It turns out I like the flurry - tending to stay in motion

Yesterday was a crazy day in my life. I had to complete two vastly different projects. First, I was presenting my "Let's Talk Clouds" workshop at a local middle school.

As the Earth Lady, I work with schools to help students jump-start their interest in science, specifically Earth Science.

Then, I switched gears and released my interactive Tarot reading ebook. As part of the project, I had to finish the programming, create the cover, and upload the entire thing to amazon.

I'm excited about this project because it allows the reader to choose a new card every day from a random selector set. Then, the reader sees the interpretation and a special call to action individual to each card. I've been working on the interpretations for years, but I had never figured out exactly how to create the interactive portion of the book.


And here's how the title of this blog post relates. I didn't try to focus on both projects at once. They are too disparate. As I've gotten older, I've seen the wisdom of limiting multitasking. Although it seems efficient, it isn't. It's a will-o'-the-wisp. It leads you down the primrose path of thinking you are being efficient while all the while your brain is operating at a slower speed and lower level.


Here's what I did do. I completed the workshop with the kids, and I gave it my all. I left it all on the classroom floor, as they say. We had a blast. Their transformation from before the workshop to afterward startled me. They went from post-lunch food coma to shouting about how much fun they'd had in just under 40 minutes. I can't wait to go back.

And after I got home from the workshop, I jumped into the Today's Tarot project. I created the cover. I finished the programming. I uploaded everything to amazon, and I released the entire thing.

It was exciting and energizing. I didn't feel my exhaustion until I was finished. And then I dropped like a stone.

Why did I just write up my entire day for you? Well, it's because I've had a realization. If you work hard, if you commit yourself to excellence on each project, you will succeed. And here's the most important thing. The key to that success lies in maintaining the level of focus and activity on each project while you are working on it. The Law of Inertia comes into play here. "A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion." If we take a lot of time between projects, we will fizzle out on them. If instead, we rev those engines, blast through the projects with full dedication and focus, and only take the foot off the gas for a bit between them, we will fly. And we will fly because we are already in motion. We are already doing and creating so it becomes easier to keep doing and keep creating.

To refocus my brain on a new project requires almost no time if I do it correctly. I've started taking the time to recharge by doing a quick breathing meditation. It is simple, and the best part? It's only a minute long. I've created a small video of the meditation. The next time you need to recharge between projects, go ahead and try it.

And let me know how it works.

Building my sand castles (or the devil is in the grains of sand)

I feel like I've joined the rest of you in the 21st century. I'm signing up for paperless billing (I can handle getting everything via email and still pay all my bills and do all my accounting, right? Right? I'm not so brain-fried that I can't manage that, I hope.)

It's always interesting to me setting up this sort of infrastructure. There is all this organizational and logistical effort up front with the hope that your work will be pay off in time (and tree) savings in the future.

I call this time of front-matter organizational set-up, gathering my sand. Bear with me. I look at most big projects as building a sand castle. Before I can build the sand castle, I need to gather the sand. And while I'm doing so, a lot of the sand trickles back down away from my building site. There are all these grains of sand (read details) that must be gathered and addressed and formed into some sort of usable mass before you start building. Then, once you finally have the sand gathered all in one place and moistened down so you can work with it, you can start on construction of your dream castle.

In many ways, my life is like that in this moment. I've been gathering a bunch of sand. Putting all the bits and pieces on the field. I'm almost ready to start building this next phase. 

 

There will be much more to come on this thought process in the next few weeks and months as I fabricate my new reality.

I'm excited!

Go at your own pace but show up.

Some people run marathons. Some people can bench press 250 pounds. Today, I am just happy that I was able to do 24 angled push-ups (three sets of eight) in my clap push-ups challenge and walk 2 miles without a cane.

A couple of weeks ago I could do no more than three sets of five push-ups, and I was walking with my cane pretty much everywhere.

To me, diligence is key. So is consistency. Whatever it is we are trying to do if we show up, day in and day, out we will eventually progress. Even if in the moment it feels like we're walking backwards, at least, we're still walking. 

