Liisa Kyle's Blog, page 5
April 2, 2022
Be Your Own Best Friend
By A Química das Coisas (A Química do Amor) [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], via Wikimedia Commons
In my opinion, the saddest thing about DaVincis — smart creative people juggling many ideas, projects and talents — is that we can be very hard on ourselves. We tend to scold ourselves for what’s not getting done and gloss over our victories. Thankfully, we’re also pretty interesting people so we tend to have collected some pretty wonderful friends. Our true friends support us, encourage us, help us problem solve and reassure us that we’re okay, our ideas are sound, our projects are worthwhile and our talents are considerable. They help us through difficult times and help us celebrate our accomplishments.We can learn a lot from our friends.
Stop for a moment and think about your best friend. What are they like? How do they treat you, on a daily basis? How have they helped you during difficult times? What things have they done or said that demonstrates their friendship and affection for you? How have they supported or appreciated your talents?
Now, think about yourself. How do you tend to talk to yourself? Are you your own best cheerleader or do you tend to beat yourself up?
Activity: Take a moment to write down the messages you’d rather have in your head. If you were your own best friend, what would you tell yourself? Keep this list somewhere where you will see it regularly.
Activity: Clear some uninterrupted time. Write yourself a letter of encouragement as if you were your best friend.
To what extent do you take good care of yourself? If you were your best friend, what would you encourage yourself to do more of? Less of?
Activity: List at least ten things you’ve accomplished.
Do you celebrate your accomplishments or do you gloss over them and run straight to the next thing on your list?
Activity: Pick something you can aim to celebrate in the near future. What upcoming project milestone or completion could you acknowledge? Make a point of doing so.
How do you feel about your talents? To what extent do you demonstrate your appreciation for them? What more could you do to honor your talents?
Activity: In the next month, seek ways to acknowledge your talents.
Activity: This week, practice being your own best friend.
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Check out my book YOU CAN GET IT DONE: Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish. Available here: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone
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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma
! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at
http://www.davincidilemma.com/
.
March 1, 2022
How to Salvage an Unproductive Day. Or Week. Or Month.
We’ve all been there. As DaVincis — folks juggling multiple talents, projects and ideas — we have so much to do — and yet sometimes we find ourselves getting too little done. Maybe we’re spinning our wheels. Perhaps we’re distracted by unproductive activities. It could be we’re overwhelmed and/or paralyzed. Whatever the reason there are those days — or weeks — or months — during which we become aware that stalled or off track or otherwise unproductive.
What to do about it? How to salvage an unproductive day — or week — or month?
First, whenever you recognize you’re stalled or spinning your wheels, pat yourself on the back. You noticed! Now you can do something about it.
Above all, avoid beating yourself up for the situation. We ALL have unproductive days sometimes. It’s human nature. Especially for DaVincis: we’ve got so much going on that our minds often need a wee ‘time out’ so they find clever ways of stalling us. All of a sudden we find ourselves surfing the internet or pacing or baking brownies for no good reason.
Now, once you realize you’re stalled, ask yourself: why?
Is it fear? Are you anxious about how things are unfolding? Are you concerned about something?
Is it fatigue? Do you need a mental or physical break?
Are you excessively stressed?
Is it that your project isn’t going well and/or you’ve hit some vexing obstacle?
Is it that you are jumping around randomly between activities or projects without furthering any of them? Do you need to focus?
Has the well run dry? Are you lacking in inspiration or motivation?
Is it that you are facing other challenges in life that are affecting your productivity? Is your life unbalanced?
Perhaps its a combination of factors. Once you determine what’s going on, you can do what makes sense: Face your fears, take a break, brainstorm solutions. Take action to address whatever it is that’s going on.
The next step is to PRESS THE RESET BUTTON.
The thing is, we can’t do anything about the time we’ve squandered up to now. It’s gone. But we CAN decide to change course going forward.
You have the right to a fresh start. Right now.
