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Tag: choices

Power down

Do you power down your devices or put them to sleep? Are your machines and electronics constantly running or do you turn them off to conserve energy?

What about yourself?

When was the last time you gave yourself a day to “switch off” — a day disconnected from alerts and email dings and calendar reminders. A day powered down and turned inward to reflect and enjoy the people around you.

Schedule one day this week for a “digital detox.” Your smartphone can wait and whatever email arrives in your inbox will be there tomorrow.

Extend the life of your battery. Power down.

What is your sacrifice?

If you don’t have an answer, you don’t love it enough.

If you care, REALLY care about (fill in blank with your: project, partner, job, client), you will sacrifice something. Results don’t come without sacrifice.

You might sacrifice time or quality or money or reputation or fame.

But if you don’t know what you have sacrificed, either you don’t care enough or you aren’t fully aware. And the only way you know if your efforts are worth anything is if you can identify what you have given up and what you have received in return.

Bonus: Read how Nepal has taught me about the sacrifices involved with love.

“What took you the longest to learn?”

Oprah asks her guests this question on her Super Soul podcasts. A thoughtful pause follows, and the answer is often a mix of wistfulness, courage, sometimes even regret.

How would you answer the same question?
What lesson has taken you the longest to learn?

Recognizing distance

We often consider how far we have to left to go.
Three more days until holiday.
$10,000 to hit our fundraiser.
Two terms left in the fiscal year.
Four more miles in this run.
Six credits to meet requirements.
Yet how often do we measure and appreciate the distance we’ve traveled?
Let the ground you’ve already covered fuel you.

When your world turns black

Your project will fail. Your spouse will file for divorce. You’ll be looked over for the promotion. You’ll lose money on your startup. Your child will get arrested. People will talk badly about you. It will start raining as soon as you leave the office.

All of these things can happen.

Are you prepared?

Life can be hard. It can feel like a momentous effort to get out of bed. Yet these are the days that matter. These days show you who you really are, what kind of stuff you’re made of, who you call in your dark hours. You can’t change what is happening around you, but you can choose how you’ll respond.

Do you have a game plan for life’s lows?

Write a go-to list that provides extra healing and care for days you’re feeling less than prime. Watch a movie, meditate, write, take a yoga class, go for a long walk, listen to great music, eat delicious food. Even small actions can help reset your energy and redirect your focus.

And if you can’t snap out of your funk, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Reach out. Even your closest, cheeriest friends’ worlds have turned black at some point in time. You are not alone and never will be. The sun will return.