Decide which you would prefer to take and take it. It could be the one that is more familiar to you. Or, you could choose the road less traveled. There is also the new to you option or the fastest route or more scenic.
There are many options and qualifications to help you get what you want. Take a chance and make your best choice.
This is a good time to write down as many great things about this past year that you can remember. Hopefully this list will bring fun memories and remind you of the good times and successes you had that may be long forgotten.
Remember, by doing this, it is social proof to yourself about how much you’ve done, overcome and won in just the last 12 months. And hopefully it will inspire you for more in 2024. Get writing!
It’s a great feeling to have no schedule, commitments or to do’s. One could get used to that fairly quickly. Three or four days of that lifestyle and it could get comfortable and become the norm. Then it could be quite difficult to break out of and you could get stuck in an unproductive loop.
Ways to combat this are to keep holidays short, have some structured days (with activities, events, etc.) or have some inspiring early goals to achieve in the first week you are back.
Let me know how you get on.
Grab the moment while you can. Don’t try to hard, but don’t let it slip away either. These are precious moments that you must capture and treasure for always. For they come and go too swiftly and the feeling may never be the same again.
When people generalise they often don’t have the detail or they do but it won’t help their cause. So you need to dig for the detail. Ask the questions. Don’t get palmed off. Request the detail as they should want to share that with you if they are open minded.
Because life can be pretty full on, fast paced, full and exhausting, our brains naturally look for shortcuts. They want to use the least amount of energy and do the minimal amount of work.
For these reasons, it prefers shortcuts, generalisations, easy references and common phrases especially when they work with any biases we are holding.
We tend to use words from our work or industry, religion or culture. Doctors may use the term ‘stat’, office workers will ‘circle back’ and sportspeople get ‘in the zone’.
It is unlikely, or rare, to hear people using other groups’ words or terms. It’s hard to imagine an NBA coach telling his players to pass the ball to the point guard stat.
This helps explain why people that watch the same news channels or read similar newspapers, will see things similarly and speak the same.
Rather than think things through, and assess things in their own mind, the shortcut is to accept what they are hearing and seeing, summarise it in generalisations and pass it on. People in their group think will understand the summary terms and distill it further. Like the telephone game, the theme may remain similar but the actual details may get distorted.
Don’t let this happen to you. Think for yourself. Put the extra bit of work in, especially if you will get involved in a conversation. Also give people time and space to reflect and ask questions. Allow people to think, even if it’s different to you.
Spend energy on critical things. You only have so much energy in a day. Spend it wisely on things that you really care about or that will move the needle for you.
Look for unique opportunities or simply better situations and options than you have now. Create a curiosity mindset and an opportunity mindset so that your mind is always in search mode. You will find amazing things by training your mind in this way.
People in general have a tendency to agree or acquiesce to their tribe or community perception. Going against that view has historically seen you cast out from that section of society.
Consider Snowball in Animal Farm, the Truckers in Canada or people who appreciate law and order.
The leader will throw you out if they sniff any dissenting view, or they can create rules or expectations to follow which their knowing followers can use to sideline people with a diverse point of view.
Here we can reflect on The Ten Commandments, Laws and societal norms of the time. These allow people to shun others who don’t follow the chosen value path.
Everyday you make choices which require you to decide which is more important to you, the acceptance from your valued tribe or taking things a step closer to unity involving both sides, not just one side.
If you’re undertaking a big project, long hike or extended engagement, make sure you’re well supplied. It’s a very unfortunate situation if you run out of key supplies part way through your campaign.
Think supply chains and war. Without supply replenishment, you will die. Live and learn.