It doesn’t matter what time of day it is. It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been unproductive. Right now, in this very moment, you can decide to change course.
Don’t believe me? Try this. Set a timer for ten minutes. Spend these ten minutes doing something — ANYTHING — to address whatever’s been interfering. Focus on one thing. Make that scary phone call. Brainstorms possible solutions for that obstacle. Meditate. Consult with a wise colleague. Remind yourself of your original motivation for doing this. Give yourself a change of scenery.
When the timer goes off, see how you feel. Odds are high that even just ten minutes doing something will give you relief, motivation and ideas to move forward.
It’s a three part solution that works.
1. Recognize when you’re stalling — catch yourself when you’re being unproductive.
2. Diagnose what’s going on.
3. Press the reset button. Pivot. Make a conscious decision to change course. Take action, accordingly.
Guess what? You can press the re-set button more than once a day. (Some of us even have ‘those’ days during which we’re pressing the re-set button pretty much on the hour, every hour).
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Want more tips and techniques on getting things done? Check out my book YOU CAN GET IT DONE: Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish
Available here: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone
***
Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .
February 1, 2022
Stewardship — Taking Good Care of Yourself, Your Talents & Everything Else
How are you treating yourself? To what extent are you taking good care of your talents? Are you finding yourself frustrated with your work? Overwhelmed with domestic responsibilities? There is an alternative approach.
“Stewardship” is a stodgy sounding word that can provide a breakthrough to DaVincis — to smart, creative, multi-talented people like you. Stewardship means taking good and thoughtful care of something. It’s a warmer, cozier, more competent way of approaching the many responsibilities in your life. Rather than thinking ‘Oh god, I have to do X, Y and Z!’, it’s a shift to calmly managing whatever comes up for the purpose of taking good care of what’s important in your life.
Here’s how:
Step #1: Put Yourself First
To take good care of the many projects, people and activities in your life, your top priority is to take good care of yourself. You’re not an effective steward of your career if you’re stressed out and working yourself sick. If you’re not cultivating your talents, you’re shortchanging yourself (and the world).
Ask yourself: how can you take good care of yourself? What’s working well in your self-care? What gaps need to be addressed? How is your health? Your energy level? How are you treating your body? Your mind? Are you treating yourself to simple pleasures you enjoy? What can you do to take even better care of yourself?
Step #2: Identify what’s most important to you.
What — or whom — do you want to be taking good care of? Your family? Your relationships — personal and professional? Your home? Your career? Your finances? Something else?
Answer thoughtfully and candidly.
Step #3: Reframe “To Do’s” as Stewardship
Take of the important aspect of your life you identified in step #2. Now ask, for each: how can you take better care of this? How can you cultivate an attitude of caring stewardship for each important life domain?
What currently seems like a burden? How might you translate that into more positive terms? For example, if your domestic responsibilities seem overwhelming, it might help if you reframe your chores as taking good care of your home. “Ugh. I have to clean the kitchen. Again.” becomes “I’m making my household cleaner and safer” or “I’m taking good care of my household members.” If financial tasks make you squeamish or avoidant, try approaching them as “Taking good care of my money”.
By thinking in terms of caring stewardship of what’s important, it’s possible to remove a lot of negativity, dread and procrastination about the many things on your plate.
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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at
http://www.davincidilemma.com/
.
December 1, 2021
Make the Most of 2022
What would you like to do with 2022?
Some people like to set specific goals for the New Year. Others prefer to give some general attention to a particular area of their life. Keith’s priority in 2022 is to focus on his health. Maria’s is to relax. Maybe you’d like to travel. Or learn. Or create. Or do good deeds. Perhaps you’d like this to be the “Year of Fun”. Maybe you’ve been overly career driven and this is the year you’ve like to give more attention to your home life.
It’s entirely up to you: What would you like to experience this year? What’s important to you? What would you like to explore or learn? What would you like to accomplish, acquire, or complete?
