Monthly Archives: November 2016

Self Care and Showers

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I had a conversation with someone the other day about self care and it went something like this:

“Self care for me sometimes just means I get to take a shower. Or I show up only 20 minutes late to something instead of 45.”

I get it. People sometimes think I don’t get it because I frequently talk about my daily journaling ritual or morning yoga practice. While I do journal every day with very few exceptions, (more about that in tbis post) I don’t always get on the mat in the mornings. In fact, many mornings go by without any type of practice at all. And yes, there are days when taking a shower seems like a luxury given what I have going on. Or I fall onto the couch at 8pm, realizing I put off filling out a questionnaire before an early morning doctor’s appointment the following day. These days feel chaotic. Or I beat myself up for procrastinating. I can REALLY beat myself up for procrastinating. I sense that I am ashamed of my inability to get things done in a timely or chaos free manner.

I recommend that clients set aside an appointment time for self care just like the would for any other meeting. And honor it just like it was an appointment with a client, boss or colleague. But realistically, I know that’s not always possible. Especially during really busy seasons like the one we have just entered.

Self care isn’t always fresh flowers, massages, binge-watching Netflix time or a weekend getaway.

Self care isn’t always perfect. It is always whatever you need in the moment to get by, to prevent something or to listen to your body when it’s crying out to eat, drink a cup of hot tea or even just hydrate with plain water.

Self care can be just listening to a playlist while you work or drive to that appointment you’re running late for so your mood is lifted.

Self care can be prioritizing your list and taking things off of that list that just aren’t going to happen. And forgiving yourself immediately because it’s just going to have to be that way right now.

Self care is sometimes just the simple act of saying to your overwhelmed self, “I’m sorry it’s so chaotic right now. I promise as soon as I can breathe, I will go for a walk or take in a movie.” And then honor that promise.

Self care can be just taking 45 minutes to get your flu shot because if you don’t, you may get the flu and then have even LESS time on that to-do list as you recover. (And not freaking out if you thought it would only take 10. )

Self care just looks like taking a few breaths. Maybe setting a reminder to take a few breaths three times a day.

Or standing in the rain or raising your face to the sun – for just 5 minutes.

Don’t beat yourself up over what self care looks like. Just make it look like whatever you can manage today.  Even if that’s just taking a shower.

Beauty comes from standing in the rain.

 

 

I Do It Because I Like This Kind Of Life

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About 10 years ago, I read Julia Cameron’s seminal work called The Artist’s Way. The introduction began with her assignment to do something called Morning Pages, where you hand write three pages each morning. I did it for the six weeks of the program and beyond. In fact, since that time, there have been maybe less than 10 days that I haven’t gotten up to do morning pages.

Morning pages are definitely a habit for me now. But they take a good bit of effort, when I really think about it. I have to get up early sometimes to catch a flight or to drive to a client appointment. On vacation, I may want to get up early and have breakfast in whatever city we find ourselves visiting. But for some reason, morning pages are the way I operate now and they can’t be skipped. So I adjust my waking time to make sure that it happens – three pages, with my coffee, in the same seat every day.

After all this time, morning pages help me wake up properly. They are a definite part of my self care routine. And one of my ten daily habits that I don’t often break. Why? Because I can’t. I just know that I can’t. It’s become so ingrained in my daily routine that I can’t let it go.

What parts of your daily routine are so ingrained that you can’t skip them? For some people I know, it’s a morning walk, a devotional or motivational reading. Maybe it’s quiet time catching up with your spouse, partner or child. Maybe sitting on your porch watching the sunset or the moon rise.

Or maybe you don’t have a habit like this but are already thinking about what that might look like. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time – it can be very quick but it could be very meaningful.

I served in leadership and mentoring role once with a man who was a nonprofit executive. He spent 20 minutes every day without fail reading something that helped him to do his work more effectively or efficiently. I realized recently  that my clients who are feeling the most successful are those who can point to daily habits that help them start the day off in a ritualistic and satisfying way.

I saw this quote recently and realized it really describes how I feel about my morning routine. Warren Buffet said,

“I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.”

I guess that’s really why I continue to spend time on my morning pages.

I do it because I like this kind of life. 

My current journal

When is the best time to start your strategic plan?

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You’re probably inundated with news articles and television interviews about how the President-elect will begin his first 100 days, or how the current President is helping with the transition. Maybe you’ve also been getting emails from companies  you subscribe to about what they will be offering at their best end of the year prices or what’s in store for 2017.

That’s because it’s that time again! The time when leaders, business owners and nonprofit executives begin their review of the past year and begin to carve out a plan for the year ahead.

The best time to start your strategic plan is today. 

Those of you who follow me regularly know that a strategic plan is one of my 4 Elements for Success. I think it’s pretty difficult to move forward if you don’t have a plan or roadmap for what you will do to accomplish your goals. It’s helps to keep you focused on what’s most important and eliminates your tendency to follow every bright, shiny object that will max out your time or capacity.

There are a couple of ways I suggest you begin to craft your plan and I wanted to share them with you today.

1) Assess what worked so far:

Take some time to really look back at your income, expenses, return on those investments of time and money, programs, services, human capacity and customer or client satisfaction with your company or nonprofit. It takes some time, but it’s critical that you get feedback. Easy ways to accomplish this are free surveys online, meetings with key stakeholders or a random sampling of your client base, employee reviews or evaluations, meetings with bookkeeper or treasurer, etc. Think of all the information you need to make decisions next year and figure out a way to compile that information in the next couple of weeks.

2) The Best and the Rest:

Ask yourself these questions –

What worked best last year?

What do you wish you would have done but didn’t get around to implementing?

What would you do differently?

What do you want or need to let go of?

Use the answers to these questions and others that come up along the introspective process to formulate the list of things you want to make sure you do next year.

3) Connect to your core values

Do the things you accomplished this year fall within your core values? Are you aligned with what matters most to you? (If you haven’t had a values assessment, reach out and let me know. I can walk you through a process that will really help.)

4) Time and talents – Do you have all the human and financial resources you need to do what you want to do next year? If not, how can you put them in place at the right time in your plan?

5) Personal capacity and efficiency – Were you able to delegate appropriately and manage your time efficiently this year? What would you do differently? As you think about the coming year, are there areas or aspects of your work that you can delegate to someone this year? Or is there someone you can begin to develop to receive more of the share of the workload so you can focus on growth or more self care?  Who will take on each piece of the plan?

These are just a few ways in which you can get ready to create your actual plan.

Part two of this process is figuring out what buckets you need to put into your plan. We’ll talk about that in another post coming soon.

I’d like to share with you a recent webinar training I facilitated on strategic planning, which goes more in depth about how to create an effective plan and what accountability measures you can build in to your plan. Subscribe to my list on Facebook by clicking the “Sign Up” button or fill out the contact us form on this website. Once we get you signed up, I’ll send you a link that will bring you to this important webinar! It’s free and you can listen whenever you have the time!

As always, I am ready and willing to help you in whatever way I can. Some of my clients hire me to help them facilitate their initial plan, while some have me come periodically during the year to keep them on track. Whatever your needs, reach out if you’re ready to take the next step and create a strategic plan that ensures your most successful year yet!