Month: November 2015

Morning Routine Leads to Success

For the past five years, I’ve turned my back on routines. Spontaneity has been my routine of choice. Suddenly, though, I find myself bumping into bloggers and speakers who are underscoring the importance of having a morning routine. Hmmm…maybe it’s time for me to listen.

Playwright, filmmaker, and bestselling author Julia Cameron suggests writing what she calls Morning Pages: putting your first thoughts of the day down on paper before any activity has the opportunity to interrupt whatever might be on your mind as your day begins. These thoughts need not be connected – no pressure to write a novel or the first chapter of your memoir. A collection of thoughts, worries, possibilities will lead you to a good idea every now and then. But most of all, these brief writings (3 pages a day) are not for sharing with anyone. No editing here, just free-flowing, uncensored writing. Cameron believes this will enhance your creativity, bringing life to those ideas that have been in the back of your mind and allowing you to find and achieve your life purpose.

Similar to Cameron, John Gannon starts his day off with writing. His writing regimen includes three elements:

  1. Give Thanks. Acknowledge and document those things you’re thankful for
  2. Write Freely. Similar to Cameron, Gannon writes unedited thoughts to get his day off to a good start
  3. Rev Up Your Idea Machine.

Following the advice of James and Claudia Altucher. Gannon began a practice of writing 10 ideas each morning. After just 30 days, he calls this a life-changing practice. And, perhaps the most appealing aspect of this approach for those of us who are loathe to add a routine to our lives: Gannon completes this three-part regimen in under 15 minutes each morning.

Today I found a link to yet another post about morning routines in my inbox. Justin Nault’s routine is a bit more involved than those of Cameron and Gannon. Nault takes a 10-step approach: not 10 difficult steps, 10 do-able steps including getting at least six hours of sleep, making your bed, journaling, and adopting a mindfulness practice. This approach lets you feel like you’ve accomplished quite a bit before you know it, encouraging you to push through ten elements of this routine.

And then, of course, there’s Steve Jobs and his uniform. This genius branding move kept him from wasting time and brain space figuring out what to wear in the morning. While this worked well for Jobs, I’ll take a pass on this time-saver.

Why am I so focused on routine and time-saving activities? I’ve found since entering a nutrition health coach program a couple of months ago that schedules and routines are making my life easier. In addition to implementing a morning routine, I’ve also started meeting weekly with a group of women to hold ourselves accountable for moving our businesses forward. So far, so good on this front!

How about you? I’d love to  hear what you do to keep yourself productive and stay on track to achieve your goals.

Morning Routine Leads to Success was last modified: December 1st, 2016 by Deb Nelson

The Power – And Danger – Of Labeling People

When I think of labels, I think of shelves. Shelves of groceries – inanimate objects that provide varying degrees of nutrition. These labels include ingredients contained in the “food” product, the caloric value, fat content, and other nutrition facts.

Labels make things easy, especially one-word labels: They compartmentalize people and objects for us. That means we don’t have to think. We see or hear the label; assessment is done. Analysis is done. The object or person has been plunked into a box. And that makes labels dangerous.

The impact of labeling people was front and center at Bounce, the most recent session of TEDxDirigo. Several presenters spoke about the harm of using one word to define a person. Imagine the feeling of having one word describe everything about you. Is this a label that describes you all of the time? On a good day? On a bad day? Did you work hard to achieve this label? Who assigned this label to describe you? Are you proud of this label? What else would you like people to know about you?

How in the world can one word describe every aspect of the person you’ve become? Take a look at these words that we use to label people.

Let’s hit the reset button and begin anew. Let’s imagine that before describing someone we acknowledge that one word cannot possibly convey the depth of a person’s identity.
Let’s also acknowledge that the old nursery rhyme got it wrong:

Sticks and stones may break my bones
But names will never hurt me.

Words carry tremendous power. Names hurt. Derogatory comments deflate us when we are at our most vulnerable. These presentations drove home to me that I am on the right track in rejecting labels. Yes, I’ve heard the argument that labels help other people understand us and realize that we all process information differently.

It’s been my experience, though, that labels allow people to respond to the label rather than to the person. Through the presentations at TEDxDirigo this weekend and some writing I’ve come across recently, I see that I’m not alone. I encourage you to:

  • Take a look at the TEDxDirigo November 7, 2015 presentations when they’re posted online sometime after Thanksgiving.
  • Read Pam Slim’s book, Body of Work, where she discusses multipotentialites.
  • Follow the link to Dr. Travis Bradberry’s article where he explores the concept of ambivert (think introvert / extrovert).

The next time you’re tempted to use a one-word label to describe someone, pause for a moment. Then think about what else you know about that person. Don’t know anything else about the person? Have a conversation, and learn a thing or two.

The Power – And Danger – Of Labeling People was last modified: December 1st, 2016 by Deb Nelson