Adjusting the environment... Too often, we ask the individual to adjust to fit into the given environment. We ask her to be flexible, to work harder, and to change. And the onus is on her to adapt. But what's more productive is to adjust the environment to suit the individual or
Letting go... ...of things, ...of people, ...of beliefs, that don't serve us anymore. When we travel lighter, we live better. What do you want to let go as you enter the next phase of your life?
We imitate. We tend to believe that we do things of our own accord, that we are rational as much as possible, and that we are in control. But most of the time, we are simply imitating what we have seen or what we are seeing. Unless we start appreciating this fact,
Our side of the work. We just need to keep going, keep shipping and keep doing our side of the work. The rest is not up to us and so we can let it be. We can choose to trust… in ourselves, in the world, and in the universe. As long as we hold our
Some technology tools that can help... Beeminder - extremely useful to keep yourself on track for both professional and personal goals. Sunsama - can help you structure your day better and start building healthy work habits. Claude.ai - a much more intelligent, structured AI compared to chatGPT. Can help you supercharge your work. Roamresearch -
Drip by drip... Slow down. Breathe. Don’t let the emotions take over. Don’t let the child parts take over. Do what you can. That’s what you can do. Drip by drip, clarity will come.
That didn't help... When you let fear and emotions take over and overwhelm you the last time you were working on your project, did it help? If it didn't, can you choose to not let them do that again? It's going to be tough, but we can become conscious
Telling the WE story Excerpt From The Art of Possibility by Ben Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander: …we have distinguished a new entity that personifies the “togetherness” of you and me and others. This entity, the WE, can be found among any two people, in any community or organization, and it can be thought
The virtue of constraints. When anything is in excess, we tend to not value it, whether it is time, money, resources, people, or anything else. Whereas we are very conscious of how we use the scarcely available resources. Setting constraints can help us move away from the challenges of excess and focus on what
Resistance comes back. Resistance is cunning. When we stop fighting it, when we start believing that we have conquered it, that's when it will creep back in slowly but surely. The only way to fight resistance is to be as stubborn as it is.
Seeing the obvious. Seeing the obvious isn't so obvious, especially when it comes to seeing what's obvious for us. It can hide in plain sight. Others can see it all for years but for us to absorb it, believe it and to live by it is another game altogether.
Left door or right door? The left door is critical, brings self-doubt, questions your self worth. It's the door of scarcity and criticism. The right door is about possibility and abundance. It sees you as a confident doer who is not afraid to make mistakes. It has compassion, self love and generosity. Which
Receiving, not taking. Adam Grant talks extensively about givers and takers in his TED Talk, "Are you a giver or a taker?" as well as his book, "Give and take". Most of us who identify ourselves as givers encounter an emotional challenge in receiving something, whether it is praise,
Being a contribution... When our focus is on the "me", then our child parts get activated, the parts that are insecure and afraid and for whom no amount of attention, love and care seems to be enough. Alternately, when we strive to be a contribution, the focus shift away from the
Beating resistance by going slower. When we go slower, we make space to act with intent. When we are in a rush, Resistance keeps us busy without being productive. Slowing down seems counter-productive at first but as the saying goes, we can go slow to go fast.
It's all invented. Excerpt From The Art of Possibility by Ben & Rosamund Stone Zander... A simple way to practice it’s all invented is to ask yourself this question: What assumption am I making, That I’m not aware I’m making, That gives me what I see? “And when you have
Self-sabotage isn't just fear. Self-sabotage mostly shows itself as fear, as a well-wisher, as someone trying to protect us. But it's not just fear. Fear is only a part of it. The part that tries to maintain the status quo because it knows that we'll be safe if the status
The critical voice inside your head... ...is rarely right. ...is rarely supportive. ...is rarely helpful. Can you choose to not listen to it and listen to the other, calmer voice instead?
Get it done. You can try to make it fancy. You can try to make it perfect. But if you can’t get it done on time, it doesn’t matter. Done beats perfect every day.
When things don't go as expected... We can choose to react and go into a crisis mode. Or we can choose to respond and figure out what we can do now. The more we practice choosing the latter, the better we get at it.
A few questions that help... "What is the one thing I need to do today that I am afraid to do?" This question brings the spotlight on the thing that's most likely to be procrastinated/avoided. And once we answer this question, we can choose to make it the only thing
Identity creates leverage. Trying to change our actions/habits while our identity remains contrary to the change becomes an uphill battle. On the other hand, if we start by changing our identity with intent, we create leverage and make the change easier. The hard work is to let go of the existing identity
Rest is underrated... …and so is happiness. Being a professional doesn’t mean we say no to life. We can learn to make space for the work that matters while also taking care of our well-being and happiness.
Open to possibility. If we let go of our need for certainty, we can open ourselves to engaging with possibility. The skill lies in embracing the way things are and then figuring out what we can invent now that can help us move forward.
