2Weeks2aBreakthrough

Put yourself in the mood.

Do you need to be in the mood, inspired, to do certain things? Get your mind out of the gutter, I mean things like focusing on a project or exercising.

We can put ourselves in the mood, we just have to notice the triggers that make a difference. I have read several studies that have linked music with improvements in length and intensity of exercise. But I don't need the studies because I know it is true for me.

As you know, I have started jogging again. S-L-O-W-L-Y. What I mean is that I am combining walking briskly and running and working up my time running. Still a long way from running 10Ks again.

But here's the thing. I have found the perfect starter music. I have them on my light-as-a-feather ipod shuffle and it's great. Want to know the set I am high on right now?

These tunes set the right pace and are perfect.

Gonna Be Some Changes Made - Bruce Hornsby
Bang on the Drum All Day - Todd Rundgren
Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Hit me with Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
Love Shack - B-52s
Home - Marc Broussard
What About Everything - Carbon Leaf
Boogie Down - Al Jarreau
Spider's Strategem - Dead Can Dance
On my Way Home - Enya

How's that for eclectic! What do you do to get yourself in the mood?

Are you dynamically optimistic?

I like this post from Curt, over at Occupational Adventure called Dynamic Optimism. Curt shares an article by the same name that seems to combine optimisn with action. It's worth a read!

What's Your Vision?

What you have found to be most satisfying, most memorable, and most compelling?

• Those times when you “rocked” – when you were extraordinary
• Those times when together, the team “rocked”
• Those times when the environment took your breath away
• Those time when you felt truly valued and acknowledged
• Those times when you felt connected – to a group, the company, the product, the customers
• Success, accomplishment, goal attainment – with one of the added elements above

What’s your positive vision of the future, with regards to work?

• What will you achieve?
• Who will you be to your partners and teammates?
• Who will you be to your customers?
• How will you grow and develop?
• In what way do you plan to be extraordinary?

What is “the best you can be” as a team?

• How will you communicate?
• What procedures, practices and processes will you use?
• How will you focus, plan and execute work?
• How will you impact other groups, departments and customers?
• How will you grow and develop?

Selecting Perspectives

I love this post by Evelyn over at Crossroads Dispatches called, Habit and Imprints, The Den of Panic Power. It's gripping, suspenseful and helpful. The book she is suggesting sounds great, too, I have mine on order. A snippet or quote won't do it justice, go read the whole thing.

Don't Worry About Criticism

Oh, the mind plays tricks on us and wreaks havoc with our success! The ego, the most self centered part of our mind, is often the cause of barriers, missed opportunities, and emotional turmoil.

We often give things way too much meaning. This is particularly true when it comes to criticism.

Kevin Eikenberry quotes one of my favorite books in his post called, Advice on Receiving Criticism from the Golden Book. The book he is referring to is How to Win Friends and Influence People. If you have never read this classic, don't watch another re-run on TV until you do.

Here is a slice of Kevin's post (which is a quote from the book):

Don't Worry About Criticism
1. Remember that unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment.
2. Do the very best you can.
3. Analyze your own mistakes and criticize yourself.

And if you really want to experience breakthroughs so wonderful, your brain cannot comprehend it, try this:

• Ask for criticism - thank people for their honesty.
• Embrace and invite opinions counter to your own.
• Ask people what might go wrong.
• Ask people to build on your idea and make it better - then rejoice when together you make it better!

Don't let your ego get in the way of your extreme success.

Do you procrastinate?

Procrastination gets in the way of our best laid plans (and breakthroughs). Bert, over at Open Loops, points us to a quiz on the Psychology Today website we can take to see how bad our procrastination is.

I scored a 37 out off 100, which they say is pretty good. I am shocked because I regard myself as struggling with procrastination. The basic quiz score is free.

Check it out and report back with your scores.

Holding Ourselves Back

Tony Morgan offers this interesting post called The Best Question Ever where he discusses a book called The Best Question Ever.

I have neither read nor heard of this book before, but the points that Tony summarizes are interesting. Here is an example:

"You don't sit around looking for reasons to do the right thing; it's the bad decisions that require creative reasoning."

This rings so true for me. We often spend a lot of time and energy trying to make the wrong thing fit. We rationalize why it's the right thing to do, never really believing it ourselves.

Why is this a challenge?

I would guess that for some, doing the right thing is scary, because failure would be much more devastating. As long as we are not really focused on what lights us up, failure is not as bad. But if we were to be unsuccessful doing what we are really passionate about, that would be too much too handle.

Does this apply to you? It does for me in some areas of my life, but not others. I think we are all a bit screwed up and neurotic about aspects of who we are.

Where have you held back? And what are the real consequences of not playing full out in this area?

Oddly enough for me, the area I have resisted conquering (and I know it is my resistance getting in the way) is my physical health. When I was younger, I was pretty buff and seemingly attractive to people. I started rising through the ranks during what I will call the gender abusive 80s and 90s (although I still see this today).

It was (and still is) most important to me to be acknowledged and accepted for my mind. I am really an analytical geek deep inside :-) But because several bosses and colleagues would make passes at me (very common in those days, pre-sexual harassment lawsuit boon), I never really knew what people were seeing and why I was moving up the ladder. This bothered me a great deal.

Same thing with guys I dated. I had many experiences with superficial jerks.

But that was then and this is now. I realize that this fear of not being viewed a success for my mind and capabilities lead to some decisions to defend the wrong path.

Seeing this is somewhat helpful, but only if this ah-ha is followed by action. And in addition to focused action, some beliefs need to be retired along the way, too.

We should not waste our vitality and happiness coddling our victim conversations.

I have started running again, and am doing pretty good. I always feel better after exercise. I was a born athlete - tennis, weights, running - and it will be fun to reacquaint myself with this side of me.

Perhaps age, too, helps us see the silliness in our hangups and stressors of the past. Also, things like health become so much more important as we approach middle age.

If you want to experience more breakthroughs, zero in on where you are defending the wrong approach!

 

 

Bewitched in the Creativity Zone

This evening I am thinking about the role that muse, spells, possessions, charm and captivation have on our success and satisfaction. Let me explain a bit more.....

Perhaps it is just me (tell me if it is), but I can put myself into a mystical mental place where I my brain processing jumps to a new level and I am hypersensitive to my surroundings. It's a bit like being in the zone, but it is a mental and mood zone.

I have noticed that several things play a roll in when these bewitching or spellbound hours occur:

• Music plays a role and the right music puts me into an interesting place.
• I am more likely to enter this state after strenuous activity (I think the resulting relaxation is the key).
• I guess alcohol could play a roll, but for me, 95% of the time I have had nothing to drink.
• I am always alone and in a contemplative mood.
• It seems to occur more in low or focused lighting, not daylight or general brightness.
• Years ago, I would smoke exotic international cigarettes when I was in this mood. I don't do that anymore.

Perhaps your zoney moods look and feel very different, but I think that many people have them and they can be nourishing and helpful.

Does this make any sense to you? Do you experience this?

It is interesting to be aware of our thoughts and how the context changes who we are in that moment. I think am more generatively creative in this state. Might allowing ourselves to become spellbound help us grow and enjoy breakthroughs?

 

Anomalies, Paradigms, and Breakthroughs

Here is a great post on the Tom Peters blog called Relating to Anomalies. It references a book called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. This is a classic book that we all should have on our shelf or checked out from the library. I love this quote from the post:

"When we can't make anomalies conform to our current mindset, they can lead us to the "reconstruction of prior theory," an intrinsically revolutionary process."

Whoa...that's heady. Are you ready...open... for personal revolution?