“The next move is yours.”

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“The next move is yours.”

—Author Unknown

Image from Unsplash by Robert Coelho

Imagine your life as a board game that involves successfully navigating different frontiers or territories in order to win.

The frontiers are:

  • Optimal health
  • Quality relationships
  • Professional achievement
  • Contributions to your community
  • Spirituality, faith, religion
  • Family
  • Life balance and peace of mind

EXERCISE:

Where are you falling behind, keeping up, or ahead of your current expectation for yourself?

What is your next move in these and other priority areas of your life?

Consider picking up a copy of Seth Godin’s book What to Do When it’s Your Turn to help you see and pursue your next move.

Conflict is essential to progress

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“Conflict is essential to progress. No matter how much the engine revs, without friction the wheels cannot move forward.”

—Rob Reinalda, Executive Editor at Lawrence Ragan Communications

Image from Unsplash by Simon English

Here in Michigan, especially around the Detroit area, the Car/SUV/Truck is still king of the road. Toward the end of January, we had a bit of foul, frigid weather, including one particular morning in which my driveway was a sheet of black ice.

Without the expected traction from the driveway, I struggled to make it to my car and barely avoided falling, which was probably a comical sight to neighbors who may have been watching!

EXERCISE:

Where are you experiencing a lack of traction, or feel you are spinning your wheels?

Where do you notice conflict or areas of friction related to an important relationship or project?

How might this gritty or challenging situation actually be the source of friction that helps you move things forward?

Friday Review: Mistakes

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FRIDAY REVIEW: MISTAKES

What have you learned from mistakes you have made? Here are a few mistake-related posts you may have missed.

 

“Just because you’ve made mistakes doesn’t mean your mistakes get to make you. Take notice of your inner critic, forgive yourself, and move on.”

 

 

 

“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.”

 

 

 

 

“We should learn from the mistakes of others. We don’t have time to make them all ourselves.”

 

 

 

“Let no one keep you from your journey.”

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“Let no one keep you from your journey.”

—Mark Nepo, American poet and spiritual adviser

Image from Unsplash by Clemens van Lay

Where are you headed today, this week, this year?

What are your short and long term goals and objectives, personally and professionally?

Toward the start of each year, questions like these are asked so frequently that we often drown them out much like the safety instructions before a flight.

What if we now answered these questions on a far deeper level than at any other time in our lives?

What are your answers? If they don’t ignite a spark or engulf you in flames of passion and excitement, you’ve got more work to do and could perhaps use the support of a coach, mentor, close colleague, or family member.

EXERCISE:

What could possibly stop you from pursuing and fully realizing what you deeply desire?

How will you prevent anyone – including yourself – from keeping you from your journey?

Consider looking up Mark Nepo and exploring his work more fully.

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

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“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”

—Robert Swan, OBE, FRGS—first person to walk to both Poles

Image from Unsplash by The New York Public Library

How are you personally coming to the rescue of planet Earth?

How aware are you of the significant impact we have on our beautiful world?

In the business world, we look at adding more revenue through various channels, making wise and progressive investments, and of course, we conserve resources and reduce waste wherever possible.

What if Earth was a business and all people, all organizations, and all nations became optimal stewards of the planet, so that Earth could truly be, as Jim Collins said, Built to Last?

EXERCISE:

How are you currently acting as a loyal and caring steward to our planet? In what new and expanded ways can and will you take greater responsibility and accountability to safeguard our collective home?

“Lovely days don’t come to you. You should walk to them.”

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“Lovely days don’t come to you. You should walk to them.”

—Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī, 13th-century Persian poet

Image from Unsplash by Bob Canning

The term snowbird was first applied to humans in the early 1900s, to describe northern laborers who flocked down south to work as the cold, harsh winter set in up north.

Today, northerners of all kinds – including vacationers and retirees – are migrating south as the first frost arrives, to experience more lovely warm days.

Rumi surely wasn’t referring only to the weather. Perhaps he wanted all of us to look around – and deeper within – to determine exactly what a lovely day means, and just how much influence we have to create our own weather, wherever we happen to be.

EXERCISE:

What are some additional ways you can use your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual energies to walk or even run toward far more lovely days in the future?

“People can’t jump on your bandwagon if it’s parked in the garage.”

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“People can’t jump on your bandwagon if it’s parked in the garage.”

—Sam Horn, Intrigue Expert, Author, Communications Strategist

Image by Freekee, in the Public Domain

The term bandwagon first appeared in a book about P.T. Barnum, the famous circus promoter.

Back in the 1850s, a circus made a showy parade through town before they set up. The bright and ornamental wagons were always part of the parade, meant to attract villagers. Musicians were always included, so their arrival could be heard and seen for considerable distances.

What ideas, causes, missions, or purposes do you wish to share with the villagers in your personal and professional communities?

What are you currently doing to broadcast your energy and excitement so that others will climb aboard and join your parade?

EXERCISE:

Where are you still in the garage with your idea and vision? How can and will you strike up the band so that others can jump aboard?

FRIDAY REVIEW: PERSPECTIVE

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FRIDAY REVIEW: PERSPECTIVE

How often do you think about the perspective you hold on any subject, or on life in general? Here are a few perspective-related posts you may have missed.

 

“Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.”

 

 

 

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.”

 

 

 

 

“At the end of the game, pawns and kings go back into the same box.”

 

 

 

“When a great moment knocks on the door of your life,

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“When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is easy to miss.”

—Boris Pasternak, 20th Century Russian poet & novelist

Image from Unsplash by Rodion Kutsaev

I recently learned that our average level of digital engagement nearly tripled between 2007 to 2017.

Surprisingly, other aspects of our daily activities, such as sleeping, working, and commuting, have remained fairly stable.

We can all point to many positive aspects of our digital world, including increasing productivity, however more of us are now paying the price for this lack of digital well-being.

EXERCISE:

Mark Ostach, a Digital Well-Being Coach, suggests the following actions we can take to capture more of the “knocks on our doors” we may be missing:

  1. No digital gadgets at mealtime.
  2. Sleep device-free. Get a real alarm clock.
  3. Take a digital fast at least one hour each day.
  4. Make eye contact when talking.
  5. End your digital day one hour before bedtime.
  6. Go outside and get some fresh air.

 

“Tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable.”

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“Tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable.”

—Author Unknown

Who are the people in your professional and personal life that you trust implicitly? How do they rate in terms of honesty and integrity?

Alternatively, who are those you do not trust? To what degree do these people stretch the truth, exaggerate, or simply out-and-out lie in order to look good, avoid accountability, or pursue other self-centered objectives?

Trusting relationships are the foundation of strong personal and professional partnerships, and this strength can easily be broken. Once observed, future doubt tends to creep in and undermine what may have taken many years to build.

EXERCISE:

What can and will you do to strengthen, repair, or rebuild the level of trust with those closest to you?

Consider checking out my Trust-o-Meter Assessment for some strategies that may help.