How often do you question the things you hear or read? Here are a few posts about questions you may have missed. Click the links to read the full message.
“There is more than one right answer.”
“When I look back in five years, which of these options will make the best story?”
“A wise man’s questions contain half the answer.”
Image from Unsplash by Renata Fraga
Have you ever experienced insomnia?
How often do you literally carry your burdens and troubles to bed, through incessant thinking and rumination about an issue?
Besides being physically tired and mentally fatigued to begin with, you can’t really accomplish anything by letting issues churn in your head through the night. You only add to the stress by loss of the restful sleep you require to take on tomorrow with a full tank and a positive attitude.
What bedtime behaviors and rituals could you consider to “leave your troubles in your clothes”?
Consider asking friends and colleagues what works for them, or try searching “sleep strategies” on the web. You’ll be amazed by the volume of content, and the magnitude and impact of this common issue.
Image from FlightJobs
How would you like to be a more masterful leader and have far greater influence in your professional and personal relationships?
For this to occur, it requires less of you and more from others.
Have you noticed that virtually everyone is far more interested in what they are thinking than in what you may be saying? Being interested rather than interesting can be just the strategy to discover their opinions and leanings on any topic. Their perspective and beliefs can point you to the areas where they can be more easily led and influenced.
Where and with whom can you tap into the opinions and beliefs held by others, to significantly increase your current levels of leadership and influence?
Are you a Lark or an Owl?
Said another way: Are you a morning person or a night person?
Larks are at their best in the morning and usually hit their low energy walls at mid-afternoon.
Owls start their days a bit more slowly, hit their peak at mid-morning, and work productively much later into the day.
In his book, WHEN, Daniel Pink points out that both Larks and Owls need to insert breaks and even an occasional nap into their days. We need this to break up the marathon lives we live and cure our sluggish minds.
Where in your day would you most benefit from a change or break, in order to renew or recharge?
Consider blocking out 15-30 minutes each day over the next week, and see what you notice about your effectiveness and productivity.
Image from Ellen’s Little Visits
With our never-ending race to get it all done today, we have all run into a problem. Despite our brain’s magnificent power to process vast amounts of information, we are beginning to hit a barrier to open and novel thinking.
We have learned a trick in which our established mental models create shortcuts to our processing power. We skip the often useful objective and reflective capacities needed in many situations.
Where have you recently jumped to an incorrect conclusion? Where and with whom might a slower, more thoughtful and open-minded approach prove most useful, in your professional or personal life?
What is the hardest part of acceptance for you? Here are a few posts related to acceptance you may have missed. Click the links to read the full message.
“Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.”
Image from Fight4Survival
For many people, money represents freedom, independence, security, and peace of mind. The topic of money can cause all kinds of trouble, and often has great impact on our relationships.
The simple advice to “make more and spend less” doesn’t always cut it, and we often find ourselves continually stressing over our finances.
As we age, many of us begin to appreciate more fully the saying, “The best things in life are not things.” We begin to look closely at how we spend our time, not just our money.
Where might taking “The Best Things in Life are Free” approach help you gain greater pleasure and allow you to pocket a bit more of the freedom, independence, security, and peace of mind you desire?
Taking a sincere interest and seeking to fully understand the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of another could be one of the most important things we can do to change the world around us.
How many of your problems and life challenges – not to mention those of the world – are due to breakdowns in relationships and communication in general?
How often do you find yourself or someone else engaged in surface observations of others, with a critical or judgmental perspective? How does doing so diminish the relationship qualities including respect, trust, and cooperation?
Where and how can you look more deeply into the people in your professional and personal life, to change your world for the better?
Image from Lesterbanks
Do you have any enemies? Is there an archnemesis in your personal or professional community? What is it like to be around this person, or even to simply think about them?
What have you done to contribute to the rift between the two of you? What have you tried to perhaps mend fences?
Instead of being against one another with all the damage it can produce, how would a better understanding of what this individual stands for help?
Once you better understand their motivators and beliefs, perhaps you can break the vicious cycle of making each other wrong.
Image from Adweek
The unemployment rate is at the lowest level in decades, and the search for talent is more competitive than any time most of us can remember.
With over 70 million Baby Boomers having exited or in the process of leaving the workforce, the prospect of attracting and retaining top talent to compete successfully in the global economy is not likely to get any easier.
Beyond all the benefits, perks, and bonuses, many leaders are finding it difficult to attract and retain the best and brightest.
What heart-based or heart-felt behaviors and cultural efforts can you initiate and sustain throughout your organization? What needs to happen – especially within the leadership ranks – to be one of the Good to Great and Built to Last organizations we so admire?