The beginning of a New Year is a terrific time to pause and ask yourself these questions. New Year’s Eve is more than just a festive excuse to party…it’s a chance for a fresh start. Kinda like pressing a personal “re-start button.” If you choose to do so, you can use the opportunity to look back at the preceding year and take stock of your present circumstances. You can identify what’s working well for you and what’s not. You can make thoughtful, purposeful decisions about how to live the next twelve months. With a little forethought, New Year’s Eve can be a pivot point to do more of what you love and less of what you don’t.
If this sounds appealing, I’ve developed a workbook to guide you through a process to make the most of the coming year. It’s completely up to you: What would you like to do, experience, explore, learn, accomplish, acquire, or complete in 2022?
Note the emphasis on you. You. Not what your Mom or your boss or your childhood chum might want. What kind of year would you like 2022 to be? What matters to you at this point in your life?
What would it mean to you if you made the most of 2022?
Whatever your desires for 2022, I can help. I’m an author, life coach, and Ph.D. in Psychology who has spent the past twenty years helping people get things done, get organized, and get more out of life. I’ve coached individuals, facilitated groups, and taught inventive workshops on four continents.
I’ve designed this book so you can get the most out of 2022. Think of it as a personal seminar with a recognized expert, tailored to your unique circumstances and preferences. Inside this workbook are proven tools you can work through at your own pace to foster whatever is important to you.
That’s what makes this book special. It’s a flexible guide that will elicit different responses in everyone who uses it. It’s up to you to apply your distinctive perspective to create and implement a plan suitable to your particular circumstances.
Think of it as a Self-Guided Workshop you can work through at your own pace to:
understand and appreciate 2021 generate ideas for all areas of your lifeidentify your true top priorities for 2022make achievable plans for 2022keep yourself on track all yearA Word About “Resolutions”
The way most people do traditional “New Year’s Resolutions” is not very effective. They tend to be overblown “To Do” lists that become a source of unnecessary frustration. They can be overwhelming or intimidating. They often become abandoned which can cause guilt, shame, and a sense of failure.
The alternative is to create a prudent plan that can be reasonably implemented, given your specific circumstances. That’s the purpose of this workbook.
If you’ve been disappointed by past attempts at “New Year’s Resolutions”, let me reassure you. As a life coach, I’ve developed proven techniques for you to figure out what you want and then devise achievable plans to make that happen.
Maybe you’d like to set some specific goals. Perhaps you’d like to solve a problem. Or participate in some key activities to enhance your life. Or establish new habits or practices that are uniquely gratifying to you. It could be that you have an unfulfilled dream or an unfinished project on which you are yearning to make some progress. Maybe you’d like to reduce or eliminate an unhelpful or unhealthy habit.
It’s up to you. Using this workbook as a guide, you have the opportunity to figure out what’s right for you, right now, to make the most of 2021 — then devise achievable plans suitable to your particular circumstances. The Planner/Calendar is designed to help you actually do what you intend.
Give yourself — or someone else — the give of a wonderful 2022. Hardcover, paperback & eBook formats available here: http://bit.ly/MakeTheMostOf2022
November 1, 2021
What do to When you Can’t Sleep
By Gaevskaya.d [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], from Wikimedia Commons
We all know sleep is important for our health and well-being. Yet more we have going on, the more elusive a good night’s sleep can become. the more successful we become, the higher the risk of insomnia. As a DaVinci — a smart, creative person juggling many ideas, projects and talents — you’ve got a lot going on. We tend to have busy brains…and sometimes it’s difficult for us to turn them off at night. Or sometimes we crash, exhausted, only to wake up in the middle of the night, our monkey minds racing and fully alert.The first thing to know is that occasional insomnia is perfectly natural and no cause for alarm. Especially if you are under stress or grieving or are at a ‘certain time of life’, your sleep is likely to be affected.