Every single thing that happens to us ends up being some sort of learning experience, I think. Most especially the things that cause us the greatest challenges end up being our greatest teachers. So, my questions for you are these. How are you going challenge yourself today? What goal post will you set for yourself? How will you thrive?

My challenge remains to keep getting stronger, more fit, happier, healthier, more productive, and more active in the causes I support. If your challenge is similar, let me know. After all, we're all in this together.

Evaluation: Or How I Use My Time

Under the heading of: "If you can't say something nice..." I just deleted a comment/critique of a divination tool a friend had posted.

I think the concept for the tool is super cool. I think the execution is too general, pedantic, and tells you *exactly* what you already know (or should already know, like, "you are not happy when people treat you like crap" [this last was paraphrased]). Everyone else in the thread was thrilled with what they got and said so in their comments. I found it only somewhat accurate and not terribly useful.

But, a critique, in that way, was not requested, and so I removed my comment. I wasn't asked to review the product. So, why did I feel the need to give my honest response? And more importantly, why did I click on it to begin with?

I'm a natural evaluator and have done that work many times. So, I tend to look at most anything new with an evaluator's eye. I also do readings and so cool new tools spark my interest. Those explain why I clicked and why I evaluated in my head. But the question remains, why did I feel the need to write my thoughts down and post them in a comment?

Perhaps, that was this tool's use for me. I sparked my own thinking about how I use my time.

 

I believe this is about awareness, evaluation, and vigilance. If I remain aware about where my time is going, I can evaluate my activities and thoughts in the present moment. If I am on task towards my ultimate goals,* I am good to go. If I am not, I must remain vigilant of activities that waste my time and correct my course in the moment.

How about you? How do you maintain your course towards your ultimate goal? Do you set up reminders? Do have an easy or tough time with staying focused?

*More on Ultimate Goal coming soon.

Vacations: a vital part of life.

Why I take vacations

I don't do it often, but it turns out I need the recharge time.

I'm crawling back to myself on this break. I've been doing a lot of thinking about my roles in the lives of my friends, my clients, my students, and the world at large.

The big revelation? I spend a lot of my time and my self generating output. I give readings, advice, education, performances, etc. And usually all of that comes with its own brand of communication. When I perform, I strive for an exchange of energy. The audience and I make time for a chat. It's just that some of the chat is me making music and them listening. The rest of the time, we converse. Truly.

When I teach, the exchange is almost as 50/50. I learn from my students almost as much as they learn from me. 

When I do readings or coaching, the energy output is much more mine since the people who come to me want my guidance and rarely is it a full exchange. Rather, it is my output to help them heal, progress, and grow towards their highest path.

When I volunteer for causes I support, I do so with an open heart and the fervent hope that what I am doing will help make a difference. There is satisfaction in a job well-done in volunteer work that I rarely get from any other sort of work I do.

I've always operated on the premise that my wellspring was infinite. I tell clients all the time that they need to stop, breathe, and recharge. But it turns out, I've not been taking my own advice.

Before this vacation, I was running on fumes. I was surviving, but I was not thriving. And since my goal is to not only survive but thrive, it has become clear to me that I have been working at cross purposes with myself and with my highest path.

Well, that had to stop. I wasn't paying attention to myself and my needs. And my body started giving me messages that if I didn't chill out, it was going to chill me out for me. So, Rich and I hatched this rather last-minute plan to go away for a bit before the craziness of the autumn season falls upon us.

Once the Ren Fest starts, I will be working seven days a week until December 26th. Since I already maintain a similar pace and have been for the last few years, I needed this break.

And that makes me think. How many of us push ourselves past our limits and forget that we even have them? How many of us exhaust ourselves with work and when we're done look for the next thing on the list to tackle? There will always be another challenge, another item on the "To-do" list. Another project will beckon. Another quest will present itself.

And yet, if we aren't well-rested, we will not be at our best. If we are not relaxed, we might falter when we most need to stand strong and resolute.

This is all my way of saying that I've decided to cut myself some slack. And I want to encourage everyone else to do that too. The projects, goals, and to-do lists aren't going anywhere. They will be there tomorrow. 

