Less precious. If you are facing writer's block or resistance in one of its many forms, it may help to focus on making your today's work less precious. The best way to do that is to allow yourself to come back tomorrow and do more work, do better
Staying the course. Sometimes you do need to pivot. And sometimes you are stuck in a cul-de-sac, a dead end and you need to quit. But many times, we simply need to stay on course. Keep doing what we have been doing. Keep showing up as our best self. The dip is not
Getting back on track. The practice requires us to show up every day. However, if we miss our practice for a day or two, restarting it is challenging. At that moment, resistance has the upper hand. It tries to keep us off track. The professional approaches this with patience. She understands that it will
Territory has to be earned. There is no other way. There is no shortcut. No one can give you your territory. The only way to earn it is by showing up day after day, doing the work, whether someone cares or not. There’s a three-legged coyote who lives up the hill from me. All
Asking a question. You can tell someone something or… ...you can ask them a question. Which do you think creates more tension?
Creating conscious boundaries. Technology allows us to access all kinds of information in all kinds of places, whether it is work documents, zoom calls or slack messages. This creates an "always on" mindset which drains our faculties and doesn't allow us to create open spaces for rejuvenation and creativity.
Getting through the dip. Sunk costs can help in getting through the dip. Even though it’s smarter to ignore sunk costs, they play an emotional role. Where do you intentionally want to create sunk costs? More readings: Ignore sunk costsThe most important decision-making rule you learn in business school is still largely misunderstood.
Getting good at pretending. Watch Catch Me If You Can | NetflixAn FBI agent makes it his mission to put cunning con man Frank Abagnale Jr. behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.Netflix When we see the above image from the movie, "Catch Me If You Can&
Err… on the side of doing. Of reaching out. Of raising your hand. Of speaking up. Sometimes, it might not work. But, almost always, it would be better than not doing.
Leading from any chair We can wait for permission or we can choose to lead. We can choose to lead from any chair. Few questions that we can ponder over: What would I do if I was chosen to lead today? How can I see the leaders in those who I am leading? A
Emotional viscosity How can we learn to slow down the process of stimuli and reaction? How can we learn to choose to respond rather than react? Yes, we can learn how to reduce the stimuli, but it may be equally, or even more, useful to learn how to respond to them.
Assistance: the opposite of Resistance. “...as Resistance is the shadow, its opposite—Assistance—is the sun.” ~ Steven Pressfield, Do the Work! Just like there’s a voice within us that stops us from being our best selves, there’s a voice that nudges us to become our best selves. That voice is strong, yet subtle.
Moving all the time. A car is stationary most of the time. It's supposed to be. If you measure the efficiency of the car as the percentage of time it’s moving, that’s not a helpful metric. What matters is whether it helps you get where you seek to go when
What makes you happy? When was the last time you did it? When is the next time you can do it? What's stopping you from doing it more regularly?
The game is rigged (in your favour)... The exam is designed to favour the student who studies well. The policy is designed to favour the entrepreneur who means well. The customers line up on the shop that seeks to serve them well. Yes, there are exceptions but they are fewer than we think. If you are focused
Is it important to you? You say that it is. But then... you aren't willing to block a specific time for it. You don't want to invest even the least amount of money in it. You are not asking or paying someone to keep you on the hook. You are not
The professional and the practice. The professional ships on a schedule. She creates a schedule and doesn’t miss ship dates. What do you want to ship?
Weeks, Quarters & Decades. A week brings immediate focus. What do you want to ship this week? Quarters help in intention setting. What is the change you want to make in the next quarter? Decades allow us to set long-term vision. What matters to you when you look at your life 10 years from
Dropping the ball... ...is not as bad as we might feel. Rather, you might not be doing it enough. When you drop the ball, the ball does not break. Neither does the floor. You can pick up the ball and throw it again. You can even let it drop again. And again. The
Get in tune... From Rosamund Stone Zander’s book: Pathways to Possibility: So to embark on the exploration “Get in Tune,” open yourself to the idea of a complex universe, pulsing and vibrating, that is striving to attune with you. Imagine that everyone you meet desires to be in tune with you, as
The wins you don't see... When someone reads your blog and gently nods in agreement... When someone reads your comic and feels seen for the first time... When someone listens to your song and cries her heart out... When someone watches your movie and is not the same person anymore... When someone reads your book
"This is the problem." How can we emotionally distance ourselves from the problem? How can we move from "The problem is me" to "This is the problem"? Doing this would allow us to be strategic about the problem, rather than emotional. But it requires emotional labour to reach this place.
Response time. Don’t keep people waiting. Whether it’s your client, a freelancer you have hired, your spouse, your parents or your kids, or it could be someone you have asked feedback from. Shorter response time is the best way to earn trust. When you keep people waiting, the trust erodes
Learning to live with it. Bad days would happen. Dark resistance is going to be there. Thinking we can eliminate it is childish. What we can do is to learn to live with it, learn to observe it, learn not to allow it to overtake our lives.
