From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Socks & Sadness

My heart sank recently when I went to buy a pair of socks.

I’ve nothing against socks. I wear them often.

But walking into the department store I was accosted with ruthlessly upbeat Christmas carols, fake snow and declarations of the festive season… yes, it’s only November 22nd and it’s already December 25th.

Sigh.

The year of buying nothing

As well as the Festive Season, the end of 2007 will also mark the end of an experiment my wife and I have been undertaking - The Year of Buying Nothing.

Our goal was to buy only the essentials we needed to keep our lives running (yes, including socks if necessary).

I can’t pretend we accomplished that flawlessly - in fact, we started to joke that in the last couple of months we’d started to live “The Year of Finding Loopholes.”

But one of the best things about this experiment has been an increased appreciation for what we do have in or lives - not just the stuff but also the more important things like the people and each other.

Gird yourself for the next 34 days

So as we in North America and in various other countries count down towards Christmas and the holidays … and with that, the relentless promotion of stuff to buy… get clear on what you appreciate already, as a way of helping you gain perspective on what it is you want to give and to receive.

Here are three ways to think about appreciation.

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Details: Focus on the Good Stuff: The Power of Appreciation, Mike Robbins, 2007

Categories: Non-Fiction, Self-Help

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In 15 words or less: Appreciative Living 101

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

I think it was an ex-CEO who recently bemoaned, “If only we knew what we knew…”
He was talking about his sprawling, multinational organization with tens of thousands of people, thousands of projects … and hundreds of wheels being reinvented on a daily basis.

But the lament rings just as true for you and me as it does for a big company. If only you (yes, you) and I (yes, me), when faced with one of our daily challenges, stopped for a moment to remember what we already know.

First-idea-itis

When does this amnesia show up? Pretty much each and every time we need to decide to do something, it happens.

We get infected by first-idea-itis

Here are the symptons:

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

“It is hard enough to remember my opinions,without remembering my reasons for them!”
- Friederich Nietzsche, German philosopher

“Unless we remember we cannot understand.”
- E.M. Forster, British author

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
- George Santayana, Spanish philosopher

“How we remember, what we remember and why we remember form the most personal map of our individuality.”
-Christina Baldwin, American author

Add your own quotes about remembering in Comments below

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

I love number jokes.

“Five out of four people are bad with fractions” is one of them.

So is “There are three types of people in the world: Those that can count… and those that can’t.”

I’ve just started working with someone to help me better understand the world of the internet - and one of the things he’s most interested in are “my numbers”.

As well as subscriber numbers, customer spend, and newsletter opening rates, it’s got me thinking about other number in my life.

Here are some of my favourite numbers - and some provocative questions to get you thinking about yours.

One + Two + Two + Two + Four

That’s one way to think of my family: one wife, two parents, two brothers, two sisters-in-law, four nieces and nephews.

(They’re on my mind, as I’ll be hanging out with them in Australia).

* Who’s your family? How do they nourish you? How do they not?
* Who’s consuming your time? To whom do you want to redirect it?

Five and Three-Quarters

The title of my next movie is The 5 3/4 Questions You’ve Been Avoiding. We’ll be releasing it in a couple of month’s time, assuming the Animation Gods are kind. Stay tuned!

* How many years left do you have? (If you’re in the United States, you can have a stab at figuring it out here.) What do you want to do in that time?
* What’s not quite finished? What do you need to get done so you can clear it away?

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Finch inspiration

Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was inspired in part by a bird he saw on the Galapagos Islands. Darwin’s Finches have evolved from a single ancestral species into fourteen different species, each adapted to different and specific environments and foods.

Quirks and Quarks, a fascinating radio program on these finches has me musing once again on the process of change. I realise that much of the work I do could be called “accelerated evolution”, helping people and teams move towards where they were heading in a faster, more ambitious and more courageous way.

Change now comes standard with life, and we’ve all experienced times when it’s worked and times when we’ve resisted it. There are many theories of how to best spark change and how to manage it, all of which work much better on paper than they do in practice.

One process I find inspiring and useful is that of “positive deviance.” It connects how an individual’s Great Work can

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Everyday Qi : an extraordinary Free teleconference series
Over the next 12 weeks, some of the leading thinkers in the world of self-help and wellness are participating in a new and free teleconference series.

I’ll be speaking on the 5.75 Questions You’ve Been Avoiding, and showing how these powerful questions are so important to a life of fun, inspiration and action.

But I won’t be alone. I’ll be with such names as: Jean Houston, Howard Martin, Ryan Lee, Lynne McTaggart, Eva Gregory, Robert Ferguson and a bunch of other leading thinkers.

Here’s some of the topics I’m going to be particularly interested in (and these are just some of the ones on offer

-getting immediate focus on your life’s direction
-restoring lost but much needed parts of yourself
-using the three most important laws in the universe
-why controlling your emotions is the key to sustained weight control
-how you can participate in a mind-blowing experiment that has the power to literally change the world

The EveryDay Qi Intensive begins today Thursday, November 8th at 8PM Eastern/NY so get this written into your calendar now!

I know there are limits to the numbers of phone lines that will be available… and as this is free, you should check it out now here

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Here’s a funky posting about The 5.75 Questions You’ve Been Avoiding.

It’s an interesting blog - I also enjoyed this piece on five year plans … and other works of fiction . (The quote from Richard Semler is a classic).

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Smart folks thinking about creativity

“Whatever creativity is, it is part of a solution to a problem.”
-Brian Aldiss, English writer

“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.”
-Donatella Versace, Italian designer

“The chief enemy of creativity is “good” sense.”
-Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist

“Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual.”
-Arthur Koestler, Hungarian-British writer

“Creativity is a highfalutin word for the work I have to do between now and Tuesday.”
-Ray Croc, American founder of McDonalds

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