Category Archives: work/career

Nudge: Work two hours outside of the office

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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!

Nudged: Create a vision board for one goal

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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.

Got my scissors, got my glue stick…let’s do this!

What Happened: Total bust. Utter defeat. Epic failure!

My pathetically empty vision board

I stared at this Nudge all week and couldn’t do it. First, I couldn’t decide on which goal or dream to manifest. So many, and none jumped out as The Big One I wanted to pursue. Second, I didn’t want to spend money on buying a stack of magazines to cut up, and I couldn’t pull from on any stack of old magazines because I’ve successfully decluttered them all. (So maybe there is one drawback to decluttering.) Or maybe I am just feeling burned out this week.

What’s a gal to do?

Get up. Brush myself off. Take a few deep breaths. Regroup.

In a few hours I’m going to draw a fresh new Nudge from my little bowl and dive into it with renewed courage and conviction.

Meanwhile, I’ve written “Create a vision board for one goal” on a new strip of paper and tossed it back into the mix. (If I draw it later today, I’ll just have to go with it, right?)

How did you do? Were you inspired to create something wild for your vision board? Did you manifest something from it? I’d love to hear about it.

The Ah-Hah: See “Get up. Brush myself off. Take a few breaths. Regroup.” Would add “And repeat.”

Or…maybe I need to hang my blank board somewhere, letting it represent my openness to something I can’t yet envision for myself. Hmmm…interesting.

Nudging: Create a vision board for one goal

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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.”

Nudged: Do something that scares me

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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…

  • schedule my annual mammogram (the last one resulted in surgery—I’m fine, by the way—so dreading this, though I know it’s necessary).
  • track down and contact the holders of the copyright on some song lyrics I’d like to use in a book I’m writing (worst case scenario: they could say no—which would completely foul things up for me).
  • trust my gut and tell a needy, demanding, and annoying potential client that I really do NOT want to work with her (despite needing the income).
  • say “Oh, hell no!” to everyone else who wants free work/favors/my time/my energy and turn my full focus to work that truly makes me happy, that gives me energy, that gives me joy.
  • decide where I want my ashes to be scattered.

What scares you (and what are you going to do about it)? Good luck!

What Happened: You know a good way to get over fear? Confront it every day. I walked into this week thinking I’d do one thing, but then decided it would be a good exercise for me to keep pushing, to keep nudging.

  • Monday morning, following a rather bizarre phone interview, I “quit” a potential client who I felt was not a good fit for me. (Not only did I remove myself from what I sensed would be a difficult working relationship, I believe I opened a way for something better to come to me.)
  • That afternoon I pitched an idea to a website I’d love to contribute to. (Hope I cracked open a door to new opportunities.)
  • Tuesday morning I decided where I want my ashes scattered. (We’ve been working on our estate plans, talk about scary.)
  • Shortly after I sent the above info off to our attorney, I scheduled my mammogram.

Early Wednesday morning, I learned that “Do not be afraid” appears in the Bible 365 times. One for every day of the year. I think, perhaps, this is something we’re supposed to take to heart. Just do it!

As the week progressed, I thought about some of the work I’ve turned down this year. Oftentimes the reason has been scheduling (I can only do so much in the hours of the day), but this year I’ve also gotten more adept at identifying when personalities and work styles don’t click. It’s a tough call. I’ve certainly done my share of sucking it up for the paycheck to work with difficult people (bullies, control freaks, and, let’s be honest, idiots), but I’ve started to identify and acknowledge the deeper costs to me. So not worth it.

At the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot about the types of people and businesses I’d love to work with more, and this week, one nearby company came to mind. I’ve been impressed with their mailers, emails, website, mission, values, and services. Every time I receive a promotion from them, I think, “Wouldn’t it be great…?”

So I took this one step further and checked out current job listings. Sure enough, they had one that fit my skills and experiences, and I applied.

Turned out they’d already hired someone, but instead of a standard form rejection letter, I got a personal reply asking, “Would you be interested in doing some freelance work for us?” Heck, yes!

Ah-Hahs: As much as I think I could have been a brilliant fit for the staff position, I am not disappointed. I feel like I am getting closer to what I am meant to be doing. After all the closed doors I’ve walked past this year (sometimes doors I’ve closed myself), I trust that the door that opens will reveal something that is right for me.

I am so darn proud of myself for trusting my gut, following my intuition, pushing through fears, and taking chances.

And that, my friends, is a successful Nudge.

 

Nudging: Call someone I haven’t spoken to in 6+ months

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Backstory: Reconnecting can be divine. Recently, I chatted with a friend I haven’t seen in 10 years (yikes, that flew by), and we picked up the conversation like we had last seen each other yesterday.

Certainly this Nudge has a bit of that hopefulness in it, but as I’m working on some different goals in my life, I recognize that there’s also a (selfish) part of me that needs to keep up my professional network. I mean, who knows who I might talk to who has a project for me or a job lead or knows a friend who has a colleague who is looking for someone just like me to fill a role in a fun company?

You never know where the conversation might lead.

Who you gonna call?