The worse thing to do when you have trouble sleeping is to start to fret about the fact that you’re not sleeping. (“Oh no! I’ve got this big thing tomorrow and I need to be fresh and rested to be my best and now I can’t sleep and the whole thing’s going to be a disaster!”) If this sounds like you, the best thing you can do is to catch yourself — laugh at yourself if possible — and to remind yourself of a few truths: First, yes, a good night’s sleep is important and yet you are perfectly able to function on less sleep from time to time. Sure you’d prefer to be well-rested for your big event — but if you don’t, the impact of your sleep-deprived state is not likely to be detectable to anyone else. You might be aware you’re not at your best, but others are unlikely to notice anything amiss.
Same thing goes when you wake up in the middle of the night. Did you know that, until this century, the natural human sleep pattern was to sleep for a few hours, get up in the middle of the night for a few hours, then return to sleep until morning? Apparently, it used to be common that people would sleep a bit, get up to tend to chores or family matters — or pray — or even socialize — then sleep some more. Here’s an article summarizing the evidence of this natural segmented sleep pattern.
Waking up in the middle of the night is not a big deal. It’s actually ‘normal’ for us humans. There’s no reason to lie in bed, tossing and turning. It’s better to get up for a while. Personally, I look forward to middle-of-the-night insomnia . . . as an excuse to get up and curl up with whatever novel I’m reading. The house is quiet. The phone is not ringing. There are no interruptions. It’s a glorious, peaceful time.
You could do the same. If you wanted, you could use this middle of the night ‘awake’ phase as a way of having more balance in your life. You could use it to do things you love that you have time fitting into your busy schedule. You could use it to:
* engage in your favorite hobbies
* nourish your mind (e.g. reading, journaling, listening to music, crossword puzzles, sudoku, jigsaw puzzles)
* indulge in simple pleasures
* attend to your body (e.g. gentle stretching and physical relaxation)
* engage in your spiritual practices
* try some meditation techniques
* do some personal processing (e.g. write in your journal, make gratitude lists)
Here’s one caution, though: If you do wake up in the middle of the night, avoid the temptation to fire up your computer or television or other bright screen. The unnatural light source tricks your body into thinking it’s morning already and then (a) you won’t get back to sleep and (b) you’re messing with your circadian rhythms.
As well, you probably don’t want to use this period to work . . . unless you want to stay up until dawn and beyond. Besides — don’t you spend enough of your week working? Why not use this ‘middle of the night’ time as a treat for yourself?
One more caution: If you are having difficulty sleeping, do yourself a favor by avoiding chemical aids. It’s such a tempting option: Oh, something’s wrong so I’ll take a pill for it. But sleep medications are fraught with side effects and health risks. They are dangerous when combined with many other substances. Worse, the more you use them, the less effective sleep aids become . . . so you end up taking higher dosages with commensurately higher risks . . . while you experience less and less effective results. (How many celebrities have left us too soon, thanks to these products? Michael Jackson, Prince, Tom Petty, to name a few.) Take better care of your body by avoiding these products.
If you want to learn more about ways to improve your sleep, here are some resources.
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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at
http://www.davincidilemma.com/
.
October 1, 2021
Get Rid of What you Don’t Need
image via commons.wikimedia.org
How much stuff do you have? If you’re like many DaVincis — creative people juggling many talents, projects and ideas — you are also juggling a lot of stuff pertaining to your many talents, projects and ideas.
You might not be a pack-rat. Your living and working spaces may be free of clutter. But look around and see what what excessive objects are occupying your space. What are you holding onto that you don’t really need?
There is some kind of supernatural process by which stuff accumulates. Personally, I’d rather collect interesting experiences than be weighed down by my belongings. I sure don’t need everything I own and I bet the same is true for you.
For example: are you holding on to supplies you might need ‘someday’ . . . but haven’t touched in years? Have you been lugging around books that really aren’t that important to you? Does your closet hold items that don’t fit or don’t flatter or don’t get worn in your present life? Are you hanging onto items others have given you that you don’t really need or want . . . but you feel guilty about getting rid of them?
