Category: Wisdom

This is from a check-in email I wrote this morning to some coaching colleagues. It feels almost too personal to share, so in the spirit of living on the edge…

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I’ve been feeling well over the past few months, circumstances notwithstanding. Over the past few years I’ve had some paradigm shifting insights into how humans work and it has made such a difference in my everyday experience.

There have been so many things happening over the past few months that I can’t even remember half of them – husband still healing from the massive leg break and surgeries; both kids had reactions to antibiotics at separate times, daughter’s was severe and involved swollen joints and not being able to walk for almost two weeks; over the span of 6 weeks I was at the doctor with one or both kids for various ear infections and stomach viruses; dad had a stroke, he’s okay now but that really shook my world for a few weeks; there are some lumps in my armpits that I’m having to wait four weeks to get checked out – it’s probably nothing, but the waiting for confirmation isn’t my favorite.

Throughout all of this, and the past two+ years which have pretty much looked exactly like what I just described, I’ve also been trying to grow my coaching practice. There have been a lot of planes on the runway but all have been grounded due to illness or crisis of some kind. I still really want to build my coaching practice, dammit! I’ve made small steps, though they were big ones emotionally – beginning to write publicly in a blog (super excruciating to put myself out there like that at first), revamped my website to integrate my coaching and consulting work (I kept those identities separate for many years), gearing up to ask previous consulting clients for referrals and possibly make coaching offers (even though it feels uncomfortable to make requests).

And throughout all of this, I know in my bones and in every cell in my body that I am okay. I am grateful for every moment I have with my beautiful children, with my incredibly loving (and occasionally lovingly annoying) husband, and with myself. Even with myself. Never thought that would happen, yet here I am. In a lot of ways I feel like my life is only just beginning. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow (Hurricanes? Medical emergencies? Just another day in the neighborhood?) but I know that I will be okay, that I am already and always okay, and that is pretty amazing.

I sure seem to have woken up on the right side of bed today. I’ll just go with it and let it be 🙂

All my love,
Anna

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

from Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw

Live joyfully.

Remember that you are a force of nature.

Devote yourself to making yourself truly happy.

The side effects are contagious.

♥ Anna

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

– Howard Thurman

What makes you come alive?

What if you spent one day doing only things that make you feel alive?

Instead of being guided by “I have to” or “I need to” or “I should,” ask yourself “What would make me come alive in this moment?” And then do it.

Just for one day.

There are people from all backgrounds, in all kinds of circumstances, who live this way every day. They feel happy and fulfilled. Their impact on the world comes from a place of happiness and fulfillment.

This is for everyone.

Spend one day doing what makes you come alive. And watch how the world changes.

And then maybe do it for many more days after that.

♥ Anna

I’ve worked in many different contexts – as a researcher, architect, and consultant; in many companies, many offices, and at many desks. And in almost every work environment, whether it was a small business or a Fortune 100 corporation, people either ate lunch at their desks or skipped lunch altogether. I’ve done it. I’ve also not done it, and gotten looks or teased about having the audacity to go out to lunch once or twice a week. Turns out we all would have benefitted had I gone out to lunch even more.

There’s endless research and evidence that indicates why it’s disadvantageous to eat al desko or not eat lunch at all. Google “eating lunch at your desk” and you’ll find thousands of blog posts and research articles with the facts.

Most articles will give you five to ten data-backed reasons to stop eating at your desk. I’ll give you 11,000 more.

Taking a real lunch break will help you:

1. Maximize your creativity, innovation, and flow.
2. Increase productivity and performance – this means you’ll do better work in less time.
3. Increase job satisfaction.
4. Improve and increase social connection.
5. Decrease stress.
6. Reduce distractibility.
7. Decrease long-term health risks like heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
8. Reduce food-borne illness (keep your keyboard cleaner than a toilet seat).
9. Minimize weight gain.
10. Reduce headaches and eye strain.
11. Minimize back and joint soreness.
12. – 11,011. Take back 11,000 hours of your life.

Eat lunch away from your desk and reclaim five and a half years of working hours. Instead of giving even more of your life to your employers, use those hours to recharge and relax. Give them to yourself. Live your life. Optimize your physical and mental health. Be conscious of what you’re eating. Do something fun. Talk to people. People watch. Go for a walk. Sit out in the sun.

It’s a win-win.

♥ Anna

11,000 hours assumes working forty hours per week, fifty weeks per year, for forty-four years, with one hour lunch breaks. You might be on track to giving away considerably more hours than that.