Summer Fun! Day 1

Time to read: 1 minute 5 seconds

Easy = using photos I already have. Hard = trying to find the right "fit" whatever that means

It's almost summer!

For the next 10 weeks, I want to focus on fun, pleasure, and enjoyment. Winter has those things too (if you like skiing and ice-fishing), and summer is all about play and fun.

Let's start with this: Make things easy.

I know that many of you know how to make things harder than they need to be. I know because that used to be me and many of my clients do it, too.

There is no reward for finding the hardest way through something. Let's take writing this newsletter as an example.

Hard = thinking of something new to say every week. Easy = creating a theme and letting my brain get creative on one idea.

Let's look at a work example:

Hard = hating on and resisting your new VP's leadership. Easy (or at least easier) = accepting the VP is the way they are, leaving you free to choose to work with their style or leave. (I realize working for someone you don't jive with is a challenge, as is leaving your job. You can make things much easier by dropping the resistance.)

And a personal example:

You want to vacation in the mountains. Your family wants the beach. Hard = arguing about it and someone becoming resentful on vacation. Easy = choose to value the family time and just go to the beach and enjoy yourself. Beach/mountains? Doesn't matter.

I'll talk about how to get to what matters next week.

Here's to your fun summer!

P.P.S. If you love this newsletter, please share it with your colleagues. They can sign up here.

 

Living With Chaos: Who Are You?

Time to read: 24 seconds

More carnival glass!

Welcome to week 10 of Living with Chaos. Our final week! It's been fun romping through chaos with you. The romping is fun. The chaos, not fun.

Chaos shows you who you are. If you love the way you show up when stuff gets real, great. Keep going. If you don't, think about who you want to be and how to get there.

Maybe you hide. Or flail about like a headless chicken. Or become hard and controlling. All of these seem like natural responses to chaos. Without judgment, ask yourself: Is the way I am responding useful? to me? to others? to the situation?

If it's not, time to do some work. Nothing like chaos to show you who you really are.

If you have unanswered questions about living with chaos, I always love to hear from you. Email me. I enjoy a good challenge and will gladly turn your questions into future newsletters.

Thanks for being part of this merry little band of corporate rebels.

P.P.S. If you love this newsletter, please share it with your colleagues. They can sign up here.

 

Living With Chaos: Opportunity!

Time to read: 41 seconds

Carnival glass. So pretty.

Welcome to week 9 of Living with Chaos. Invite your friends to join here.

We're heading into the homestretch of this series about Living with Chaos. Next week is our last one.

Today: there is an opportunity in chaos. Those opportunities might look like this:

  1. In a corporate restructuring, people leave and move around. Positions open, informal opportunities to mentor become obvious, new projects become available.
  2. When someone is in the hospital, you have the opportunity to spend time with them or find ways to show you care that weren't obvious in daily life.
  3. When things are hard for any number of reasons, it's an opportunity to grow your resilience, see help you didn't notice before, become humble (my favorite), or learn to quiet your mind and tend to your emotions.

If you keep your lens wide, you will see places to step in, or you will head down an unexpected path. Exciting things can happen in those unexpected places.