My family needed to move our household to a smaller home across the country. I used the opportunity to look at my belongings differently. For example, I’d been lugging thousands of books around with me for decades. Did I really need to keep all of them? I considered each book on my shelves, one by one. I kept what I needed and what I loved. I gave away books I thought others would enjoy. I donated the rest to the library.
Similarly, I pruned my closet, downsized my kitchen items, and winnowed my art supplies.
Doing so felt freeing and fabulous. I was delighted to pass on objects others would use and appreciate. I was tickled to clear space in my home.
You can too. If you choose to, you can let go of:
* things you don’t need
* things you don’t like
* things you aren’t using
* things that make you feel guilty or otherwise icky (such as things that remind you of something unpleasant — or gifts others have given you that you don’t really want)
* things you’re holding onto because they might be useful ‘someday’
* things that need repair — that you haven’t repaired for the past year or longer
* clothes that don’t fit or aren’t flattering or don’t get worn your current life
* things you want to give to someone ‘someday’. (Why not give it to them now?)
Give yourself a gift by jettisoning your excess belongings. The less you hang onto, the more space and freedom you’ll have. And the more your space will reflect the current ‘you’.
Only keep:
* things you love
* things that make you feel good
* things you use
* things in good repair (or that you commit to repair within the next month)
* things that fit you well and look good on you
Activity: Pick the easiest possible space to purge – a desk drawer, a cupboard, the bathroom, wherever. Remove all the contents. As you do so, get rid of what you don’t need. Give it away, throw it away, sell it – do what makes sense to get it out of your space. If in doubt, you don’t need it.
Activity: Obtain three cardboard boxes. Mark one ‘donate’, one ‘give’ and one ‘sell’. Put them beside a large garbage can. Now: walk around your space. Find at least ten items that belong in these receptacles.
Activity: Make a list of the rooms or areas of your working and/or living space that you need to prune. Repeat the preceding two activities until you’ve worked your way through your list. Maybe you tackle one room a month or one drawer or cupboard per week — find a schedule that works for you so that you can go through your entire living space this year. Jettison what you don’t need.
Activity: Set up an ongoing system by which you will keep clutter at bay. Some people have a one in – one out rule. (If they buy something new, they get rid of something old). Others make a regular practice of pruning their belongings throughout the year. Another option is to schedule an annual spring cleaning/purge to go through your entire working and living space.
***
Available here in paperback and eBook format: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone
***
Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma! Find tools, fun quizzes, coaching, inspiration and solutions for multi-talented people at http://www.davincidilemma.com/ .
September 1, 2021
Puzzle Power
By Jared Tarbell (Flickr: sky puzzle) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Do you do jigsaw puzzles? I don’t. Or at least I didn’t until recently. I was visiting a friend who pulled out a puzzle as if it was the normal way to spend an evening. At first, I thought she was nuts. Why on earth would you waste, um, spend time playing with colored bits of cardboard? It’s not like she doesn’t have a million things going on in her life. She’s a pretty interesting, busy, accomplished person — and she digs puzzles so I figured I must be missing something. I offered to help.When I plunked down at the table and I saw exactly what she was doing, my heart sank. The puzzle depicted a baseball game . . . and what remained to be done was the crowd. On the table were piles of hundreds of puzzle pieces depicting thousands of tiny little figures waving teeny little flags. Each piece looked pretty much identical.
“Are you insane,” I asked . “This is impossible!”
She laughed and, as if to counter my point, positioned together some matching pieces.
I was impressed. How was she doing this? I futzed around with a few pieces, going through the motions of making sense of the cardboard chaos before me.
Then I found a piece that fit. There was a quiet but satisfying “tshk’ as I pressed it into place. With this first, small victory, I was hooked. My friend and I kept going until about midnight, when the last cascade of pieces revealed their correct locations and the cardboard crowd materialized in front of us. We did it!
