Do This Tiny Thing #5

Time To Read: 26 seconds

The days are short. It's dark at 5:00 where I live. The holidays are coming. The tiny thing #5 is perfect for this time of year.

Mindfulness.

You might also call it focus.

The point is to bring yourself into the present moment. Pause. Rest your brain. Clear your thoughts. Tap into energy and awareness that is bigger than your day-to-day. From that place, you gain surprising insights, clarity, calm and sometimes even clear direction forward.

Add a tiny mindfulness practice into your day without any expectations. Here are some ways to do this:

• Start your day with a pause. Even if it's only 5 minutes.
• Stop a few times during your work day and simply sit quietly.
• Try out a meditation app. Deepak Chopra has a good one. I use 10% Happier. Others like Calm or Headspace.
• When you do things (cook dinner, write an email, talk to your parents on the phone), do only that thing. Give it your full attention.

This tiny thing is like a balm for your brain.

Share your creative ideas in the Corporate Rebel HQ Facebook group. Comment or join here.

Do One Tiny Thing #2

Time to read: so short. Time to do the thing: 7-9 hours

My favorite!

Welcome to tiny change #2. Sleep.

Sleep is a crowd pleaser. You love it, right? Research shows that we are chronically sleep-deprived as you squeeze one more hour of productivity out of the day or stress keeps you awake at night.

You can easily make one tiny change to your sleep routine to promote longer and more satisfying sleep. You already know how much better you feel after a good night's rest so the ROI on sleep is obvious.

Here are some ideas:

• Go to bed one hour earlier. Or 30-minutes earlier. Or 15 if that's all you can manage.
• Try a sleep meditation. I like the 10% Happier App. Calm is another good one.
• Spray your pillow with lavender oil.
• Try a weighted blanket.
• Experiment with time to wind down in the evening. Put down your phone an hour before bed. Read. Do quiet things.

In terms of bang for your buck, getting enough sleep does wonders for your mood, focus and ability to get things done.

Tell us all about your tiny sleep action in the Corporate Rebel HQ Facebook group. Comment or join here.

You know what you'll be doing this weekend! Have fun.

Words To Last a Lifetime

Time to read: 26 seconds

Indiana Jones and the Bridge of Faith

One of my clients has been walking through the fire for a couple of months in order to clean up some old stuff and prepare for an exciting career move.

During our session this week, she told me how peaceful, calm, and confident she feels now. Doors are opening, and now she has the clarity and capacity to move forward. She started acknowledging me and thanking me for my help. I love a good compliment as much as anyone, and as she spoke, it became clear, she was not talking about me. She was talking about herself.

The words that poured from her were so profound, I asked if I could share them with you. Clearly, she said yes because here are her words.

"I put my faith in the person I know and the person I trust. I walked off the cliff and knew someone would catch me. I closed my eyes, put my foot out, and the bridge was there."

That is wisdom to last a lifetime.

Please email me and tell me what her quote means to you. I always love to hear from you.

Have a great weekend.

The Power of Changing Your Focus

Time to read: 56 seconds

Change Your Focus

I spent last week working at a spa in Mexico called Rancho La Puerta. (If you've been to The Ranch, email me!) I love teaching coaching classes, hiking, eating vegetables, sleeping, hip-hop dancing and doing sound healing.

I arrived depleted. Exhausted. Anxious. (Can you relate?)

I left hopeful. Calm. Renewed. (You can have this, too without crossing a border or buying anything.)

How can you duplicate this transformation from the comfort of your couch and neighborhood?

Here's what you do: Change what you pay attention to. Decide what you want to make real in your life. What do you talk about? What do you notice? What do you think about? What do you do with your time?

If the answer to those questions is worry, read news, and check items off your to-do list…well…how do those things affect your inner landscape? For many of you, those things equal stress.

Changing your focus is easy:

• talk about something you love
• spend time in an interesting conversation
• take your headphones out and listen to the birds on your dog walk
• cook tasty food
• call an old friend
• find what's right in the people and situations in your life rather than what's wrong

You have more power than you realize to determine your daily experiences. Tune your awareness and suddenly, you'll see that a beautiful reality exists alongside the ugly one. The beautiful reality is just as real (and maybe more real) than the stressed-out one.

Be well and have a good weekend.

The First Step To Get What You Want

Time to read: less than one little minute

Earlier this summer, my children and I spent a week at my parents' house clearing the clutter and hosting a yard sale. Even while schlepping boxes and sorting the toys from my 1970s childhood (bye-bye Spirograph), I think of YOU.

The goal in clearing the clutter from my parents' home is to free them to enjoy the things they love and to ensure that the house remains one they can manage and stay in for a very long time.

What does my parents' yard sale have to do with you?

This...

The first step to move toward the future you want is to clear the clutter. In your life, the clutter might be old thoughts that no longer serve you. It might be saying adios to friends who don't make you feel good about yourself anymore. It may literally be about trashing projects you're never going to do or clearing off your desk so you can focus. All of this clutter clogs your mental and energetic pipes and makes it impossible to move forward.

You know the experience. You try a few tips you read online and even though things feel smoother for a few days, you revert right back to the doubt, fear, and inaction.

Here are three simple ways to clear clutter from your life in order to create space to move toward the things you want:

1. Clear physical stuff. Clean out your closet. Get rid of actual stuff.
2. Clear the mental stuff. Challenge the disempowering beliefs. Dump the doubts and negative thinking.
3. Join the Corporate Rebel Quiet the Noise Challenge. My BFF, Anne, and I will spend 7 days cleaning out your pipes and getting you on the path to what you want. It's like a yard sale for your mind and soul. You can join us here.

