Self-love and compassion. It's a skill. We can learn to be compassionate to ourselves through practice. We can learn to love ourselves through practice. Every time we choose to be compassionate with ourselves instead of being unreasonably critical, we do the equivalent of one compassion push-up. Over time, we build
Downward spiral or possibility? We can choose. Image from The Art of Possibility by Ben Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander
Taking rest. How do you know you have rested enough? How can you rest even more? “I regret resting too much”, said no one ever.
Bad blogs. Bad blogs are the way to a good blog. No blogs are not. When in doubt, write a bad blog over no blog.
Idea machine The brain is an idea machine. If we sit in front of a blank screen with our hands on the keyboard, it will churn out ideas, one after the other. Not all ideas will be great, but not all will be bad either. One thing's for sure, though,
One thing at a time. One day at a time. That's how we turn professional. That's how we beat resistance. It's simple. But it's not easy. “The magic of the creative process is that there is no magic” ~ Seth Godin, The Practice
The magic of saying no. Saying no is hard. Instead of saying no, we try to adjust to doing things that we don't want to do, attend meetings that we don't want to attend and commit to projects that don't align with our goals. But, once we learn to
System or exceptions. Exceptions are the one-time changes that are needed in case of emergencies. Once they are taken care of, they give us an opportunity to make changes at the system level. But, if all we do is to work on handling the exception without making the requisite changes in the
Your work matters. It matters to the people who you might not be able to see yet. It would matter to them in more ways than you can think of. No one is going to give you permission to do the work. You can, though, choose to give yourself permission. You can choose
Moving from doubt towards trust. Small, incremental actions create evidence. That evidence helps us take slightly larger actions. And over time, it becomes our identity. Surrounding yourselves with people who cheer you on your small wins makes the journey easier. Someone who does 100 push-ups today started by doing a single one someday.
The way things are. Excerpt From The Art of Possibility by Ben Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander: This practice is to be present to the way things are, including our feelings about the way things are. This practice can help us clarify the next step that will take us in the direction we say
One thing. The hard work is to figure out the one thing that you need to get done next. And, once you figure that out, you can make space for getting that thing done. That space could be a single focus session of 90 minutes, could be multiple sessions of 90 minutes
Making space for... What would you like to make space for in your life? Health, relationship, companionship, humour, love, money, growth? What does this space look like? What can you start doing daily or weekly or monthly to make this space? Once we are intentional about what we want, we will be intentional
Working tired. Would you bet on the best athlete to win the race if they started tired? Then, why do you think you can do your best work when your body and mind are tired? Taking care of your body and mind is a trait of the professional. Unlike amateurs, they don&
Manufacturing possibility... Every day, we get a chance to manufacture possibility. We can do that by smiling at someone and asking how they are doing, we can do that by making someone feel seen and heard, we can do that by moving beyond the voice of our calculating self. Good things happen
The last person to know. Most of your clients may not see you as an amateur. Many of your colleagues may not too. Maybe even some of your friends too. But, for you to not see yourself as an amateur is a big leap. Somehow, you might be the last person to know that you
I do what I say I'll do. And, by when I say I'll do it. A skill that's worth practising. And a reputation that's worth building. HT to Eli Ricker for the "Tracking What I Do Versus What I Say I'll Do" project.
Action is the antidote. Negative thinking and feelings can overpower our will to create. They enable a victim mindset thinking and create a tendency to play it safe. Thinking a lot and acting too little is a symptom of resistance. The antidote to this sort of overwhelm is to take action. There are many
The way things are. The desire that we have in our hearts is the way things are. The pain that we might be feeling is the way things are. The way things are doesn’t mean resignation. It means to be in sync with the way things are. “The way things are” is dynamic,
Meet your heroes. The common advice “Don’t meet your heroes” relies on making your heroes ideal. This implies that you can never reach their standards, and hence, there is no point in trying. Instead, by all means, meet your heroes. Know that they are subjective. Know that they have virtues and that
The fear of things remaining as they are. Mostly, we hear about the fear of change, of growth, of new, of taking the leap. But, there's an uncommon fear we don’t hear about a lot: the fear of the usual. It's not that professional creatives don't have fear. But for them,
Whole vs. parts The calculating self is a part of us but sometimes it tries to act as if it’s the whole. The whole is larger, it encompasses us in all our dimensions. It accepts the good, the bad and the ugly. And, it’s not at war with itself.
The brain too gets tired. What would you tell an athlete if she keeps running or working out despite his body being tired? Would you tell her to push more and get in another round, and another, and another? Or would you encourage her to rest and recover so that she is in the optimal
Thinking in decades. What are the 3 things you would want to get done this decade? (Let's put a date to it. By 31 Dec 2030.) What's the hard part in getting these 3 things done? What can you start doing today that can help you achieve these 3
Expecting traction to happen on its own. "If I keep creating good content on <choose your own platform>, my followers/fans will grow on their own and one day it will sustain me" is as incorrect a statement as "If we keep making a good product, it will sell on its own.
