Blog: Sharpen the Saw Archive
As I drove back to my office from my neighborhood Starbucks this morning, I thought to myself, “Ah, now I get to go to work.” I paused for a moment and thought how nice that was. I didn’t say to myself, “I have to go to work.” What do you say to yourself in the morning?
I hope you get to go to work in the morning. I hope you love what you do, love how you help your clients, and have some fun in the process. And I hope everyone who works with you feels as though they “get to” go to work in the morning, too. If you’re doing what you love and are surrounded by the right people, you’ll get to go to work every day. If not, you’ll have to go to work. And if you feel like you have to go to work, it’s time to take a look at your life and your practice.
So I say, “Get your “get to” on!”
If you think all of this talk about having fun is just fluffy, mubmo jumbo, take a look at the hard science behind happiness at Shawn Achor’s website or check out his book, The Happiness Advantage.
Have fun!
It was fifty years ago today, July 11, 1960, that Harper Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” was published. And today I pulled my copy of the shelf to begin reading it . . . again. Many more eloquent writers than I have written more than I ever could about the significance of “Mockingbird,” as Lee refers to the book. So instead of writing about the book, I’ll share one of my favorite quotes from Atticus: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”
If you’d like to learn more about the 50th Anniversary Celebration of this American classic, visit tokillamockingbird50year.com or the Official Facebook Fan Page.
If you have a story of how “To Kill A Mockingbird” has influenced your life or a favorite quote to share, please leave a comment!
Categories: Sharpen the Saw•
on April 9th, 2008•
My friend, Debbie Foster, President of InTouch Legal, sent me a link to the following blog post at The Positivity Blog – 16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School.
Great stuff. Simple stuff.
Why is it that so often the most valuable stuff is the simplest stuff?
Take a few minutes to read it. It will be time well spent.
Categories: Sharpen the Saw•
on November 20th, 2007•
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is a great time to reflect on where you are and where you’re going in your life. The book The Laws of Lifetime Growth is a great place to start. It’s a quick, but invaluable, read.
Constant and never-ending improvement is the key to ultimate success in any area of your life. This book will give you a new perspective on how to tap into your natural abilities to do just that.
As Stephen M.R. Covey says in his latest book The Speed of Trust, “If you’re not continually improving your skills, you’re quickly becoming irrelevant.” Don’t do that to yourself. Get and stay relevant!
Categories: Sharpen the Saw•
on June 21st, 2007•
It’s the first day of summer! Remember when you were a kid, and the first day of summer meant summer vacation was not far away? Well it’s time to find your “inner kid,” and take a vacation. Here’s why.
As part of a study done in the ’70s and early ’80s called the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial, 12,866 men between the ages of 35 and 57 were asked annually for 5 years whether they had taken a vacation in the last years. The results showed that men taking annual vacations were nearly 20 percent less likely to die during the next 9 years compared to men skipping annual vacations. (Women were not included in this study, but there is no reason to believe the results would differ for them.)
The study found that a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease deaths was most strongly associated with taking regular annual vacations.
Bottom line: Vacations are good for your health! Heck, vacations may save your life. Now, go take one.
Categories: Sharpen the Saw•
on January 1st, 2007•
Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Have you made any for 2007? If you’ve made them already or if you’re still contemplating them, I would urge you to make some really big resolutions. Set some really big goals. Imagine your life and your practice five years from now as everything you could want. Then set the goals to make that imagining real.
In his book, Get Out of Your Own Way, Robert K. Cooper explains that by setting really big goals – what he refers to as “open space goals” – you’re actually setting in motion the physiology to achieve them. Cooper backs up his assertions with plenty of footnotes and supporting data. His take on how we can change our lives makes a lot of sense. According to Cooper:
Brain scans show that simply imagining a complex and compelling goal will actually fire the same neurons that will be required to actually achieve that goal. Even a few minutes of open space focus can point your life and work in the right direction for you to achieve what others may think you can’t.
So as you get ready to set your goals for 2007, make them big, wild, wonderful, open space goals.
Click on the link below to download one of Cooper’s essays on “open space” thinking. Download The_Brains Behind_Breakthrough_Strategies-Part1.pdf
Categories: Sharpen the Saw•
on November 27th, 2006•
In his book Head First: 10 Ways to Tap Into Your Natural Genius, Tony Buzan explores what he refers to as our “10 Intelligences.” One of the intelligences Buzan refers to is Personal Intelligence, which he says many consider to be the most important intelligence “because it concerns the only person with whom you will spend every second of your life – yourself.”
Personal Intelligence can be summed up in the phrase “Know Thyself,” and generally indicates that you are in charge of your reactions to events, rather than letting events control you in inappropriate and self-damaging ways. . . . When you have a truly high Personal Intelligence you are the kind of person of whom others say “he seems to be at peace with himself” or “she seems comfortable in her own skin,” and are able to overcome almost any sort of personal adversity.
Here are the first 5 of Buzan’s Top 10 strategies for developing your own Personal Intelligence. (More of Buzan’s list in a future post.)
1. Self-talk: Monitor those constant conversations that go on in your head between you and yourself. Notice whether they are positive or negative and whether they add to the general quality health and happiness of your life or subtract from it. Adjust them appropriately!
2. Treat Yourself as Your Best Friend: Only when you are truly happy with yourself can any other relationships be developed properly. “Learn to treat yourself as affectionately as you would treat anyone who is especially dear to you.”
3. Continue to Develop Other Multiple Intelligences: For example, learn to play an instrument, read new & different types of books, remember jokes & develop a skill in telling them, learn a new language, listen to different types of music.
4. Wait!: In emotional situations, give yourself a moment to pause and contemplate your options and responses. Is it necessary to “blow your top?”
5. Take Regular Breaks: Breaks allow your brain to “change gear.” Brain research has shown that taking even short breaks – one to two minutes – during periods of intense brain activity (read: writing a brief, preparing for a hearing) can refresh your thinking and allow you to explore new ideas.
For more information about Tony Buzan or to learn about his books or workshopsvisit www.buzanworld.com
