CategoriesActionThink About It

Try Something New Today

It is easy to fall into a routine. Habits develop and then they are hard to shake. So try something new today. It could improve your life.

It is surprising how quickly your life can change. This could be from a comment, an interaction, an event or a thought. But in that split second your life begins down a whole new path.

This is happening to us with great frequency already. Though generally our decisions and thoughts remain in a fairly regular range. This range is bordered due to our habits and our comfort zone.

It feels good in that range as we know what to expect. There are few surprises here. We don’t need to think too much. And, for the most part, it makes us feel good. Even if we don’t like it, the familiarity can be comforting.

Though a great way to put some excitement into your life is by doing something different. Especially something that might lead to a more powerful or more supportive habit.

You can expand your comfort zone, build on your experience and grow your confidence all at once.

Surprisingly, once you do it once, you might do it again. Then again. Then it soon becomes a habit and changes your life.

Try something new today. One day, you’ll be glad you did.

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CategoriesActionProgressReframe your thoughts

To Compete Or Not Compete

That is the question. There is a fine line between being overly relaxed and taking things too seriously. To compete or not compete can be a very challenging question.

Whether it is at the country level, national, regional or local, this is not really a question. You train to win. However, before you get on that road, there is a period of life where winning isn’t everything. At least not to everyone.

As an individual, playing at park, school or local club level, there can be an element of playing too hard. Some children are there just to have some fun. Other children are only there because their parents are encouraging them to be there. Occasionally one child doesn’t want to be there at all.

However, to make it to progressively higher levels, one needs to challenge. So it stands to reason that if you want to play at the those levels, you may need to play harder at the younger age groups. However, some children may play too hard when the stakes are not very high.

This is not necessarily good or bad. It is simply something that people have to get through. Children and parents all have to be flexible enough to allow for both ends of the spectrum.

To compete or not compete. Simply keep getting better and it will all work out.

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CategoriesActionHealth & FitnessReframe your thoughts

Celebrate Life’s Special Moments

As you get a little older, or at least a little wiser, you realise how important each moment is. Celebrate life’s special moments as often as you can. They come and go so quickly.

My wonderful Mom turned 75 today. You wouldn’t know it. Full of energy and a positive, joyful attitude might make her seem younger than she is. She’s also fit and healthy, so that helps keep her youthful looking too.

Celebrating her birthday was great, despite it being in a Covid friendly, socially distanced way. It was lovely to join her in a conversation over Zoom to celebrate this milestone birthday. Technology is fabulous that way.

In preparing for this grand event, we were able to get some birthday videos sent to us from friends and family. A great little website called VidHug helped us out too. It is better than a card. You get a personalised memory delivered ’in person’. And the video will be easy to keep and find.

What struck me was so many people’s willingness to participate in fun, quirky and lovely ways. It was beautiful to hear their kind comments and the fond memories they had of Mom. It wanted me to make a bigger video with more people. She’s truly a unique and wonderful woman.

Celebrate life’s special moments whenever you can. Don’t wait. It will open your eyes to life’s beauty.

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CategoriesActionTime

Move At Pace

Sometimes you feel sluggish. Or perhaps its the people around you. Maybe you are a bit directionless. That’s ok. Move at pace though once you have a clear vision and are committed.

If you know where you want to go, you may as well get there quickly. It is amazing how much quicker people will decide, move and complete once they are clear on their direction.

Which makes sense. There may not be a lot of value in racing around if you have no focused destination. So rest, reflect and consider your situation and where you might like to go in those circumstances. And as you get a stronger vision, you will start to move more quickly.

You will gain momentum. That will build up and press you forward even faster. This is demonstrated well the three days before you go on holiday. Work items get delegated, delivered or deleted at great speed.

In addition, you do start to copy the speed of those around you. So, once again, be selective with who are in your flock. It’s ok to shuffle and sway when you are on a beach holiday. But when it is time to get the work done, you will want to be around people who move at pace!

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CategoriesActionTime

Always Allow Two Weeks

Do you ever feel like things are down to the wire? Like you are up against time once again? My suggestion is to always allow two weeks.

There are a lot of things going on in life. And unexpected delays can occur. Actually, its not necessarily unexpected delays in my experience. It is more often delays, or actual timeframes, that could be expected.

For example, sending Christmas gifts overseas in late December and expecting them to get there on time is unnecessary stress. It is just very unlikely it will happen.

Last year, to send to Canada, using international standard mail, you needed to post before the 14th December from the UK. But you have to buy the gift and wrap and send it. And then wait in a queue at the post office. So allow two weeks for all of that before the deadline.

If you are getting a mortgage, always add two weeks to whatever the timeline is. Some people give you an accurate, or even a conservative, estimate of the time it will take. However, many will aim for the fastest time it has ever happened. That can lead to disappointment and unnecessary stress.

You always need to add a contingency. Always allow two weeks.

