GarthBox

First, down the road isn’t often a good direction to go in. It’s a path paved for other reasons than the ones you’re set out to achieve. It’s conformity. It’s the status quo, too.

Kicking might not be the best method, either. It’s going to damage the can. Disappoint.

And bigger picture-wise: it’s a massive waste of time.

That doesn’t mean leave the can there and ignore it.

Pick the can up. Put it where it needs to go. Then get on with work that’s worth doing.

Of course, this isn’t about a can. It’s about the little bits of busy work we face in our lives. The stuff we often pass off as “someone else’s job” or “it’s not that important right now.”

Stay Positive & No More Hiding

Photo credit

No, not in the “do what’s right because people are watching” kind of way.

Rather, in the, “someone is going to use this after me” kind of way.

As in, what can you do so the person after you has as great of an experience as you did. (Oh, and ya know, maybe even better?)

We can leave a paper trail or a map. We can leave notes of inspiration. We can publish our watch-out-fors and lessons learned.

Stay Positive & Perhaps It’s Time To Start A Blog?

Photo credit

There’s the direction of taking more responsibility and agency and accountability, not only for actions but the results from those actions. This direction requires you to ignore the status quo, do what’s right and take on discomfort instead of passing it off to someone else.

The other direction is beginning to require more work for less impact; it’s the direction of conformity, maintaining status quo and pushing off responsibility with a line like “I’m just doing my job.”

Stay Positive & Which Way Are You Racing?

Photo credit

There’s not just one reason to list your accomplishments.

• You never know who may ask what you’ve done lately. A friend or your boss may ask. It’s important for both relationships to have an answer at the ready.
  
• If you’re like me, you’re quite terrible at taking photos of moments, big and small in life. The beauty of words is that a few can bring back images from your memory.
  
• At the end of any day, I believe our happiness is contingent on how fulfilled we feel. It’s hard to NOT feel fulfilled when you’ve either added or looked at accomplishments you’ve made, regardless if they happened today or last week.
  
• Over time, you’ll realize how accomplishments you’ve made in the past have made your future state even better than you imagined–motivating you to make more.
  
• The list goes on…

Note: Don’t try to gauge if something is worth documenting as an accomplishment. If it’s something you’ve done or influenced and you think about writing it down as an accomplishment, just do it.

Stay Positive & Start Today

Photo credit

There’s a reason placebos are so important to leverage in a complicated world.

There’s a reason to appreciate sonder: awareness that everyone is living as vivid and complex a life as yourself.

There’s a reason that some of the most complicated recipes result in the most tasteful dishes.

There’s a reason that we make things more complicated than they are (hint: it’s a form of hiding).

We can choose to see something complicated at face value or we can dive into it enough to see that it’s less complicated than we thought or worth the complication, after all.

Stay Positive & What’ll It Be

Photo credit

Others might argue to lead with the why. The problem with starting with the why is that it doesn’t quite get the full attention of the people who you are about to share your expectations with following your statement of the why.

You get the attention by clearly stating what someone needs to do.

Then you get their commitment by sharing the why behind the request.

When you flip it, one of two situations unfold: either there’s too much focus or analysis on the why and time is spent arguing about that versus what needs to be done OR the why is forgotten once the listener/reader/viewer realizes that they’ll be responsible for something.

Stay Positive & Start With The What, Then Reinforce With The Why

Photo credit

If you think the large problem is going to get solved in the last 5 minutes of a meeting, you’re lying to yourself and all those who you called to the meeting.

If you think you can communicate your full and impactful plan for going to market in 4 slides, you’re setting others up for disappointment. (And vice verse is true, too. If leadership thinks you can do that in 4 slides, they’ve set you up for failure.)

And if you think you can truly tell a story in 120 characters. One that resonates. One that gets shared. One that is from the heart. Well…

Those who make real and meaningful change in their work or their communities are the ones willing to both invest in it and listen; to put hours in, not minutes; to sit through and thoughtfully provide feedback to all 42 slides; and who use up their 120 characters in the first two sentences of a narrative that’s worth reading.

Stay Positive & If You’re Going To Commit, Then Truly Commit

Photo credit