Day 3,055

Growth:

Last night as I lay in bed my head started to drown in negative thoughts. Worries, fears, stress, and all of their friends started to flood my brain. Funny how when one negative thought finds its way in just before sleep it is so easy for so many others to follow, one after another. My heart rate spiked, I laid on my back with my eyes wide open, and I felt crushing stress.

…and then I had a thought. Then I paused and soaked in the thought, shaped it a little, and then pulled up my Notes app on my phone and typed a little note to myself.

“How quickly all the fears and worries snowball in the mind when one little seed of fear is allowed to find purchase. Why is there seemingly a gravitational pull of negativity and fear once it is first allowed in?”

Mike Kreiling – Random Bedtime Thoughts

As I considered what I wrote something interesting happened. It was as if I turned on the light and all ghosts scattered with the darkness. In choosing to OBSERVE what was happening rather than BEING what was happening my stress all dissipated. I was AWARE of what was actually happening, my mind was stressing over completely foolish things which I either have no control over, are incredibly unlikely to happen, or were being blown way out of proportion. As soon as I was aware of my response/emotion/reaction the illusion was broken and I was able to laugh off the stress! I went back to my Notes app and added another snippet:

“Changing from ‘BEING’ to ‘OBSERVING’ allows a change of perspective to break the illusion of fear. By becoming aware of my thoughts and emotions I can see through them for what they really are.”

Mike Kreiling – More Random Bedtime Thoughts

The moments of crushing anxiety were pretty awful, no question. I am amazed at how one subtle shift in perspective dispelled the demons and helped me to relax and sleep like a champ.

Appreciation:

Due to a last minute cancelation I ended up with an extra 75 minutes this morning in the office before the start of the business day. This “Bonus Time” turned out to be one of the biggest reasons my day was as productive as it was! As soon as the cancelation happened I jumped right into a project I’d been working on for the past week. With no one else in the office and no phones ringing I was able to hit the jets and knock out not only that project, but I also got a hell of a start on another one! 

When the “Time Fairy” brings us a little surprise like that the best we can do is completely take advantage of it and make the most of it. I did just that and it made all the difference today!

Presence:

My office is in the corner of our building and there are two windows I can easily look out while I am working. While hammering through my bonus time productivity boost I couldn’t help but occasionally peek out and see an extraordinary sky with a handful of clouds slowly changing color as the sun rose. I so love the mornings when there are just enough clouds to catch the slowly rising sun to reflect a bevy of oranges and purples and pinks and reds, while there’s also enough blue sky to add an additional accent to the beautiful scene.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,054

Growth:

Sometimes it takes guts to point out an error someone is making. It takes even more guts to say it when that person is your boss. When someone says it as a matter of fact, a matter of caring – regardless of whether or not that person is your supervisor – they are a person of outstanding integrity. I’m grateful to have those people around me, they inspire me to be a better me.

Appreciation:

After finishing Ender’s Game I decided to follow the path into the next book in the series, Speaker for the Dead. It is one of my favorite fictions of all time thanks to the depth and complexity of the characters and their interactions. Throw in several insightful concepts of spirituality, mortality, and philosophy and it really has everything within its pages.

What leapt off the pages for me today was a quote from one of the protagonists, Valentine. She’s spent the past years moving from planet to planet taking time to write the history of each. In a flash of insight she realizes how much she has changed as a result of her experiences.

“And it’s true, thought Valentine.  I’m not the same person, really, from book to book, because each world changes who I am, even as I write down the story of the world.  And this world most of all.”

Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead

It really struck a chord with me. I’ve recently and often written about “never stepping in the same river twice” or never being the same person who’s read the same book in the past. Life changes us and as a result we are not the same person as the day before. Even the process of writing each blog changes the me. Her statement was such a beautifully eloquent way of making that point.

Presence:

While my walk outside in early February over lunch was fantastic, the moment which stuck out to me today was during our monthly Star of the Month meeting. I had the privilege of sharing who the two recipients of this month’s Star of the Month were to our teams. The smiles on their faces when they realized they were the ones being bragged up were priceless! They both did an outstanding job of living into our core values this month and seeing the recognition on their faces was epic!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,053

Growth:

There’s a beauty to getting so lost in work when it is all towards a clear purpose. My task list today was very straight forward and I tackled the majority of what I wanted to get done and I still have much of tomorrow to finish. What I’m most thankful for is remembering just how important it is to have a clear focus and goals to help get myself into a flow state like I was in much of the day. In those moments time seems to disappear and all that exists is the work ahead of me. Tomorrow I will do my best to follow a similar pattern and keep the same rhythm.

Appreciation:

Over the past couple of months I’ve started carving out time over lunch to go to the gym and get a bonus workout in. Today I did the same as I was in between tasks. I paused to wrap up my current task, prepped a few things for the next so I could jump right in when I returned, and then headed out. After 45 minutes of a sweet chest and back endurance workout my heart was pumping, my head was clear, and I was ready to get back to work. Had I just chilled my energy level wouldn’t have been nearly as high and I would not have been as productive as I was. Here’s to quick middle of the day workouts to help increase productivity!