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CategoriesActionGratitudeObserveReframe your thoughts

Catch People Doing Something Well

It’s so easy to criticise. Especially if you continue to practice doing it. Of greater benefit to one and all is to catch people doing something well.

I think I read about this in a parenting book many years ago. It really struck me. Although we want to guide our children and others well, it can mean we provide a disproportionate amount of negative feedback.

What builds confidence and leads to greater capability is hearing good and positive feedback. For most kids, they will do 99% of things in the good zone. Check whether you are giving 99% of your feedback on those good things they are doing.

This is the same with colleagues, other family members, the government, health care workers, police and teachers.

Every day, one hundred thousand things have to go right, at the right time. That’s just for things to go smoothly. If one thing isn’t right, try not to focus on that. Focus on all the other things going well.

There are various ways to address this. One is to recognise several of the good things that they have done, especially any they did particularly well. Often you can leave it there. A lot of times they already know what they could have done better.

Catch people doing something well and you’ll see more smiles.

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CategoriesActionObserveThink About It

Addressing Your Bias

Most people have a bias. Yes, even you. Maybe for some things, you might remain neutral. But what if I say, “Trump”? Addressing your bias, whenever you have one, is a useful endeavour.

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

Epictetus

How you react to something reveals your bias. And the more you practice looking for the bias in others, the more you will see it. The bias will come through in body language and the words people use.

As I mentioned in my previous post about fire, everything is neutral until you give it energy in one direction or another. Be careful what you give your energy to.

If you are serious about understanding where your biased thoughts are, try accessing a different information source for one week.

For example. if you usually source from the Guardian or CNN, try Fox News and vice versa. If you are more conservative and pro-Trump, you may be watching Candace Owens or the Hodge Twins. This would mean you would switch with those more left leaning that may be reading The Atlantic or The Washington Post.

I have found YouTube quite interesting in this challenge. It’s algorithm exposes you to things that you wouldn’t normally see if you usually go direct to apps.

Addressing your bias can be a fun and enlightening experience.

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CategoriesActionThink About It

Achieving Your Goal

What a great feeling! It doesn’t matter if it is a small or simple goal or a grand, complex one. Achieving your goal usually leaves you feeling amazing.

Try setting yourself a simple goal to start. This is especially useful when embarking on something new. By making it simple and specific, you are more likely to achieve it. And you are more likely to know you achieved it if it is specific.

For example, I set my alarm for 05:30 this morning. I wanted to shift back to an earlier start to my day. It was great. I was able to get up, do my morning routine, get a little work done and be out running by 06:39. It felt so good to have achieved several things before 07:00. And it all started with a simple goal of waking up at 05:30.

From that point, many other small goals were achievable. However, if I had not set that first simple goal, I would not have been able to achieve the others. Or at least not as early in the day as I had done them.

One of the secrets to achieving your goal or goals is to gather momentum. Break a larger task down into smaller, simpler goals. It feels so good to achieve each one, your momentum will carry you through to the finish in no time.

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CategoriesActionProgressReframe your thoughtsTimeWeight loss

Turn Up The Heat!

Ok, it’s been an unusual start to the year so far. Things may have been out of kilter or offline. However, now it is time to turn up the heat!

I mentioned the other day how it is time to accelerate to the finish. We don’t have a lot of time left to get the things done we want completed this year. So you need to start taking massive action. Lean into these final few months and make the most of them.

Turn up the heat! Get things moving today. Work an hour longer today. Wake up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and go for that walk or jog you’ve been thinking about. I know you may be reading this on a Saturday morning. That does not mean chill out. That does not mean have a lie in. Double down on those weekend days.

Start a new habit now. Or as soon as you finish reading this. You will create a new bit of dynamism in your life. That will help you shift in other areas too. Work on your Art of Now! Do it, delegate it or dump it. The important piece though is to get moving now.

Act now! Turn up the heat!

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CategoriesActionTime

Plan Your Day Out

Distractions are your challenge. They may be from friends, work colleagues, children, illness, phone calls, post etc. Plan your day out. Allow some contingency time for distractions. Though it is best to limit your distractions to as few as possible. None is even better.

Take a piece of paper and write out your day. From the minute you intend to wake up until the minute you intend to go to sleep. Write it out in 15 minute intervals. Unless one activity is going to take up a longer period of time. Then write that amount of time. For example:

06:00 – 06:15 Wake up. 6 Minute miracle morning. Change for run.

06:15 – 06:30 Stretch. Loo break. Put on trainers, headphones and prepare apps.

06:30 – 07:00 Run. Listen to X podcast/audiobook/YouTube channel

Allow for ten minute breaks. Sometimes these will be used to relax. Other times they will act as catch up zones. These help get you back on track when a distraction has put you behind by five or 10 minutes.

Allow for one full hour in your day for unforeseen events. These could be phone calls you have to take from a child, parent, boss, tax inspector or a person dropping by your desk or home.

Plan your day out before you go to bed. Track how close your plan is to reality. It’s fascinating.

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