Tip Thursday - Motivation

Never measure from where you begin, measure from where you are.  Looking backward will serve to highlight how far you've come and give cause for celebration. Looking forward gives you a measure of how far there is to go. Your motivation will increase the closer you get to your target. Measuring from where you started will always seem like there is so much yet to achieve, whereas measuring from where you are demonstrates how much closer you are to achieving your desired outcome, and motivates you to continue the journey.  Always consider:  How much you've done versus how much there is left to do.

The Value of Traditions

As I write this blog it is Easter Monday.  My family have come and gone, the feasting is long over. However, the gathering together of the family started me thinking about the value and meaning of the traditions we hold. There are rituals that families follow that help imbue to that family its roots and values.  Traditions may have religious significance or be more familial in focus, but they tend to mark the important events within the growth of a family.

My maternal grandparents were Ukrainian.  This meant that holidays were punctuated with specific foods and traditions that had, at their foundation, the Ukrainian culture.  For Easter, the hand painted Pysanky eggs were a traditional decoration on the table and were an art form I turned my hand to a number of times over the years (not with any significant degree of talent or success however).  This year, my young grandsons arrived for Easter dinner with a wooden version of these beautiful eggs, beginning their introduction and connection to a history and past that they have yet to understand but that is starting to take shape none the less.  Our traditions serve to pass something of meaning and value to our future generations.

Organizations too develop their own unique traditions and rituals, serving to establish their culture.  It is through these small moments that the values of the organization are communicated, that the roots take shape. It is in our moments of celebration that we define what is important to us, it is in our mourning that we give voice to what we value.  These moments shape a religion, they shape a family and they shape an organization.

I invite you to give thought to what messages you are passing on to your children with the traditions you have created and observe, the messages that will carry on to your grandchildren and their children in turn.  Are they messages of love, of peace, of understanding?  Are they values that will help them to shape positive lives, families and communities?

I invite you to give thought to what messages you are passing on to your employees with the traditions you have created and observe, the messages that will carry on to their employees and those below them.  Are they messages of love, of peace, of understanding?  Are they values that will help them to shape positive lives, families and communities?

I look at the bowl of Pysanky, gracing the center of my Easter table, and I think of the history they represent, of family I have loved and lost, of the generations of family that have come before me that have had a hand in crafted the 'me' that I am and the young men my grandsons are becoming.  I am thankful that these traditions and rituals have, at their foundation, a history rich in strength, a positive work ethic, and a willingness and drive to succeed that served my ancestors well in the past, as they serve me today, and that will continue through my grandchildren.

What are the traditions you are creating within your organization today and how will they stand the test of time?  We often get caught up in what is expedient without considering how it will test out over time.  Know that each action and step you take today is laying the foundation for what is to follow.  Take a moment today to think about the legacy that your work is creating and determine whether it is one of design.  It is never too late to begin creating the rituals that will establish the traditions of the future.
 

Re-learning the value of Awesome!

Just a small little post today, in an effort for us to start off this year remembering to give thanks to many of the small, seemingly inconsequentially positive things that might happen to us over the course of our day.  It's all too easy to find the negative, or to have others point it out for you should you have missed it (god forbid!), but it's often difficult to recognise the small moments, those fleeting, tiny, positive moments that can make life so sweet and put us back in touch with ourselves and what really matters

This is the basis for Neil Pasricha's award-winning website http://www.1000awesomethings.com/ and the associated bestseller - The Book of Awesome.  In an effort to refocus himself during some difficult times in his life, Neil began his Awesome blog... simply to remind himself to be more mindful of the good things he had in his life, rather than only focusing on the bad.  His posts resonated with readers and went viral!  Why do we celebrate only the big positive moments in our lives, rather than celebrating all of the small, feel-good moments we experience?  Failing to do so means that they often slip by us without an impact, not awakening us to the myriad number of moments in our day that we could be experiencing some joy.