Presence:

This afternoon at work I was obviously deep in thought when one of my teammates made a comment and asked it I was doing okay. I couldn’t help but laugh as I realized just how I must’ve looked in that moment. I was in the midst of some deep thinking and work when I realized I needed to grab something. While walking I was still mentally going through the concept I was working on and I was completely oblivious to the world around me until my teammate made a comment. For sure, I wasn’t present in where I was walking in that moment, but the focus and depth of my thought process was wildly in the moment. Definitely an engaging project to work on for sure!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,052

Growth:

Preparing for a meeting, when done correctly, seriously increases the productivity of the meeting and leads to significantly more success. Thanks to the prep with today the meeting escalated right into deeper topics providing more productive insights.

Appreciation:

Today has been ridiculously busy! Nonstop from 4:35am until about 8:30 when Gavin and I busted out Yahtzee to wind down. While it’s been crazy full I can’t help but smile at how much of the busyness was lived towards a bigger purpose. I don’t want it this busy all the time, but when it is I’m always happy when it is a purposeful busy.

Presence:

The sunrise and gunners today were incredible!!! So many variations of pinks and purples, the sky’s color painted the Mississippi River in similar hues – such beauty!

Thanks!!!

Day 3,050

Been an awesome day full of smiles, laughter, and time with family. Heading to bed much later than normal, so this is a short one.

I’m thankful for so much time with family today! We watched Dominic’s rugby match (our first time at a rugby match) and were joined by Mom and Brad. Time as a family on the drive up, time as a family at the game, time as a family at dinner, and time as a family relaxing at Mom’s. Such a great day!

Last night I read an epic quote from a book Dominic introduced me to and it’s been resonating in my soul all day.

“Death is tragic but, no matter how brief one’s years are, living without a purpose is the greatest tragedy of all.”

Jeremy Evans, See You Tomorrow

Thanks!!!

Day 3,048

Growth:

In re-reading Ender’s Game I’m reminded of why I so enjoy diving more deeply into the most impactful books I’ve read. Today there were a few points in which I had to pause to re-read and reflect upon a sentence or two. When I’ve read it in the past those points were glossed over in my brain, but now they’ve awoken and have me thinking.

A specific example of this was a short line talking about a confrontation between Ender (the protagonist) and a terrible leader he had to work with. Ender talks about the hot anger of the bad leader vs the cool anger Ender held himself. His anger was able to be used for his benefit, the hot anger used the leader. Short and sweet reminder of controlling our emotions rather than allowing them to control us.

While I just wrote about it recently I’m still thankful for remembering the importance of diving deep into books over and over again to truly suck the marrow from their bones.

Appreciation:

Throughout much of my career I’ve led client meetings of all types. These were often to dig more deeply into how their productivity and profitability could be increased, to help them find ways to better engage their talent, and in learning how we could provide better value and service to them in the future. I scheduled, planned, prepared, and led those meetings.

Today was quite different, I was a participant of the meeting and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of being able to listen and think. Throughout I was listening at a deeper level, seeing otherwise invisible connections, and then considering future solutions and opportunities. I was writing notes feverishly, afraid the thoughts might vanish before I had time to take stock of them. By the time the conversation was over I’d written several pages of notes and captured so many ideas and insights. It was AWESOME!!!

I used to find joy in the ego rush of leading a meeting, today I found a greater satisfaction and joy in listening and thinking. This is something I will work to do more often.

Presence:

Often our brains and fears and egos get in the way of having the difficult but necessary conversations we need to have. When we find the courage (or, more likely, the wisdom) to talk through the difficulty we find a deep sense of joy and connectedness, even if the end result is not what we desired. Today I was reminded that within these conversations when we open ourselves up completely and are fully vulnerable we often find a wildly deep sense of presence.

Thanks!!!

Day 3,047

Growth:

Taking time to define the true issue is time well invested. It is easy to shoot from the hip and guess, but so much more successful to pause and make sure the right challenge is being solved in the first place. 

This came up in two different ways yesterday, and both were handled better as a result of clearly defining the issue. Much research was involved, many different factors were examined, and once correlation it was found it was much easier to solve.

Appreciation:

While it may not be the most exciting thing to most people, I am very thankful for my list of books I like to read at least once per year. Each of them hit me for different reasons and are excellent reminders to dig deeper rather than just go wide. This month I’ve already read the following for the umpteenth times:

• Awareness by Anthony de Mello
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Today I started re-reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and I have the following books all ready to go next:

• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
• Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
• Die with Zero by Bill Perkins
• New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
• The Book of Joy by the Dalai Lama and Bishop Tutu

Though the books are the same each time the me who reads them is always different and happens to learn new things from each. Their depth and complexity seem to increase with each read and the nuances catch me at different levels than the times before. Throw in some excellent reminders and I’m always so excited to read and re-read these books.

Presence:

This weather is AMAZING!!! The moment that really sticks out to me today was when I took my lunch cooler back out to my car a little before noon and soaked up the glorious Spring feeling weather – in late January! Later in the evening Gavin and I snuck out to the park next door to throw the football around while also taking in the unseasonably warm fresh air.

Thanks!!!