When I returned home from my visit, a surprise awaited me. Out of the blue, a different friend had mailed me a gift. You guessed it — a jigsaw puzzle. A beautiful Van Gogh pastoral scene, rendered in 1000 puzzle pieces. I couldn’t wait to begin. At the risk of sounding nerdy, it’s oddly satisfying to spend the evening listening to music and working on a jigsaw puzzle with my guy.
So why am I telling you all this? Because, to my surprise and delight, my newest hobby has elicited numerous insights to assist creative projects:
1. It make look daunting, but it’s not impossible. It can be done.
When you first dump 1000 puzzle pieces out of the box, it’s hard not to despair. Similarly, when you start a creative project it’s easy enough to get blown away by all there is to do. First and foremost, you have to believe that the project is do-able. It’s possible. You can do it.
2. Frame it first.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed — if you don’t know where or how to start with your creative project — begin by establishing some context. What, exactly, are you trying to accomplish? What’s the purpose of the project? What boundaries do you see? Just like you begin a puzzle by putting together the edge pieces to form the outer frame, you can sketch out the edges of your creative project so you let your imagination run rampant within this frame.
3. Aim to do the easiest bit first.
In puzzles as in creative projects, it really doesn’t matter where you start, so why not begin with whatever is easiest? Gather some low-lying fruit. Chalk up some easy successes. These intrinsic rewards will pump you up and motivate you to continue.
In fact, this is a pretty effective technique throughout the project: if in doubt, do what’s easiest. If you get stuck, do what’s easiest. There is absolutely no reason to make things more difficult for yourself. There are no extra points for being strict or harsh with yourself. The finished puzzle is the finished puzzle — why not get there the easiest way?
4. Have fun.
Have fun with the activity — enjoy it. Savor it. If you don’t enjoy jigsaw puzzles, you’re not going to do them. If you’re not enjoying your creative project, why continue? If it’s not fun for you, you won’t have enough energy or motivation to carry it out.
If your creative project feels like a burden, pause. Take stock. What’s going on? Have you hit a challenge that needs resolving? Brainstorm solutions with relevant, trusted others. Are you fatigued or tapped out of ideas? What can you do to replenish your creative energy? Are you bearing the weight of others’ scrutiny or some sense of competition? How can you reframe your efforts more positively?
5. Take breaks.
It’s unreasonable to expect to complete an entire 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle in one sitting. By the same token, your creative project might take a while. Break the work into manageable chunks — or better yet, baby steps.
Further, you’ll get more done if you punctuate any extended work session with healthy, brief breaks.
6. Ask for help.
In puzzles and in creative projects, you don’t have to do the whole thing all by your lonesome. Gather together the support you need. Ask for specific help.
7. Keep going.
Persist. Keep chipping away at your project — or your puzzle — until you’re done.
8. Finish well.
As your creative project concludes, it can be exciting. There may be a flurry of activity and emotions as the last few pieces come together. Enjoy it! Savor it! Celebrate it! Revel in your accomplishment a while.
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Activity: Think about a favorite hobby or past-time. What do you love about it? How does this activity enhance or give you insights into your creative project(s)?
***
Check out my book YOU CAN GET IT DONE: Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish
Available here in paperback and eBook format: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone
***
Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma
August 1, 2021
Create a ‘Do Call’ List for Fun & Profit
By Jessekoeckhoven [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons
The thing about the national ‘Do Not Call’ List is that it’s focused on what you DON’T want: phone spam. Why not take the concept and flip it around to positive ends? One technique my coaching clients have found useful is to create the following three ‘Do Call’ lists.
‘Do Call’ List #1 — For Fun
The idea here is to have a list of folks you LOVE to talk to — in person or on the phone. People who make you smile when you think of them.
When you have your ‘Do Call — For Fun’ list handy, you can use it
* when you need a healthy break
* when you want to reward yourself
* to make sure you’re keeping connected to important people in your life
Why not pause now to compose your list — jot down folks you LOVE to talk to — in person or on the phone. People who make you smile when you think of them.