Here's the thing, though. The instant you look at a project with dread rather than anticipation, it might be time to look at either your motivation or your energy level. I think even the most arduous and heinous things we need to do to live our lives can present a fun challenge rather than a drudgerous task. The things that tip that scale? First, is the level of our fear about being able to do it well. To that I give that ol' platitude, "Feel the fear and do it anyway." It might be corny, but it is true. This is for another post, but when we feel fear, that reaction is giving us clues. They key here is to learn to interpret them and then utilize the information they provide. More on this later.

Second is our stress level. If we fear being able to achieve our goals, often, we will avoid embarking on the mission. If we are too tired or too stressed, we will avoid the arduous task like the plague. And that will only prolong the agony. So, the lesson I've learned here is if we are too stressed to do justice to our task, perhaps it's time to take a break and relax and release some of that stress before we accept the challenge. Then, we can come to it with fresh eyes and a full heart.

And by the way, it doesn't have to be a long break. Not every break has to be five days in Key West (though that doesn't hurt, let me tell you). A break can be five minutes of breathing with eyes closed or a walk around the block or petting your cat (one of my personal favorites). If we do something to release the grip of stress, we will do better and we will be better. Certainly, we will feel better.

I leave you with a quote from one of my favorite movies, "The Princess Bride:" "Remember, if you don't have your health, you don't have anything." -Count Rugen

Productivity Tuesday: Contracts are a process

Here's a bit of advice.

Read every contract you are about to sign. Read it, understand it, and agree with it. Or don't sign. If you don't understand, talk to a lawyer. It will save you aggravation and potential heartache in the long-run.

When you review a contract someone wants you to sign, you must remember you have a great deal of power. If what you are reading either doesn't make sense or will bind you into an agreement you don't want, you can change things. Break out the red pen and mark it up to what you are willing to sign. Then, send it back to the contract originator for their perusal. Once they have reviewed it, they might either agree with your changes or they will come back with another modified offer. You also take the chance that the entire thing might not work out, but chances are an effective contract negotiator will understand the paradigm and participate in it. Having said that, you must be willing to walk away from any contract that will not meet your needs and expectations.

Remember, contracts are a negotiation. They are not binding until you've signed on the dotted line. Until then, you can navigate and negotiate terms that will work for you (and talk with a contract lawyer if you need to do that so that the legalese doesn't confound you). If you do that, you will place yourself into an optimal working arrangement. If you don't do it, you might find yourself stuck in an untenable situation that you can't fix until the terms of the contract expire.

As we might all guess, the former is far preferable. Remember, they company or entity that wants you to sign, wants you to sign. They also hardly ever want the contract to work in your favor. It's not personal. It is just that it is seldom in their best interest. With luck, they want it to be fair, but unless you read it and comprehend exactly what the agreement will be, you might find yourself in scorching hot water.

Avoid the hot water in favor of the cooler waters of common sense and a good understanding of what you are about to sign before you put pen to paper. You will be far happier.

Productivity Tuesday: Feel Free to Forgive Yourself

Sometimes, despite our best efforts to be productive and to complete projects on time, we get overwhelmed. Too many deadlines loom. Too many to-do items beckon. Too much has to be done right this instant.
I just had this happen yesterday. I returned from a weekend away to a mountain of projects that ballooned into emergencies through no fault of my own. I could not get them done no matter how hard I tried. There was only so much of the ten pounds of poop my five pound bag would hold.

I stressed out. Immediately, my stomach clenched, my jaw ached, and my head pounded. I started the hamster-in-the-wheel race to get everything done, but I eventually admitted defeat. I was not going to be able to complete everything on my plate for yesterday. And then, on top of that realization I also heaped on a huge helping of guilt for not being super woman and somehow eking out a miracle. Talk about a double-whammy!

After a couple of hours of this double-whammy of stress and guilt, I took a break. I sat down in my chair. A cat climbed into my lap, and together, we closed our eyes, breathed deeply, and relaxed. I didn't rest for long, but I needed a breather. I needed to center and relax if only for five minutes. And most of all, I needed to release myself from the prison of guilt for not being able to do the impossible. I put down that burden, opened my eyes, and then proceeded to kick butt on everything else I could do for the day.

