampling of many items, knowing that if one bite was tasty, a bigger helping would be even more delicious.

Sometimes, however, when we only have a small sample of something such as a book, a TV show, or a person we’ve just met, we get an incomplete view. We can jump to premature and false conclusions about the entire experience or person.

EXERCISE:

Where in your personal or professional worlds is it appropriate or inappropriate to judge the whole piece by just a small sample?

How things should be

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“Reality is the other person’s idea of how things should be.”

—John M. Shanahan, author of Hooked on Phonics

image from consciouslifenews.com

image from consciouslifenews.com

As part of my Personal Excellence Training, I teach my clients to coach themselves, with a technique I call The Pivot Point. The first part of this tool is to help my clients assess the “current reality” of the situations in their lives.

The challenge for most, at the beginning, is that they often believe that their perception of reality is shared by everyone around them.

EXERCISE:

How open are you to the possibility that the people in your personal and professional worlds perceive “reality” quite differently than you?

Retirement

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“Should we retire the concept of ‘retirement’?”

—Author Unknown

Sign about retirement

Image from ucsandiegoextension.wordpress.com

Take a look at these definitions and references to the word “retirement”:

  • Removal of something from service or use
  • The act of leaving one’s job, career, or occupation permanently, usually due to age
  • A place of seclusion or privacy

If you are like me, trying on this concept of retirement makes you feel blue, or sad. If, on the other hand, looking forward to withdrawing from an undesirable vocation consumes your current life, you might also be sad.

EXERCISE:

What if there were no such thing as retirement?

What if it was your job, each day from birth to death, to live as fully and richly as possible?

What actions can and will you take today to launch your life to the highest heights, no matter your age?

The mind is like a garden

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“The mind is like a garden. Plant flowers, you get flowers. Plant weeds, you get weeds. Plant nothing, you get weeds.”

—Author Unknown

Image of a greenhouse full of weeds

Image from Unsplash by Sandis Helvigs

The garden metaphor has been overused in describing the fertility of our minds to grow whatever is planted there. Today’s quote provides a special twist in the event we decide to take a “bench-sitter” or laissez-faire approach to life.

Imaging driving through an area in which no lawn service or landscaper has been seen for years. What do you see when you examine the grounds surrounding the buildings in this area?

Although I prefer to see the beauty of all living things, sometimes the winds of change bring unwanted forms of growth, things which we would prefer to live without.

EXERCISE:

How and in what ways can you take an ongoing, proactive approach to planting only the most beautiful thoughts in your head?  What do you think will bloom?

The Darkest Nights

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“The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.”

—Author Unknown

Image of the Milky Way

Milky Way Image from NASA.gov

If you enjoy viewing the night sky, or are an avid stargazer, you’re probably somewhat disappointed these days. The thousands of stars we were once able to see each night are now obscured by the glare of city and industrial lighting and the haze of pollution.

Sometimes life’s difficulties, challenges, and setbacks—our darkest nights—can provide a high degree of illumination on brighter possibilities.

EXERCISE:

In what ways do you block the lessons available to you through your darkest nights? How can you view those moments through a new lens, finding brightly shining lessons to light your path in the future?

The Day Must Be Saved Early in the Morning

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“The day must be saved early in the morning.”

—Laurent Carrel, author

Image of a sunrise

Image from Flickr by Peter Harris

What time do you wake up in the morning? What is your morning routine? How productive do you feel at various times throughout your day?

Here are a few reasons to become a morning person, or if you are already one, to become even more:

  • A high percentage of geniuses say they do their best work in the morning.
  • Morning people tend to be proactive, happier and perform better at school and work.
  • It is far easier to stick with an exercise routine if you are an early riser.
  • The morning is usually a quiet time, for focused work with fewer distractions.
  • It provides quality time with your significant other if you are both engaged in this habit.
  • You get to see one of the prettiest times of day, which many people miss.

EXERCISE:

How and in what ways can you save even more of your day by starting it off a bit earlier?

 

The Art of Happiness

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“Happiness is not an accident, it’s an art. You don’t hope for happiness, you plan for happiness. You have to weave happiness like a tapestry.”

—Jim Rohn, American Motivational Author

Image of tapestry on a loom

Image from Flickr by monnibo

My wife Wendy is very creative. She heads several women’s groups focused on crafts, including many forms of needlework.

I admire the time and attention to detail these patient women put into their art, as they literally weave pieces of themselves into their work.

Imagine your life as a quilt, with a wide variety of fabrics that you have worn along your journey. Make sure to capture all of the stand-out, deeply felt memories that have brought you great happiness along the way.

EXERCISE:

Begin today adding more happy experiences to your existing quilt, or start planning what new and beautiful pieces of art you intend to create moving forward.

Museums are the custodians of epiphanies.

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“Museums are the custodians of epiphanies.”

—George Lois, American Art Director and Designer

Image of two people walking in the woods

Image from Flickr by Gavin Clarke

How many of your most creative ideas come when you are working diligently at your desk?

Venturing to new and varied places could help you uncover potential incubators of future insights and epiphanies.

Consider a few ideas for places to get out of your “box” and think differently:

  • Take a long shower
  • Take a walk in nature
  • Meditate
  • Practice rhythmic exercise such as Yoga
  • Take a long, scenic drive
  • Visit a museum

EXERCISE:

Where and in what ways can you shift your perspective by shifting your physical position to enhance your creative capacities?

Feel free to reply to this post with your own epiphany-generating strategies.