(Bonus points if you actually paused and composed your list).
‘Do Call’ List #2 — For Support
The concept here is to have a handy, comprehensive list of folks to call when you need an understanding ear or advice or creative brainstorming or information or other forms of support. This might include friends, colleagues, family members . . . and possibly people you don’t actually know yet.
Why make a list up in advance? Because when you’re in a situation when you need support, odds are you will be stressed out and not thinking clearly. When you find yourself in trouble, it’s much easier to scan the support list you’ve composed than to have to generate solutions under duress.
To compose your ‘Do Call — For Support’ list handy, write down as many people as you can in the following categories
* those who offer a kind, listening ear
* those who offer sound advice
* those smarter than you
* those more skilled than you
* those more experienced than you
* those with whom you can invite to join you in creative brainstorming
* those who have relevant information
* mentors
* people you’d love to have mentor you
* anyone who might reasonably be able to provide you with some form of support
* relevant associations, guilds, mastermind groups or other support groups
(Why not pause now to compose your list?)
‘Do Call’ List #3 — For Profit
Okay, this one can be scary — and is infinitely rewarding.
Who can you call to increase your bottom line?
This might include
* potential customers or clients
* people who might know potential customers or clients . . . or might know people who might know potential customers or clients
* potential professional partners
* actual professional partners
* potential service providers
* actual service providers
* potential subcontractors
* actual subcontractors
* potential investors
* actual investors
* people with whom you’d love to network
* successful people from whom you’d love to learn
* relevant associations, guilds, mastermind groups or other support groups
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Activity: List at least five people you LOVE to talk to — in person or on the phone. People who make you smile when you think of them.
Activity: Call someone on your list. Set up a time to have a chat — in person or on the phone.
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Want more tips and techniques for getting things done? Check out my book YOU CAN GET IT DONE: Choose What to do, Plan, Start, Stay on Track, Overcome Obstacles, and Finish
Available here in paperback and eBook format: http://bit.ly/YouCanGetItDone
***
Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma
July 1, 2021
Stand up!
By user:Amoruso, edited by me, user:was a bee (Image:Bear-standing-zoo-jerusalem.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Are you sitting down? Stand up! (Really). Go set a timer and spend one minute moving your body: march in place, touch your toes, stretch your back — anything.No really. Stop reading and stand up. I’ll wait right here.
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Welcome back. Doesn’t it feel good to simply move your body a bit? Human beings weren’t meant to spend much time sitting. Our biology is tailored for hunting and gathering and otherwise moving around throughout the day.
Alas, these days many of us spend a LOT of time sitting. Instinctively, we *know* this isn’t good…and more and more research is showing just how bad this is for our bodies.
People who sit for eight or more hours a day with have the same risk of dying as people who smoke! A sedentary lifestyle slows metabolism and raises blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels. It increases the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The more we sit, the less long we live.
So what’s a busy DaVinci to do? It’s challenging enough to juggle our multiple ideas, projects and talents — without also fretting about the bodily harm we’re incurring for every hour we sit.
The good news is that it’s easy enough to counteract the damage. If you find yourself sitting for hours at a time, try any of these proven techniques:
* take short physical breaks every hour
Set a timer to go off every sixty minutes. When it goes off, this is your cue to stand up and move your body for one minute. Stretch. Touch your toes. Walk down the hall and back. Fetch a glass of water. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do anything other than sitting.
If you can swing slightly longer mini-breaks, consider recent research that shows huge health benefits of interspersing six five-minute walking breaks throughout your day.
* find ways to stand while you work
If you spend a lot of time using your computer, find a way to do at least some of your work in a standing position.
Standing desks are becoming increasingly popular…but if that’s not practical for you, search your immediate environment for a shelf, counter or other surface that’s the correct height for you to work comfortably.
