Although I’ve been very busy with a number of other projects, I was still more than mildly surprises to see that my hiatus from this blog had lasted for more than a year. But I’m back to blogging in 2012 and will be sharing more information and tips with those of you who’ve wondered where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing in the interim.
Since this is still the first week of the New Year, I want to begin my return to this blog with some thoughts on how to get 2012 off to a great start. As you’ll see, these aren’t those visionary tips that you most often see at the beginning of the year. Instead it’s a collection of functional recommendations geared to help you keep the momentum up: day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month.
a. Don’t Let Things Pile Up
I am a notorious procrastinator, but I finally realize that I only cause myself unnecessary stress when I permit things to pile up. Especially unpleasant tasks. Even in a world that often demands that we multitask, trying to cover all our bases (or to put out all the fires) we encounter is often less effective than we’ve been led to believe.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed that for the past few months I’ve mostly been re-posting videos in lieu of new articles or comments of my own. Doing so has freed up my time to work on priority projects while still adding content to the site by sharing information with you that I personally found both inspiring and relevant.
In the coming weeks I want to get back to doing more of my own posting; i.e. sharing some of my more recent experiences and insights with you.� Bear with me while I distill my learnings and map out the best way to share them.
In the meantime, though, I’d like to share another RSA animation with you. This one - on changing the paradigm of the way we educate - challenges us to reconsider how and why we learn. In an age where lateral thinking and creativity have increasingly become key drivers to being successful in both our personal and professional lives, why are we standardizing how we measure “learning” while simultaneously encouraging/rewarding people to “learn just for the test”? What are the implications of this corseted concept of education against the backdrop of the rapidly growing challenges of an evermore globalized economy?
Here’s what Sir Ken Robinson has to say about that contradiction. What do you think?
A thought-provoking TED presentation by Derek Sivers that flies in the face of many of the currently practiced premises of goal achievement, many of which I use in my own coaching practice.
What say you: Do you feel more - or less - likely to achieve a goal if you share that intention with others?
Making a list of goals is relatively easy. There are so many things “one” should do/accomplish/learn/attain in life! But each and every goal we choose to focus on - if we really take it and ourselves seriously - has consequences that impact the different aspects of our lives. It influences the way we allocate our financial resources, how we plan our time, and with whom.
That’s why consciously choosing to say “yes” to a specific goal also means a conscious decision to say “no” to certain other things in order to achieve that goal.
What are you saying “yes” to right now in your life? And - because of this conscious decision - to what are you voluntarily saying “no”?