I'll be honest, I would not have been able to proceed nearly as well or as productively if I hadn't taken those few minutes to unwind and release my guilt. The guilt would have continued to weigh me down. I would have labored under it for the rest of the day and not gotten nearly as much done.

It has taken me something like 40 years to learn that particular lesson. And it is this: Forgive yourself and recommit to the plan tomorrow.

 

Productivity Tuesday: Maintain Good Habits By Making It Easy On Yourself

In today's episode of Productivity Tuesday, let's talk about habits. We all recognize that we have "good" and "bad" habits. I think many of us might agree that journaling is a good habit. Many of us might also agree that drinking until you puke every Friday and Saturday night is a bad habit (It might be fun every once in a great while, but it takes its toll on our bodies, spirits, emotions, and productivity in a big, bad way). We could list a variety of habits and judge their merit, but the theme that binds them all together is that we tend to do them without giving them conscious thought.

Sure, when you are four, your parent has to remind you to brush your teeth. By the time you are an adult, you've like got that habit down. If you don't do it after every meal and before bed, you at least likely brush those pearly whites when you wake up.

Many studies have shown that repetition builds habitual action. In other words, if you want to make a behavior habitual, repeat that behavior for some time et voila, it will ingrain itself into your routine and before you know it a habit is born.

That works great if nothing in your life changes, and you can develop and maintain a consistent routine. But what happens when life blasts you a curve ball? You have to roll with it and try to maintain equilibrium in the face unexpected change. Heck, even if you knew the change was coming, a disruption to your routine can make all your good intentions go the way of the do-do.

So, what do we do? How do we ride those changes and keep our good habits on deck? We do it by making it as easy as possible to continue our habits regardless of our situations. We facilitate a pattern of behavior by creating an atmosphere where that pattern can continue unimpeded regardless of outside circumstances.

Here is an example. I have a rule that I've mentioned before. Regardless of anything else going on in my life, I am required to at least step on my yoga mat, every, single day. In my world, at my house, that is easy. I know where the mat lives. I know how much time my yoga practice will take. I know how long I can go before the dog requires his morning constitutional. So, I can practice yoga and move on with the rest of my day.

But, what happens when I have to travel like I do this coming weekend? Suddenly, the routine flies out the window. I'm in a different space, different city, and with a different schedule. And on top of that, depending on where and how I am traveling, I might not be able to bring my yoga mat with me. So, I have to plan ahead and make things easy on myself.

I figure out my morning schedule. Will I have early meetings? Great! Then, I set my alarm 30 minutes early to make room for yoga. Will I need to walk my dog because he traveled with us? No? Then, that 30 minutes is bought and paid for because I can now place yoga into that time slot. If I plan it ahead of time, my routine doesn't have to change much at all.

But what happens if I can't take my mat with me? Well, some people buy Yoga Toes. I've tried them, and they don't work for me because my feet slip out of them too easily. Instead, I created my own version of a yoga travel mat. Someday, I might even make these for sale. But for now, this is what my yoga travel mat looks like. Instead of the big, long rolled up tube, I have just a few small strips to carry with me.

It does take a little extra prep time, but that conscious planning ahead of time helps me remain true to my good habits. I look at this planning as an investment in ourselves and in our future. If we keep ourselves accountable to our inner planner, we can maintain positive habits for all the days of our lives. Remember, the habit is an ingrained unconscious behavior. But the prep time to keep that habit going? That's something we can plan and implement. And that's how we thrive!

Productivity Tuesday: On the count of 5

I stay busy. I work 10-14 hours almost every day. I have seven different businesses going at the same time. So, if I'm going to get anything done, I'd better be efficient and productive.

I wish I could do it consistently, but like everyone, I go through periods where I just don't want to get up and do the next thing on my list. I'll get distracted away from starting my task. And if distractions don't present themselves, I'll seek them out. I'll sit on Facebook. I'll check Twitter. I'll brush the dog (that needs to be done daily since he's a Husky, but it doesn't need to be done right when I decide to do it because I'm avoiding drafting the invoice I have to create). I'll pretend like the task I end up doing was important enough to put off while the actual task that sits patiently on my to-do list waiting to be checked off as completed.