* assign different activities to different locations
Is there a way to separate particular activities? If your printer is in another room, for example, then any time you print something, you’ll stretch your legs en route to fetch your output.
* stand or pace when you are on the phone
If you spend a lot of time on the phone like I do, then this is a good one: use a headset or bluetooth device so you can be mobile — especially for long calls or phone meetings. Make a point of standing up whenever you take or place a call — and staying on your feet for the duration. If possible, pace.
* use a stability ball instead of a chair
If you must sit, sit actively. Sitting on a stability ball engages your core and lower body.
* walk
This is implicit in some of the preceding posts, but the health benefits of walking can not be overstated. Walking is easy, free, and can be done indoors or out. If you can’t get outside, walk around inside.
* use your imagination
Devise creative ways to spend less and less time sitting down. You’re a creative person — now apply your amazing brain to benefit your body.
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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma
June 1, 2021
Master of None — How to Deal with Apparent Lack of Success
By Libertinus Yomango (originally posted to Flickr as Shame) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], via Wikimedia Commons
The biggest challenge of being a DaVinci — of juggling many talents, many projects, many ideas — is that the more you have going on, the less it seems you’re succeeding in any of them. “Jack-of-all-Trades…and master of none” is the fear, the curse of multi-talented people like you.It can feel awful. It can seem like you’re spinning your wheels, stuck in the same place no matter what you do.
Worse, you can find yourself stressed out and, let’s be honest, frantic — unhealthy for you and unpleasant for everyone else around you.
It can be demotivating. What’s the point of continuing to do all this stuff? I’m not getting anywhere with any of it.
If this sounds like you, understand that it’s a very common challenge of multi-talented people. We tend to be much more aware of all that we haven’t yet done or achieved, rather than what we have.
So what’s a DaVinci to do?
1. Remind yourself of what you HAVE accomplished
Right now, stop and take stock: list at least ten of your accomplishments to date. (No really — stop and make a list right now).
See? You are not a ‘master of none’ — you’ve already achieved successes — accomplishments that you probably take for granted in your daily life. And you will continue to experience more, going forward.
2. Expand your perspective
Rare is the DaVinci who fully appreciates themselves. If you’re feeling less than successful these days, ask some trusted others how they see you and/or your work. Odds are that those who care about you are better able to witness your progress.
3. Give yourself some compassion.
Take a few moments to acknowledge that you are a multi-talented person pursuing several projects, wielding several talents and juggling many ideas. Reflect on everything you’ve got going on. Now: pretend that you are a friend — how would you see yourself? What would you tell yourself?
Be your own best friend: give yourself compassion, patience and understanding.
4. Limit your “To Do’s”.
Most DaVincis are painfully aware of the many, many things they haven’t yet done. It might be ideas they haven’t yet implemented — or projects that are languishing — or the many, many tasks they’ve assigned themselves for today/this week/this lifetime. Some DaVincis have so many ‘To Do’ lists, they might have difficulty locating their desk or work underneath it all.
This isn’t helpful. It makes us feel like we’ll never catch up — because how can we? For as many things as we’re able to cross off our To Do lists, we add more and more things to do. It’s overwhelming and demotivating.
Rather than listing EVERYTHING you have to do today, for example, focus on the one or two most important things you’d like to accomplish. Ask yourself: What is my top priority today? Concentrate on whatever’s most important.
5. Keep track of your “Ta Dah’s”, rather than your “To Do’s”.
At the end of the day, take a moment to write down all you got done. Give yourself credit (literally) for everything you did. Major accomplishments and minor triumphs. Julia Cameron (author of the Artist’s Way) calls this her ‘Ta Dah’ list.
It’s highly recommended for DaVincis. This is a daily practice guaranteed to combat ‘Master of None syndrome’ — it will shift your attention and force you to acknowledge your successes.
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Want to re-publish this article? Go for it – just include the author’s name, a link to this original post and the following text blurb:
Are you struggling with too many talents, skills, ideas? You may have The DaVinci Dilemma
