What I Learned This Summer Part 1: Nothing Is Not Nothing

Time to read: 1 minute, 22 seconds

Welcome to fall, Corporate Rebels!

I took the month of August off, meaning I completely shut my business down and had no plans. It's the first time in my life I've ever done something like this. I learned a lot. For the next few weeks, I want to share: What I Learned on Summer Vacation.

Part 1: Nothing is not Nothing

My family has attended a family camp in the Colorado mountains for 16 years. Every year, I have led programs, organized activities and served as the director of the entire camp for 3 years.

I stood by the belief that being so deeply involved in camp brought me closer to the community and enhanced the experience of the weekend.

Every year, I was busy…making sure presenters had supplies, children were in the right places, problems were handled, and interpersonal situations addressed efficiently. I loved the intensity.

This year at camp, my children were counselors, and I had no responsibility. I expected that "doing nothing" would be boring.

I was wrong.

I discovered that Nothing is not Nothing.

All weekend, I had time to talk deep and long with friends I've known for 16 years but never had time to sit down with. People came to my room to hang out late into the night. We hiked. We had happy hour. I took naps.

In the running around for 16 years, I didn't see what I was missing. It turns out there is a lot of slower, quieter, deeply fulfilling things waiting in what seems like nothing. I just couldn't see it under layers of activity and performing.

This may be one of those moments when you think, "everyone already knows that!" and I'm humbled to be late to the party if that's the case.

Five weeks of doing nothing has inspired new thinking and ideas. I'm creating two free live programs for you this fall. They are coming soon. Share this blog with your friends and colleagues and they can subscribe to this newsletter here so they are first in line as soon as the events drop.

Now that I've seen what I was missing, my days will be filled with plenty of nothing. I'm never going back to that kind of busyness again. And, I'm excited to let the nothing create some awesome somethings for you!

Have a great weekend.

Practices That Change The World #7

Time to read: 56 seconds

2023 started intensely. Chaos. Crisis. Emotions. No pause or time to breathe. Last week I finally had a chance to breathe, recover, and reflect.

For today's "practices that change the world," I am going to start with a story. (My parents granted me permission to tell it.)

My mother made an emergency trip to the hospital two weeks ago. I got THAT phone call and in 20 minutes was showered, packed and in the car to the airport. If you've ever done this, you know what the next week was like. (For all you caring folks, my mom is home and doing well.)

In the middle of it all, we received disappointing news that meant more days in the hospital. We were discouraged and sad.

I was the chief note-taker and candy striper so I looked at my parents and said,

"What would make this suck 5% less?"

My parents: "answers to medical questions....going home."

Me: "Not in the future. What can I do right now that would improve this experience by 5%?"

My father said, "beer."

My mother said, "a massage."

I said, "better food."

Which brings me to today's practice....

What can you do right now...this minute...that will improve your experience by 5%?

Studies show that a beer, a massage, and better food improve your experience by 10-15%. In fact, those things created sublime moments in the midst of difficulty. When you aim for 5% better right now, you often get so much more.

I love to hear from you. What's your 5% better?

Have a great weekend!

P.S. If you love this newsletter, your friends and colleagues will, too. Anyone can sign up here.

.

Waiting

Time to read: 30 seconds and change.

Waiting for Godot

In your fast paced, action-oriented life, what is your relationship to waiting?

Consider these situations:

• You feel like you are not appreciated and are being passed over for promotion.
• A director you know walked by you in the hall and didn't acknowledge you.
• You received your performance appraisal and there was some "feedback" that was hard to hear.

You say something you wish you hadn't said in a meeting. In situations like this, the temptation to do something is powerful. When you feel uncomfortable and confused, the desire to fix it, smooth it over, and make yourself comfortable again is a strong driver. In order to restore equilibrium, you might do any of the following: worry, talk to 10 friends about it, call your mom, talk to the person involved, or take a firm stand for what you want.

What would it be like to wait? What happens if you do nothing? What if your only action is to breathe and be still with it?

When you drop the urge to rush to create comfort and sit in your discomfort, my intuition says powerful things will happen for you.

Give waiting a try this week. Then write and tell me all about it.

I'm experimenting with waiting this week, too.

I'm curious to hear what happens.

With rebel love,

Christina

Does Your Life Feel Like a Run Away Train?

Today I am celebrating the 2-year anniversary of the first newsletter I ever sent. It took me a week to write, and then after sending it, I wanted to hide under my bed. (I was terrified). You can check it out below. (The font sucks, I know. I have come so far. And so have you.)

Here's your assignment for today: Take a look backwards and find something that used to be terrifying and hard that is now an easy part of your routine. Then celebrate yourself and your growth! You deserve it.

I hear from people that the pace of their lives is killing them. They are busy, exhausted, and want to get things under control.
 
Does this sound like your life?
 
Here’s the bad news: Control is an illusion.
 
Here’s the good news: You get to choose (not control, choose).
 
Yes, you really get to choose. You get to let go of the pressure to control and instead, choose how you do your life.
 
With these three strategies, you can start to choose and change the pace of your life from exhausted to elated:

1. Tune in to your calendar – Which to-dos make you happy and excited and which things are there because you feel you should or someone else expectsyou to do them. Dump the shoulds and the expects and do more of the excited.
    
2. Give yourself buffer time and don’t compromise it for other people’s needs. Make sure you have space (even 10 minutes makes a huge difference) between appointments so you arrive fresh, on time, and ready to focus.
    
3. Create white space. In our hyped- up and plugged in world, give yourself the gift of silence and space. Put your phone in the glove box when you drive. When you walk to your next meeting, just walk there – don’t check email and talk on the phone at the same time.  You’ll be shocked how quickly great ideas start to flow in the white space.

The goal is your effectiveness and peace of mind. I’ll be sharing more strategies in upcoming newsletters so stay tuned!
 
I hope this helps.
 
Get out there and thrive!
Christina
 
P.S. If you’re struggling with a runaway train of a life, email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com and tell me about your biggest challenge. I’d love to share some strategies tailored for your situation.

P.P.S. Here is a present for being my first subscribers! Thank you!  Click here  to receive "The Corporate Rebel's Guide to Dealing with a Crappy Boss."