The resistance to starting seems to be my sticking point. Once I'm going on the task at hand, I get into it, and I do it. But up until the second I get my butt in gear and get moving, I'll seek and find the limits of my ability to procrastinate.

I've been reading a lot about how the brain is a habit-seeking structure. If what we need to do is habitual, we will get it done, often without thinking about it. Imagine brushing your teeth. For most of us, by the time we are adults, brushing our teeth has habitualized to the point that we rarely need to remind ourselves to do that. We might still need to remind ourselves to floss, but at least the brushing gets accomplished.

In other aspects of my life, I've developed a paradigm where I give myself permission to procrastinate before beginning a task. Sometimes, we just need that extra down time in order to recharge. But, for many of us, that extra few minutes turns into hours or even days. Suddenly, weeks have passed, and we are no closer to the goal. 

The setting and achieving of long term goals is for another post (perhaps that will be next week's Tuesday post). For today, I'm talking about small but important tasks we know we must do but do a great job of avoiding.

So, here's where the Count of 5 comes in. When I need time to procrastinate, I make that time a micro length. Instead of allowing myself minutes or hours to wallow in the sty of procrastination and avoidance, I give myself a count of 5. Now, that count of 5 (a simple 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) can be as long and languid as my breath can make it. I give myself that micro-break to think and dream about whatever I want. I release all need or anxiety about the task I need to begin. I float on a cloud of relaxation and enjoy the heck out of myself without thoughts of working, doing, or planning. I allow myself the pleasure of existence without stress. And I count to five. At the end of the five, I get up, I get moving, and I begin the task. Knowing that I had that time to myself without stress helps me proceed and blast off.

To me, utilizing this micro-break relaxation paradigm is a critical component of my productivity. If I give myself permission to revel in the freedom of those few seconds, that rejuvenation allows me to rise, forge ahead, and thrive.

Try it and let me know how it works for you.

Motion Chart (How Much I Move, Day 1)

Day One of my experiment is over. For those who might not know what's going on, I'm doing a week-long experiment that has two goals. One, I want to chart how I spend my time. Two, I need to make sure I move more often than I am. To that end, I have set up an alarm system that buzzes me at twenty-minute intervals for a span of twelve hours a day. When that alarm sounds, I must get up from whatever I'm doing and move around for one minute. Then, I resume my previous task. For more information on the whys and wherefores, go here: http://izoldat.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-often-do-i-move-experiment-to-learn.html

What I've learned today: I thought it would be easy to get up and move regardless of what I was doing when the alarm sounded. For the most part, it was not a big deal to get up and dance. But a few times, I resented the heck out of that little alarm because it pulled me out of my task. Luckily, I didn't have a lot of trouble getting back into the groove. Also, my husband loves watching me dance and giggled every time I stopped what I was doing to get up and shake my tail feathers. :)

My thoughts on the chart: Fully, a quarter of my day was spent at the computer. I also sat doing other things for a healthy chunk of the day. My "in motion" time was spent on yoga, aerobics, and a wee hike with the dog (It will be longer later in the week when it's not raining; Hatha is a rain wuss and wouldn't walk past a block and a half).

Tomorrow, I will try to do more writing, less plain sitting, and far less time just on the computer. To be more efficient, I must use my tools more productively. I will write more if I am at the computer. I will use it for recording music rather than surfing. That will be for the next few days. Here's the problem, I'm not sure how to spend time writing if I am not sitting at the computer.

I'm struck by the amount of information I've gotten just by keeping track for one day, and I'm looking forward to seeing these progress over the next week.

The Spirit is Willing but the Flesh is Exhausted

What does it take to be innovative?

What does it take to break new ground?

How do I take the deluge of ideas that swirl in my mind at any one moment, calm them down into some sort of order, and then bring them to fruition?

I have have been thinking about these questions for a few weeks now. The reason that I'm asking them is that I'm finding that I have been accomplishing almost nothing except the things that are absolutely required of me by external sources. For my own inner desires, I've found myself too exhausted to be coherent, too tuckered to create, and too wiped to innovate.

