Backstory: This could be anything. A “thing”, a memento that no longer holds any sentiment, trash, something I’ve outgrown. Or it could be an attitude or a bad habit or a dream that no longer calls to me. Hmmmm….
Backstory: I’d forgotten about this one—how fun! I think the idea for this Nudge may have come to me when I checked out a new-to-me bookstore several months ago, when I ended up in a new-to-me neighborhood. Even though I live in a smallish city (San Francisco is roughly 47 square miles; for comparison, Los Angeles is 302 square miles), there is so much here I have yet to explore. Weather permitting, here is my chance to do just that.
Backstory: This Nudge didn’t come from the bowl. This is one I dropped in because I’m struggling today. Maybe it’s the post-holidays blues. Maybe it’s the cold and gloominess of the season. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real affliction, in case you didn’t know. Maybe it’s the ongoing frustration of not having a clear path, a clear purpose.
I’m not sure what’s up (or down) with me right now, but I feel the need to find something to get me up in the mornings. Something other than piles of laundry that need to be addressed or bills that need to be paid. I am dragging through my days, so much so that yesterday, as I lay in bed dreading my day (and it was a Saturday!), I had a small fantasy about pulling everything off the top of my desk and burning it in the fireplace. Yes, I know that wouldn’t really solve any problems—likely make some worse—but the idea of having a clean start is appealing.
Where is my magic? What happened to my mojo? I need to find it and put it back to work.
P.S. I did check in with myself and know it isn’t chronic depression, lack of sleep, or illness causing my malaise. If your blue mood is lasting longer than is okay, please schedule a checkup with your doctor or reach out to someone for help. xo
Backstory: This is about shaking things up. Getting out of the routine (aka rut). Nudging myself, literally, out of the nest of my own making.
I work from an office in our home. I love doing this, but I have to be hyper-aware of the toll isolation takes on me. In previous years, I made a point of going out to lunch once a week with a client to make sure I had human contact. It’s a little harder to do now because most of my clients are remote. (One of my all-time favorite clients lives in Detroit.) I spend all day, every day, on a computer, communicating with friends, family, and clients through emails and text messages. When I start talking with my Head of Security (Louie, the dog) and expecting him to answer, I know I have to get out.
Maybe I’ll take my laptop to a coffeehouse. Maybe I’ll take a folder and review it in the park (sitting in my car, if the weather is too chilly). Maybe this is the week I check out the other nearby library branch, to see if they have a cool workspace.
P.S. Whatever you do, wherever and however you work, take this week to look at your routine and think about how you can mix things up. If you’re a full-time stay-at-home mom, maybe you take your stack of bills to be paid and do them from the cute little café you’ve been meaning to check out. If you work in an office, maybe this is the week you take a 10-minute break outside. It might be just walking around the building, but it gets you out. Instead of eating lunch at your desk (I was so guilty of that back in my corporate days), you eat outside or eat at your desk then get outside for a walk for the rest of your break time. Can you review that report at a park bench? Can you take your laptop and reply to emails from a pretty spot? Do it!
My nudge for this week is to take a break.
Instead, I am going to take some part of this holiday week off to maybe:
I hope you can do the same for yourself. In fact, consider this my very gentle nudge for you to do just this. 🙂
With my best wishes for a happy, healthy, fun new year! ♥ Kathleen
Backstory: I am glee-ful having drawn this Nudge today! Michael’s stores are those big warehouses filled with art and crafts supplies, frames, fun home decorations, and just about everything you need to inspire creativity. I am pumped! Will I pick up paints, stickers, marked-down holiday decorations? Fun! The biggest challenge may be keeping to the $10 limit.
P.S. Several options for you on this one. Is there a hobby you used to love to do as a kid, or one you’ve always been curious about? Go to that store! Feeling the need to get your green thumb dirty, even though it’s cold outside? Then head to the local nursery and check out what you can plant that will thrive inside. Browse the specialty cookbooks that are in the sale bin, wander a Goodwill or antiques shop, check out the librarian’s picks at your local branch (that one is free, so spend your $10 on a cup o’ tea and a nibble to enjoy while you’re reading). Have fun with this Nudge! I know I will. 🙂
For those of you who celebrate: I wish you a Merry Christmas!
