Quote I’m pondering:
“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”
— Victor Borge
On my reading list:
Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, by Chip Conley. I heard the author on a podcast. His story intrigued me enough to buy this GREAT book. Lots of wonderful information that can be used if you are leading a team made up of different age groups. Also great insight if you are the “elder” in the team about how you can share your experience in a way that gets understood and valued.
The key? Three lessons that you need to master:
1. Evolve.
2. Learn.
3. Collaborate.
“Workers ‘of a certain age’ are in fact less like a carton of spoiled milk and more like a bottle of fine wine of an especially valuable vintage. Especially in the digital era…companies and investors are finally waking up and realizing they could use a little ‘wisdom insurance’: the humility, emotional intelligence, and wisdom that comes with age… those of us with a little aging patina do have something to offer. Especially now.” Amen!
Meetings this week:
I attended two short but powerful meetings this week. One I was dreading and one I was looking forward to. I decided to reframe the “dreaded” meeting into being all about information gathering. I convinced myself that no matter what transpired I was going to look for the positive lesson regardless of how deep it was buried. Wonder of wonders, the meeting went well and will lead to a partnering opportunity. The meeting I was looking forward to was too short but since it’s a regular meeting we will pick up where we left off next week. As I’m writing this I wondered what the two meetings had in common that made them work– the answer is attitude, yup, good old attitude. Telling myself I was dreading the meeting was going to undoubtedly make that a self fulfilling prophecy. Telling myself that I was going to look for positive lessons made that the self fulfilling prophecy.
Ideas I’m Noodling…
Someone recently asked me where I get ideas for the Her Toolbox articles. I have to admit that sometimes it takes me longer to come up with the topic than to write about it. I have a long list of topics that I think might be interesting to my readers, but most of the time the ideas come about from something I’m currently reading or researching. I don’t mind because I love to read and learn and I love to share what I learn. I was stuck recently and decided to Google September marketing ideas and read that some date in September is “national ask a silly question” day. That got me thinking about the types of questions business owners should ask, which led to what they should ask their clients, which in turn led to my wondering about what questions to ask clients that you lose? Yes, you can learn a lot by interviewing clients who decide not to renew their contracts with you. AND you can structure the exit interview so that you maximize what you learn and keep the door open for more contracts… I hope you’ll be on the lookout for an upcoming Her Toolbox about the importance of conducting client exit interviews.
I’m following…
Sahara Rose: author, podcaster, speaker on Ayurveda. Check out her books: Ayurveda (Idiot’s Guide) and Eat Feel Fresh: A Contemporary Plant-Based Ayurvedic Cookbook and her podcast called The Highest Self Podcast…
I’m Celebrating…
Decluttering. Have you heard of the KonMari method?
I read her book, the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing when it first came out and I found it’s simplicity very powerful. You ask one question and make 2 decisions for each item you are trying to clear. The question? Does this bring me joy? Keep the item if it brings you joy. The decisions? Toss or donate the items that don’t bring you joy. You can bless the items you discard and those that you donate so they will bring joy to someone else. Decluttering is emotional and that’s why so many of us put it off. We keep things because of the emotions attached to those things.
But when you really think about it– they are just things. I’ve taken a lot of pictures of things I no longer want to keep and the emotion is still there when I see the pictures. I’m also a big believer in the energy of things and spaces. Are you? Every once in a while it’s really good to clear existing energy and make room for new energy. That’s what I’ve been doing this week and I’m celebrating the joy in keeping, tossing and donating.
I hope you’ll find ideas that spur your imagination and creativity to help propel you forward on your adventure.