Can't wait to spend more time with you!

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. If your friends and family have clutter - mental, physical or otherwise, invite them to join you in the Corporate Rebel Quiet the Noise Challenge. They can join the fun here.

Is your "mental load" crushing you?

When I awoke at 2:30 this morning, the first thing I thought was, "^%&%$, why am I not asleep?" The second thing I thought was, "Yay! I have a topic for my newsletter." So I got up and got to work (because sleep was just not going to happen.)

The first thing I noticed in those wee hours is that I was strung out. Heart pounding, mind racing, wide awake. I wasn't emotional or freaking out about anything, just jacked up and stimulated in a not so good way. As I got to work and tried to put some organization to what was happening, I flashed back to a summer patio conversation with a jacked up working mom. She described her frustration over what she called her "mental load." Ding! Ding! Ding! Yup, that's exactly what was happening this morning.

People tell me that they lose sleep over their bursting to-do lists and constant running around.

Yes, those to-dos are real.

And something else is going on. It's not just the to-do list that creates the stress. Keeping track of and remembering what needs to be done is what puts you over the edge. Let me show you what I mean:

Here's a partial list of my mental load. See if you relate, Jenntest. Your assignment is to replace my list with your own mental load then read to the end to discover some solutions.

• Make sure the dog gets her daily medicine.
• Children's high school applications including deadlines, recommendation letters, and thoughtful essays. Deal with their desire to play instead.
• Plan meals. Plan when to cook meals. Actually cook meals.
• Make list for upcoming international family trip.
• Write and review copy and graphics for upcoming big project. Deal with the fact that business coach doesn't like the graphics.
• Keep track of and follow-up on business insurance requirements for a corporate master services agreement.
• Help son remember to talk to the teacher and actually re-take his science quiz.
• As the chair of the board, track ahead 5 steps to make sure people in the organization don't freak out over some tricky politics and personalities.
• About a thousand other details and things to remember that wake me up running all crazy at 2:30 am.

I imagine that you have a similar list, and that sometimes your mental load gets the better of you as mine did this morning. And, here are solutions that you can implement in a few short minutes to bring more calm to your mind and space to your day:

1. Release the martyr. Recognize the tendency to believe that all the weight has to be on you. (I don't relate to that martyr syndrome at all.)
2. Stop cold turkey. (Too bad that my coach doesn't like the graphics. I love them. Tell him to pipe down and move on. I love you, George!)
3. Share the love load. A nuance to sharing the love is delegate to people who will actually follow through so you can remove the item from your mental load. (Husband is handling the metrics quiz. Son is reliable to make is own lunch but not yet reliable to push through all the great socializing at school to remember to talk to the teacher.)
4. Outsource. Outsource whatever you can. For free or for money. Hire help (assistants, cleaners, chefs - yeah, dare to dream). If you can't hire it, get your family to do it. Partners can become responsible for birthday parties. Kids can make their own lunches. I've even heard they can learn to cook dinners.)

Feel free to email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com and tell me about your mental load or your magic strategy for resolving it. I could use the advice.

With rebel love,

Christina

P.S. I have been working in a big project that will be announced next week. It is a direct response to things I hear like, "I can't possibly make that change," "I'm too old to pivot," "my ideas are too weird to work." A huge dose of inspiration and motivation for your career is coming soon. Stay tuned!

Ask Yourself This Rude Question to Create Instant Clarity

There's no photo this week as everything I could think of was too gross.

When you're making a decision, popular ways to weigh the options include listing pros and cons, envisioning a blissful future, and worrying about the horrible things that could happen with each option.

There is another way to bring quick clarity to a decision (courtesy of Mark Manson, blogger and life enthusiast). It involves a swear word so if you have sensitive ears or little ones looking over your shoulder, be warned.

You can use this rude question over and over on a daily basis to find instant clarity and motivation. Every single one of my clients answers this question in a fit of laughter at one point or another. 

The question is this: 

What kind of s**% sandwich do you want to eat (for the rest of your life)?

I love this question for two reasons:

1. It is a question that grounds you in reality when you start to spin off into magical thinking (maybe...retirement will take care of itself or maybe…my kids don't care if I miss the soccer game). There is a downside to every choice. It's good to be honest with yourself about those downsides.

2. You get to choose. You always get to choose. You even get to choose your flavor of s*($ sandwich. Not choosing is still a choice.

Here are a small sample of the situations where you can apply this question:

• Let's say you are trying to decide if you will do that thing at work that you don't feel like doing. Ask yourself the question and choose: Would you rather create the boring spreadsheet or face the consequences for not doing it?
• You've been offered a great opportunity that requires you to travel away from home a lot. Would you rather miss the time with your family or miss the career growth?
• You're trying to decide if you are going to take an expensive vacation or put more money toward retirement. Would you rather find a cheaper vacation, not take one, or be behind on your retirement savings?
• For me, I ask this question every time I wonder if I should hang up the coaching gig and get a job (with a salary and benefits!) Would I rather sit my butt down and send the marketing email or have to ask my boss for vacation time?

Nothing makes me do the hard parts of being an entrepreneur faster than reminding myself that I choose, the delicious and the s(*% sandwiches.

I hope this helps!

Loved this email? Want to tell me a story? I'd love to hear from you.

Warmly,
Christina

P.P.S. I am working on something that has been inspired by conversations with many of YOU. Stay tuned. It's cooking right now and will be ready for you in a few weeks.