I'm still working on all the things I need to be working on. I'm still accomplishing things. I'm still teaching kids how to save the Earth. And I'm making plans, big plans, in my head. The trouble is that the second I sit down to actualize those plans, my creative energy dries up like the Sahara during a noontime sandstorm.

Here's the thing. My personal, internal dry spell isn't calm. It's not a place of stillness. It roils. It continues to plague me with possibilities in the form of pulsing waves of ideas, plans, thoughts, notions, and inspirations.

The trouble is that I think I am just too tired to grab anyone of them and make them mine.

There are too many, and I feel too tired to do any of them justice. My brain and body react slowly, like I'm trudging through molasses. So, instead of making headway on the myriad projects I want to pursue, I'm finding myself stymied by the onslaught of possibilities.

If everything you see is made of shiny, pretty things that demand your attention, that grab you by the throat and force to work on them, or rather force you to want to work on them, then it is highly likely that you won't get a darned thing done, unless something gives.

At least, that is currently my story.

So, the question I need to ask myself is, what will it take to make sure that either I slow down enough to rest and therefore speed up my reactions later, or the stream of ideas slows down enough for me to be able to focus on just one project at a time until I find the time to rest and rejuvenate?

One or the other needs to happen. In my 20s, I was game to sleep two hours a night and work my butt off the rest of the time. In my 30s, I paid the price with a thyroid that got blown all to hell. Now, in my 40s, I am hopefully learning the wisdom of realizing that no matter how hard I try, I will never do all the things I dream of doing or complete all the delicious, delirious work I crave to complete. This is a terribly tough lesson for me. In fact, it makes me weep every time I think of it for longer than about three seconds. I never want to give up or give in. I always want to keep trying. And right now, I can't.

Right now, I need to realize that in order to regain some vitality so I am able to work on some of these creative works, that first I need to rest.

It is so hard for me to accept but I find I must. In the end, my spirit is willing but the flesh is tired. And until the flesh is well-rested, the spirit is just going to stew in its own juices and let some of those tantalizing morsels of ideas, thoughts, and notions slip on by.

In the meantime, I will at least take excellent notes.

The secret lives of me: Neuroscience, Edna, and Eloise

Woo HOO! Edna, Eloise, Astrid, and Elora LIVE!! Some of you have read my thoughts on how I manage my time, my memory, my social interactions, my calendar and my creativity (http://izoldat.blogspot.com/2012/12/inspiration-sometimes-comes-as-three.html). I have given names to each of those aspects of myself. 

Edna rules my memory and knowledge. Eloise rules my social interactions. Astrid (she's new but she's smart) governs my schedule(s). And Elora takes on creativity.

When I originally dubbed Edna as the part of my brain that I view as knowledge, it was rather as a joke. When I needed to remember something, I would get frustrated at not being able to think of it in the moment. So, I created Edna (who looks a lot like Edna Mode from "The Incredibles"). When I need to remember something, think up something, or put things together, I turn to Edna and I ask and let her do that thinking/remembering for me. After a while, I realized that other aspects of me needed equal time and so those other characters were "created."

It turns out, I wasn't that far off. According to the book below (I just heard the story on NPR and absolutely need to buy the book now), that appears to be how our unconscious mind works. It is sort divided into those various "people," and they take care of those jobs for us. 

According to Eagleman, the author, when we think that we've just come up with some great idea, it's actually many facets of our unconscious minds that have worked sometimes days, sometimes weeks, on the problems or the ideas before either the solutions or the ideas came to the forefront of our conscious selves. So, we tend to take conscious credit for it, but Eagleman says that in fact, it's all those unconscious selves inside us that are responsible and our conscious selves are rather the receptacles that receive those ideas. When I think about it, what I've been doing with Edna and the other ladies is giving them purposeful missions in the various fields in which I feel need to have specific purpose. For me, what works is when I give unconscious self, conscious goals and personify those portions in such a way that I have some part of myself I hold accountable for the tasks I will need to complete.

I believe it was Mozart who said that he didn't so much compose his music as he took dictation. And that appears to be borne out in the research as well.

Hey, I think I just compared my process to Mozart's. Considering he is one of my all time idols, I'm in pretty good company. :)

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/24/159922899/incognito-whats-hiding-in-the-unconscious-mind