Awaken your inner 3-year old, the part of you that felt joy and wonder in experiencing things for the first time.  Let your heart lead you.

The Work:

Create an ongoing Awesome List of your own.  At the end of each day add to it at least one new moment you experienced that day that brought you some joy.   Remember... they needn't be huge, but they do need to be heartfelt.  You may find it difficult to start but will likely get better at recognising these moments each day and may be hard pressed not to jot down a number of them each day.

Some of my recent moments?

• the sigh of pleasure in taking my first sip of  Chai latte each morning.  Heaven!
• the first night sleeping in clean, crisp new sheets
• the purity of looking out at fresh, newly fallen snow - before anyone has walked on it - as it blankets the lawns and roads, coats the trees.  It makes even the drabbest of views look cleansed and magical
• the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil (yep, likely this is just a 'me' thing, but I love the smell and prefer regular old pencils to mechanical ones just for this moment!)
• the unmitigated pleasure of eating... Jello.  Sucking it off the spoon through your lips, squirting it through your teeth, rolling it on your tongue.  Instant childhood!
• the moment when someone stops their car to create a break in traffic for me to cross the road to the park with my dog in the morning, rather than leaving me to stand there forever waiting to get across.  I love this person!
• that very first moment when the seat warmer in my car kicks into gear, taking the chill out of my leather seats.  Blesses upon the person who first thought of installing this into cars.  Indebted forever to you!

What's your list?  Don't hesitate to put down anything that comes to mind, that makes you more appreciative of who you are, what you have, what you do... that makes your life special and... well... Awesome!

Celebrate Good Times... Come On!!

If you're like the rest of us, the Holidays are a crazy-busy time; rushing to finish those last projects at work, your gift shopping, wrapping, baking , attending the round of Holiday parties... the list can seem endless.

Before you get too caught up in the 'doing' for everyone else though... take a few moments for yourself.  Grab a coffee (or, in my case, a tea!) a piece of paper and a pen, sit down, relax and reflect on the past year.  We get so caught up in moving things forward, in continuing to make plans and goals for our future, that we often overlook taking the time to look back on everything we have achieved and to celebrate those successes.

The end of the year is a great time to take stock, to take a few moments to acknowledge that although there may still be outstanding items on your to-do list (as there always seems to be!), you have crossed many more items off of the list.  On your piece of paper, I'd like you to begin creating a list of everything you achieved over the past year.  Big, small... it doesn't matter.  It all goes down.

Consider work.  What were those special projects and assignments that you worked on.  What new skills did you develop, new experiences did you have?  What about your personal life?  Any issues you finally managed to resolve, money saved, exercise programs started, weight loss goals reached, relationships built or strengthened, spiritual insights gained?  Go through it all and keep writing!  Don't qualify any, there is no room for thoughts of 'it's not big enough... or important enough'.  This is your list, your life.  If you did it, if you achieved it, write it down! 

When the list is as complete as you can make it right now (and there should be at least 20 items there or you're being too critical!), read over each one, considering how you feel about the achievement.  Does it instill you with pride?  Do you get a warm feeling thinking about how much that action helped you grow, or perhaps benefited others?  Revel in this feeling.  Bask in it.  Roll in it.  Bathe in it.  In short... CELEBRATE IT!  Throw a party for one and, if you're really feeling good, invite others to share in your successes and perhaps help them to celebrate some of their own!

As you move into the New Year and begin to formulate thoughts and plans for the year ahead, I want you to keep this list close at hand, as a reminder of just how capable you are.  Any time you find yourself thinking you're not up to a given task, pull this list out and read it over.  It's filled with examples of times when you truly were 'enough'.  Let your past accomplishments serve to inspire and motivate you to continue to grow and challenge yourself through the coming year.

Let me know how this exercise goes for you, what insights you gained, messages learned.  Really want to take it a step further?  Share a success story with us here and let us Celebrate with you!