It’s your move …

Posted by HorrieM

The pieces on the playing board are still moving.

Though that doesn’t really matter.

Because even the board has not settled yet.

So, what can you do?

You can go play on a separate board you know.

One you have played with before and understand.

With all the known pieces.

You can wait for the board to settle.

If it does, then you can see what pieces are left to play with.

If it doesn’t, then this is now the new evolving playing board.

You’ll have to find the pieces and work with what you’ve got.

You can assist with settling the board.

Working with the pieces and (re-)establishing the rules of the game.

Or, you can design your own totally new playing board.

With any many, or as few, pieces as you like.

It’s your move.

 

“Business is like a giant game of chess: you have to make strategic moves, and learn quickly from your mistakes.” – Richard Branson

“Don’t try to beat the competitors at their own game. You have to invent a new game – and master it.” – Reid Hoffman

 

It’s the simple things …

Posted by HorrieM

There is value in doing the simple things well.

Being extraordinary at doing the ordinary.

We tend to know what they are.

Arriving early.

Actively listening.

Using someone’s name.

Spelling someone’s name correctly.

Returning a call.

Cleaning up after yourself.

These may not seem like much at all.

Until they are not there.

Arriving late.

Being interrupted.

Forgetting someone’s name.

Spelling someone’s name incorrectly.

(You know when your name was last spelled incorrectly.)

(And you probably remember who it was.)

Unreturned calls.

Leaving a mess for others.

(Which inevitably leads to those office kitchen signs.)

If the simple and ordinary are not done well …

… what do we suppose for the complex and difficult?

 

“What is easy to do is also easy not to do.” – Jim Rohn

“Success is doing ordinary things, extraordinarily well.” – Jim Rohn

 

Have you gone to the source?

Posted by HorrieM

They think that is how it happens now.

There is an assumption it is done this way.

They presume this is what was said.

There is pure speculation.

They guess it was done correctly.

It may have been implied.

They suppose that’s right.

There is an inkling.

There is gossip and innuendo.

They suspect it is done like that still.

It was insinuated.

There is conjecture.

It has been based on hearsay.

So, before going any further.

Stop and find out.

Go find the source.

 

“Assumptions are made, and most assumptions are wrong.” — Albert Einstein

“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.” – William Pollard

 

You are here. Was it how you planned it?

Posted by HorrieM

How did you get to where you are now?

It may not have been an obvious or clear path to here.

Looking back, it all makes sense.

Back then, it would likely have made no sense.

There might have been a plan.

The plan has been modified.

There might have been a direction.

Though there have been many changes of tack.

There was perhaps a vision.

That appeared differently.

There was a destination.

With side roads and detours.

Where so you want to go next?

The plan may be a straight line.

The journey will likely not be.

 

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” – Steve Jobs

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” – Douglas Adams

 

Through the eyes of someone else

Posted by HorrieM

Have a new pair of eyes take a look at it.

Either your own, after taking a break or sleeping on it.

Or someone else completely.

When you are disappearing into the project plan.

Have someone else review the plan.

When the lines of the process map are no longer connecting.

Walk through the process with someone else.

When you’ve been staring at the document for too long.

Ask someone else to proofread the document.

It will always come back better.

Then perhaps you could do it for someone else.

 

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

“Twice and thrice over, as they say, good is it to repeat and review what is good.” – Plato

 

Will you be the same person in ten years?

Posted by HorrieM

It is likely you are not the same person you were five years ago.

Even if you did nothing, you’ve had to adapt.

To changes in your environment.

To new technology.

To a new role or a change of circumstance.

It is very likely you are not the same person you were ten years ago.

Or fifteen, or twenty.

(You can keep going depending on how many years ‘experience’ you are.)

You may have been very deliberate with what you have done.

With the learning, the experiences and challenges sought out.

You will very likely not be the same person ten years from now.

What you do between now and then is up to you.

Be intentional with your growth.

 

“If you want to reach your goals and fulfil your potential, become intentional about your personal growth. It will change your life.” – John Maxwell

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” – Karen Kaiser Clark

 

Neural highways for habit traffic

Posted by HorrieM

You know you need to change.

You know what needs to be done.

To break an unhealthy habit.

To change the default action.

To replace a detrimental behaviour.

The old needs to be replaced with the new.

New creates a new neural pathway in the brain.

But the old neural pathway, old habit, is well established.

The old pathway is like a highway.

The new neural pathway is a dirt track.

Continuing with the new behaviour will build the pathway.

It becomes a lane.

Will power and self-motivation is required.

It becomes a road.

Focus and repetition.

A new highway is built.

The new habit now has a strong pathway to drive on.

What neutral highways are you building?

 

“For things to change, you have to change.” – Jim Rohn

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”– Jim Rohn

“We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.” – Jim Rohn

 

(I couldn’t decide which Jim Rohn quote to include … so I went with all of them.)

 

What are you going to leave behind?

Posted by HorrieM

What is not serving you anymore?

The behaviours.

The habits.

The … stuff.

What are you going to leave behind?

That self-doubt.

The lack of discipline.

Those negative and toxic people.

Excuses.

Overindulging.

(Be it food, alcohol, binge-watching … insert you’re own here).

Playing small.

The need to please.

Your ego.

Some of that attitude.

The lack of motivation.

Trying to do it all yourself.

Hesitation.

Saying ‘yes’ too often.

Comparison to others.

Judging others.

Stress (though not the good eustress).

Burning both ends of the candle.

Multitasking.

Procrastination.

 

“Good or bad, habits always deliver results.” – Jack Canfield

“You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!” – Stephen R. Covey

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

 

That time of the year

Posted by HorrieM

Time to reflect.

Time to share.

Time to give.

Time to look up and be present.

Now, and all year round.

 

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Christmas”, he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.

“Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!”

― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

 

“A good conscience is a continual Christmas.” – Benjamin Franklin

 

“It’s not what’s under the Christmas Tree that matters, it’s who are around it.” – Charlie Brown

 

Stress … yes please!

Posted by HorrieM

Are you stressed?

Stress can be good for you.

It must be the right sort of stress though.

Too much stress can be debilitating.

It depletes energy and decreases performance.

That type of stress feels overwhelming.

It is negative stress.

There is stress that is positive.

Eustress (interestingly pronounced “you-stress”).

This is the stress that pushes and motivates.

It energises and improves performance.

It is a challenge that you can handle.

The excitement of a project.

The fulfilment of organising an event.

Doing something interesting.

Learning something new.

Get some stress in your life.

The eustress kind.

 

“Role models who push us to exceed our limits, physical training that removes our spare tires, and risks that expand our sphere of comfortable action are all examples of eustress—stress that is healthful and the stimulus for growth.” – Tim Ferriss

“Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects. If you want to live a long life, you need eustress, that is, a deep sense of meaning and of contribution to worthy projects and causes, particularly, your intergenerational family.” – Stephen Covey