Friday Review: RENEWAL

Friday Review: RENEWAL

What do you do to renew and rejuvenate yourself? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.

“The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you are finished.”

 

 

 

 

“Exhaustion is not a status symbol.”

 

 

 

 

Nature offers us wonderful examples of growth, renewal, and transformation when we allow each of its seasons to guide our life.

 

 

 

 

“We need to slow down to best connect with our deepest self.”

“We need to slow down to best connect with our deepest self.”

Barbara Waxman, founder of The Odyssey Group, and leadership advocate

Image from amtrak.com

Did you know that there is only one auto train in the United States?

For those on the east coast it’s a 17+ hour trek from Lofton, Virginia to Sandford, Florida — where you fill your vehicle with as much stuff as it can hold and then leave the driving to the conductor!

On these overnight adventures, you can even get a sleeper car and have the clickity-clack of the tracks lull you to sleep.

Unlike high-speed trains, in which getting from point A to point B is the goal, the auto train chugs along at more leisurely pace allowing considerable time to converse with your travel mates, do a bit of reading, and of course, reflect on your own life journey.

EXERCISE:

In what ways do you give yourself  time to slow down to connect with your deepest self?

Consider all the people (especially yourself), places, and things, you miss while rushing past them all.

 

“Innovation happens not within but between brains.”

“Innovation happens not within but between brains.”

Matt Ridley, British science writer, journalist and businessman

Image from Unsplash by Brooke Cagle

Today’s quote encapsulates Ridley’s views on collective intelligence and the collaborative nature of innovation. It emphasizes that innovation is not primarily the result of individual genius, but rather a product of human interaction and the exchange of ideas.

How often do you find yourself working alone, wracking your brain to solve a particular problem?

How frequently do you feel that if you seek or accept assistance from others your achievements are less worthy of recognition?

EXERCISE:

Where and how can you tap into many more brains within your personal and professional communities to accomplish far more than going it alone?  Remember that even the Lone Ranger had Tonto!

You can’t leave a footprint that lasts if you’re always walking on tiptoes

“You can’t leave a footprint that lasts if you’re always walking on tiptoes.”

Marion Blakely, President and CEO for the Rolls Royce of America

Image from Unsplash by Khadeeja Yasser

Where are you trying to make your mark on the world?

Just like one of those rubber stamps that have begun to run out of ink, our ongoing efforts to accomplish things of note are often too light to leave the lasting imprint we want.

Where are you tip-toeing around in your life, reluctant to take a firm stand on what you value and believe? How have these modest efforts made only minimal impressions that are easily washed away with time?

EXERCISE:

Whether it’s through great force or repeated actions over time, what will it take for you to make the dents in the universe you deeply desire?

When life serves you lemons, how can a shift in mindset

When life serves you lemons, how can a shift in mindset and attitude help your stir up a batch of lemonade?

—Calm App Reflection

Image from Unsplash by Alan Luna

Lemonade is one of my favorite beverages. I particularly like the fact that I can control the levels of tartness and sweetness to my liking.

Lemons are a versatile fruit that can easily incorporate into our diets through water, cooking, or direct consumption, offering a wide variety of health-promoting properties.

Lemons provide numerous metabolic advantages:

  • They aid in weight management through fiber, which promotes feelings of fullness
  • They Help prevent anemia by improving iron absorption from plant-based foods
  • They Potentially reduce the risk of diabetes by slowing starch conversion to sugar

The vitamin C in lemons supports:

  • Collagen production for skin health
  • Antioxidant protection against cell damage
  • Potential improvement in complexion and skin aging

Additional health benefits include:

  • Antibacterial effects
  • Kidney stone prevention through citric acid
  • Potential anti-inflammatory properties
  • Support for nervous system health through potassium

EXERCISE:

In what ways can you take and embrace the lemons of life (including the fruit) to lead a healthier and sweeter life?

Friday Review: Reflection

Friday Review: Reflection

How often do you step outside your routine just to reflect on your life? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.

Stop, jot, and share. Use the superpower of reflection to cement the value of the information you take in.

 

 

 

“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way.”

 

 

 

“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through endurance we conquer

“Through endurance we conquer.”

Ernest Shackleton, 20 Century Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer

Image from https://www.ernestshackleton.net/

Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic adventures are legendary. His most famous expedition —The Endurance Expedition (1914-1917) — aimed to cross Antarctica but turned into a survival epic.

His ship named Endurance became trapped and was eventually crushed by ice in the Weddell Sea. Shackleton and his crew survived months on drifting ice flows before reaching Elephant Island.

Realizing their chance of survival were slim to none he and five of his crew made a perilous 800-mile journey in a small boat to South Georgia, where on their fourth attempt eventually rescued the entire crew after nearly two years facing extreme weather, limited supplies, and unbearable isolation.

EXERCISE:

Where and when have you demonstrated tremendous endurance to conquer the life challenges facing you?

For inspiration, please watch the documentary Endurance online through National Geographic and Disney plus.  Other platforms such as Hulu and Sling TV may also offer access to this documentary.

A good coach can change a game

“A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life.”

John Wooden, 20th Century American basketball coach and player

Image from Unsplash by TJ Dragotta

John Wooden was the most remarkable coach in college basketball and perhaps any sport. His many accomplishments include:

  • 10 NCAA national championships in 12 years
  • 7 consecutive titles from 1967-1973
  • Established an NCAA record of 88 consecutive wins
  • Won 38 straight NCAA tournament games
  • He was the first person inducted into the basketball hall of fame as both player and coach
  • Was named “Coach of the Century” by ESPN
  • Developed the famous” Pyramid of Success” leadership philosophy

Perhaps more than any of these accomplishments was his tremendous influence as a team leader and the remarkable character development he offered his players well beyond their playing days.

EXERCISE:

What lessons can you take from Wooden’s career/life to win more games and change more lives in your communities?

Take stock in your life.

Take stock in your life. You always have the capacity to change things for the better. What will you do or not do given this awareness?

—Calm App Reflection

Have you done it yet? Have you stepped or leaped into the new year with boundless energy to better your world?

If not, you’re not alone. Many folks are still digging out of all the e-mails and work that piled up over the holidays and feel they haven’t even gotten out of the starting blocks.

What to do when “the hurried-er you go the behind-er you seem to get”?

Something dramatic has to happen to get your head above water and swim for the shore of the life you envision.

EXERCISE:

Try a brain dump exercise: List all the personal and professional to-dos that fill up and spill over your days.

Keep asking yourself “What Else?” until you get everything down.

Let this list sit for a day and dig some more.

Consider asking those close to you for their additional thoughts.

Once this list is complete, it can be managed, using a sorting strategy using the words More, Less, Start, and Stop.

It’s within the Less and Stop clutter in your world that you can make room for the Mores and Starts that will put you back in the driver’s seat to take your life where you want to go.

Friday Review: Procrastination

Friday Review: Procrastination

In what aspects of your life are you given to procrastination? Here are a few related posts you may have missed.

 

“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.”

 

 

 

 

“Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.”

 

 

 

 

 

“No one wants to be the skydiver who pulled the rip cord too late.”