By LeAnna J. Carey | Jan 12, 2012
After reading Tony Schwartz's last blog in Harvard Business Review on his positive experience of going off line for a set time I gave some thought to the different contours of happiness. To some, happiness is having a meaningful job, doing good, or perhaps not being sad. My 2012 question is, what actions must we take to be happy within our own lives? For starters, think about what makes you unhappy. What impacts my personal happiness is a sense of being spread too thin and watching my creativity and productivity evaporate.
I took my question to the Twitterverse and asked what actions my trusted pals intended to take to be happy this year. Here is a quick scan of some of the answers:
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Respire Profundo and enjoy the moments
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Less worry, focus/take action
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Simplifying schedule, exercising, saying YES only when I truly mean it
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WIN WIN WIN WIN
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Trust God. Professionally? - stay open, continue learning/shifting
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My actions start with "what do I want?" & really listening to my answer.
My question must have struck a cord, because a few of the forward thinkers want to check in with one another during the year to match up the happiness progress to the actions. If we take a look at these answers, it would appear that "how" to be intentional with the time we have would connect the answers in three ways:
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Expectation. Ask yourself what your expectations are for yourself. Or better yet, as Elli St. George Godfrey said: ask, what do I want? Focus on becoming familiar with not only your strengths and talents, but your desires. It's time to get in sync and resist rolling into this year the same as the last.
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Invest. We all have the same 24 hours, the difference is how we use that time. Just as Tony Schwartz mentioned in his blog, he realized how much time he was spending online - and began to feel that "The lure of email and the Internet had come to feel compulsive, irresistible, and increasingly uncomfortable." Where you spend your time should make sense, after all, we cannot get it back. Invest your time carefully; it was Emerson that said, thinking is the hardest task in the world. Have you set aside time to think?
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Action. If last year is any indication of 2012 - where information, ideas, new market innovations moved at such a fast clip that feeling overwhelmed became the new normal. Chances are you not only lost some mojo, but some happiness as well. Identify and focus on actions that will lead to and maintain happiness. For some, that may mean going to sleep without their iPad next to them.
When racing to beat that deadline or keep up with the speed of the market try not to toss out happiness as if were insignificant. We have the ability to design how we spend our time, what we choose to focus on, and who we engage with - sounds like happiness to me!
A special thanks to@SMSJOE 098@bikespoke @3keyscoach @Tribe2point0 @Natasha_D_G @danielnewmanUV @ambercleveland for such generous responses. Can you guess who answered, win, win, win? It can only be one person....
By LeAnna J. Carey | Dec 02, 2011
What is the one thing that we all have in common? We are all subject to time. The same 24 hours that everyone has. We are nearing the end of the year and when you look back on your accomplishments, did you do everything that you set out to do? In response to the unpredictable market place many have found themselves reevaluating personal and career priorities. One quote worth reflecting on is from Samuel Johnson, in Boswell's Life of Johnson, "it is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done." Even in 1770, it seems as though meandering through life was not an option for some, and clearly, now is not the time to be vague about goals - especially, if you are an executive. If we are to be mindful of our time, then what is it that we should be doing to master or make time work for us both professionally and personally?
First of all, nourish your future. Consider that people are living and working longer, and the new normal is to feel completely exhausted from trying to over, out, and super achieve. John Beeson, the Principal of Beeson Consulting, just posted an excellent article on The Myth of Work-Life Balance, in today's issue of Harvard Business Review, where he emphasizes that for executives personal organization is a more realistic goal than trying to achieve a work life balance. Keep in mind, that Beeson, is being realistic, in light of our rapidly changing business environment. What may help these executives integrate their work with how they nourish their life, and at the same time enhance performance and competitiveness is making a few simple lifestyle changes:
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Power down a couple of hours before bed
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Eat a light dinner - front load calories to the first half of the day
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Move around through out the day - go outside for a few minutes
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Sleep in a dark room
Executives are acutely aware of what they can accomplish in their 24 hours and I am always in awe of what some exec's accomplish. What I see as a risk for executives is the potential of outspending themselves if they neglect to prioritize their personal needs just as they would do for their companies. Aligned with Beeson's concept of organization, executives that nourish or structure their life/lifestyle for success will be living their "A" game in and outside of the office. The key is I-N-T-E-G-R-A-T-I-O-N!
By LeAnna J. Carey | Oct 31, 2011
Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change, Stephen Covey
Do your day-to-day decisions match what you want for your life? To achieve your best personal health, begin by exploring what blind spots you may have about lifestyle habits that don’t enrich to your health, and ask yourself “what can I do differently?”
Most of us have friends or family where we are accountable for our actions, and lifestyle decisions can be included in those discussions, as well. I began to think about Charles Handy's concept of the Johari window in relationship to self-care health and lifestyle decisions. His four room concept is about self-awareness. Room 1 is the part of ourselves that we see and others see. Room 3 contains the aspects that others see but we are not aware of. Room 4 is the most mysterious room in that the unconscious or subconscious part of us is seen by neither ourselves nor others. Room 2 is our private space, which we know but keep from others. In other words, are you open to looking at yourself from a different perspective? This foundational action is key to embracing the lifestyle habits that benefit your health and that match the life you want to create. Opening up oneself and acknowledging that we are our own unique gatekeeper when it comes to our lifestyle choices is empowering.
The next step toward being self aware and empowered is understanding the basics of managing your energy. The three pillars of what keeps our body rhythms in sync and optimizes our energy are:
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Sleep
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Timing
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Light
What ties everything together is making the right decisions about how we get our day-to-day lifestyle habits in sync with our need for energy and rest. For instance, make a conscious decision to turn off the electronics (light) a couple of hours before bedtime (timing); you'll enhance optimal renewal (sleep) → you are more likely to consume the right amount of calories → more likely to have energy → more likely to have a productive work day and home life → more likely to be empowered and self-aware. Getting our body rhythms in sync increases our self-awareness and opens up creative potential in our lives. What is most important is embracing positive moment-to-moment decisions that enrich your health and your life. As Steven Covey has described, we have the power to choose, respond and change.