I don’t know who needs to hear this but, this is one of the most powerful questions I’ve ever come across:
What good can come from this?
There’s always something.
Helping busy people do inner work.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but, this is one of the most powerful questions I’ve ever come across:
What good can come from this?
There’s always something.
“Out of sight, out of mind” can be an excellent model for improving the overall quality of your life.
Put what you want IN your mind, IN sight.
Take what you DON’T want in your mind, OUT of sight.
As obvious as this might sound, I can’t tell you how many people keep what they don’t want in their mind in sight and keep what they do want in their mind out of sight.
Look closely at what you allow to stay in (and out of) sight for the entire duration of a typical day and adjust accordingly.
And not just physically—digitally, too.
Don’t underestimate this.
Time, energy, attention—these are the fundamental building blocks of what a life is composed of.
With what you’ve been given, you can either choose to spend, save, or invest these blocks—just as it is with money.
When you spend time, energy, or attention—it’s gone. Like when you watch a show on TV. There’s no return of more time, energy, or attention—it’s just used.
When you save time, energy, or attention—you increase what little you had to a little more. Like when you hire a professional to do a professional service. The time it took you to get the money to pay the professional is far less than the time it would have taken you to do the job yourself—so you pay them. Resources saved.
When you invest time, energy, or attention—you stand to multiply what little you had into much more. Like when you learn new skills and/or gain new knowledge. Not only do you no longer need to hire someone for their skills or knowledge, but you no longer need to hire them for the rest of your life. The return is exponential.
A good exercise to spend some time on:
When work aligns with your strengths, it flows and feels easy—even when it’s hard.
When work aligns with your weaknesses, it crawls and feels hard—even when it’s easy.
A good indication that you’re in alignment with your strengths is if you lose track of time while working.
If you find yourself constantly checking the time, either the work you’re doing is too mundane or you’re in alignment with your weaknesses.
Ask yourself: What’s easy for you that’s hard for others?
And then figure out ways you can do more of that.
Get more bored.
I find that the more I force myself into boredom, the more creative I get.
Conversely, the more distracted and entertained I am, the less creative I get.
When do I get some of my best ideas? While I’m showering, driving, walking, napping, meditating, staring at a blank screen… it’s when my mind is bored and free to wander.
And it’s not even close...
When do I rarely ever get ideas? While I’m working, watching TV, playing a game, having gossip-y type conversation, or otherwise actively engaged in some thought-provoking tasks.
You might think you’re“not the creative type” or that you“lost” your creative touch.
I’m willing to bet you haven’t and that you are—we all have creative energy inside of us.
You’re just not allowing yourself to get bored long enough.
Leadership is influence—nothing more and nothing less.
And if you interact with people, guess what? You influence them.
You can’t interact with someone and not influence them.
Therefore, it’s time you started looking at yourself as a leader.
This, in and of itself, has the ability to change your whole demeanor.
Next, you must carefully reflect on how you’ve been using your influence.
It’s time we stopped looking at leadership as a role reserved for a select few.
It’s a role that each of us gets to embody in full each day.
The question simply becomes: will you own it?
Question #1: Who brings out the best in you?
Question #2: Who brings out the worst in you?
And now for my real question: Is it really ever anyone but you?
In other words, sure, it’s easy to think that the best people will bring out the best in you and the worst people will bring out the worst in you. But, what comes out from you shouldn’t ever be dependent on them.
What comes out from you should solely be dependent on you.
Everybody should get your best. Not because they deserve it or have earned it—maybe they haven’t. But, because regardless of who you’re surrounded with, even the worst, nobody has the right to control your state of mind.
Life is too short to spend even one minute (that’s sixty seconds we’ll never get back) in your worst state.
And that’s not all—it perpetuates. Their worst state becomes your worst state which likely will become someone else’s worst state. We have to become the alchemists of our minds. We must learn to convert anger to patience; frustration to perseverance; pain to creativity. We must choose to break the cycle.
Otherwise, we might as well pass over the quality of our life to the people nearest to us throughout our days. And hope for the best.