Backstory: I have a small confession. One of my “crazy” dream jobs is to be the person who creates the names on nail polishes. Just imagine: I’d get to research trends, expense mani-pedis, create fun puns all day long—and get paid for it! I’m not sure how to go about putting myself in the running for open positions (Hello, Sally Hansen!), but for now I can spice things up with a hot new color. 🙂
What Happened: While waiting for a prescription to be filled on Monday, I wandered the nail polish aisle. Naturally I was drawn to the peaches and corals, and this season, the reds, but I already have an adequate selection of those in my little basket at home. So I decided to go a different route. Instead of shopping for a color, I shopped for a name, for something I want to live up to. There is one called “Fearless” (perfect!), but it was too similar to reds already in my collection, so I passed.
Alas, I didn’t fall in love with anything I saw in that first shopping excursion. So late Tuesday morning I took myself out for a break from work and walked to another neighborhood drug store. I went back and forth down the aisle, considering names and colors and prices. Did I really want to spend $9 on one bottle? Not really. Did I want to risk spending under $2 on a cheap brand? Not really. I finally narrowed my selection to two options: “Good as Blue” and “Rags to Riches”. Both are outside of my normal palette, and I thought both could be fun to manifest in the days ahead. Which one? I liked the blue color better but the purple name better. Lucky for me, they were on sale, and I got two for about the price of one. Score!
I put the Good for Blue on my nails after lunch. It’s fabulous. It’s out there. I imagine my grandmother, who only wore clear and pale pinks that I can recall, rolling her eyes. Does this make me look younger and hipper, or older and pathetic? I don’t care!
Late Wednesday, just before shutting down for the day, I checked out the Sally Hansen website and found these quotes:
Did you know the company was founded in 1946 by Sally herself? It isn’t just a brand name. She launched with just two nail products, and today over 300 shades are distributed in over 55 countries. Way to go, Sally!
Ah-Hahs: I spent quite a bit of time exploring the Sally Hansen website and learned this on the About page:
What a fascinating woman! She and Estee Lauder and Helena Rubenstein (also real people, not just brand names) were pioneers, trail-blazers, and role models.
I encourage you to read Sally’s full story here and think about how she can inspire you. For me, in the moment, I decided to “go for it.” I couldn’t find a link to job listings or any kind of Careers page on the site, so I emailed them through the general Contact page. Maybe they hire freelancers. Maybe their creative staff works out of San Francisco and they’re looking for someone just like me. Maybe they will ignore me altogether and I’ll never hear back. What matters most to me, though, is that I got up the courage to ask.
I’m opening my own doors, thank you very much. And thank you, Ms. Hansen (Can I call you Sally?) for inspiring me.
Backstory: Oooo, this is a good one! It’s creative, it gets me manifesting, it’s fun!
The idea is to pick one of my goals or dreams—any one—and create something that represents to me what it would feel like to have it be my reality. It is putting the Law of Attraction to work for me.
In the past I’ve clipped images from magazines and pasted them onto a poster board in a collage. (If you’re more artistically gifted than I am, you might draw or paint yours.) The resulting vision board is then placed where I will see it every day.
Here’s a link with a good explanation and some tips on “How to Create an Empowering Vision Board” from Jack Canfield’s website*.
You might also check out examples in Pinterest.
Got my scissors, got my glue stick…let’s do this!
*Per the site, to use this link in my blog, I need to include the following: “Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul® and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com.”
Backstory: I was just thinking about this Nudge. I knew it was on the list, and as my collection in the bowl dwindles, I knew it had to pop up soon.
So here it is. What might I do this week? What scares me? Maybe this is the week I finally…
What scares you (and what are you going to do about it)? Good luck!
Backstory: It’s not the worst hot spot in the house, but as I take in what’s there—what has been sitting there for years—I’m ashamed. Photos of cute toddlers (who are now teenagers with driver’s licenses), old CDs that have lost their cases (can’t recall the last time I listened to them), favorite items of jewelry that need repair (and so have been unworn and unappreciated), Mardi Gras beads…Mardi Gras beads? Really?