This morning I received the most recent “What’s Happening In Seattle This Week?” newsletter from Seattle Spin. Their editors typically choose a topic for an abridged summary of what’s out there, and this week it was “self help books.” They boiled all the essentials down to three themes: Get Over It, Knock It Off, and Make A Plan. Call it sound-bite psychology.
Here’s the blurb for “Knock It Off”:
I have some recent direct experience with this. About six weeks ago I came to the conclusion that there were some habits I wanted to stop, and merely willing myself to stop them was proving fruitless. So I put together a little template and put green dots when I did the thing I wanted to do, and a red dot (well, orange – Bartell’s didn’t have red) each time I screwed up.
Here’s my progress after almost four weeks:
(These things are things I mostly do at work, hence the blank spots on the weekends.)
You can see that I hit orange every now and then, but it’s amazing that the first day was almost all orange and then IMMEDIATELY started to go green. By weeks three and four I felt really great about my progress and in fact as of this writing I’ve stopped tracking my daily progress on those sets of habits.
My conclusion: Three things about this type of system work well. First is the visibility: this was 18 inches from my nose Monday through Friday. Second was the tactile process: putting the little dots on the paper gave me a sense of accomplishment that I wouldn’t have gotten by clicking a checkbox in a website or on my iPhone. Third: you can code the things you want to track so that you can have the sheets out in public (in your cubicle, for example) – nobody needs to know exactly what “NVD” means, for example.
I’m not normally a Type A super-organized person – in fact I laugh just writing those words, I’m so far on the opposite end of the spectrum – but this Type A tactic worked really well for me. Hope it can work for someone out there on the innertubes.
An excerpt from habit #5: Stop living in your comfort zones!:
People go through their life, insecure about their looks, personality, and capabilities, missing out on opportunities both professionally and in their personal life. The lucky few figure it out early, but the majority, waste 20-30 years of their life, passing up on things because they don’t respect themselves enough to get over their insecurities and step outside their comfort zones.
The next time you feel uncomfortable at the prospect of trying something new, don’t look at the situation with fear, but with excitement; it’s just your brain’s way of telling you that you get to experience something new and exciting!
This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes, from Marianne Williamson:
Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
From Conan O’Brien’s farewell speech as host of the Tonight Show:
All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism-it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.
Last night our company soccer team got drilled 7-1. This follows last weeks’ debacle, where we got beat 10-1. We played better, but mistakes cost us and we still have a long way to go to gel as a team.
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun and got some much-needed exercise. And you know what? Sometimes it’s OK to lose. It helps build character and/or reveal character. We stayed together, supported and encouraged each other, while at the same time using our heads to note where we need to improve for upcoming games. Don’t get me wrong – I think we’re all in it to win it, but if you’re going to lose, lose well, lose graciously, and learn from your mistakes.
Sort of like anything in life – work, relationships, contests, competitions – keep your chin up, keep the moping to a minimum. Failure has valuable lessons to teach. This is the point in today’s blog post where I relate the famous anecdote about how Thomas Edison failed 10 trillion times at making a viable light bulb before he finally hit on the right formula. Or how French band Phoenix became an “overnight success” after four albums and a decade of touring. Or how PayPal shifted gears and became a huge success in online payment processing after getting a mediocre reception for their mobile cryptography offering.
Failure isn’t a bad thing. Not learning from it is bad. Not getting back on your feet is even worse. So get up, dust yourself off, and think positively – tomorrow is a new day!
Unsure what class is right for you? Join winter quarter teachers Kelley Eskridge, Karen Finneyfrock, Carla Norton, Judith Roche, Matthew Simmons, Anastacia Tolbert and Jeanine Walker as they discuss their classes and read some of their own work.
I missed the previous New Works Competition at Hugo House but am still very interested in writing a lot this year – if I can dig up the time and find a way to move this heavy weight off my chest – and the Hugo House is always a great place to start when you’re looking for motivation and/or inspiration.
Check out http://escaping-mediocrity.com for an excellent read. I found Sarah’s blog via Twitter today and was immediately intrigued. The title of her blog is somewhat analogous to “The Pursuit Of A Life” – and she deals in some of the same themes: seeking, improving, sharing, bettering.
The first post I read, Burn The Ships, is a manifesto for letting it all hang out in 2010 and commit to a make-or-break year. It’s daring, scary, and breathtaking in both its simplicity and implications.
Is it possible to metaphorically burn the ships?
Do you even want to?
Regular readers will know I’ve experienced a very up-and-down year in 2009. Some good moments, and some not-so-good. Some terrible, heartbreaking moments, the kind that make you want to vomit or cry or die, and yet there have been some rays of unexpected sunshine that have lit up the sky in orange and gold. Bottom line – I can’t say that I would want to repeat 2009, so I’m planning for 2010 and Sarah’s post struck me right between the eyes: how much to commit to? How much to let go of? How can one face, nay, embrace fear, uncertainty, and doubt and not freeze up?
Sometimes change is forced upon us. It’s during those times that we understand how resilient we really are, how capable. We have vast reservoirs of strength (both internal, and via our networks of family and friends) that we can tap into. But forcing change – burning the ships – when we don’t have to; that takes guts and commitment and courage.
I applaud Sarah for challenging herself this way, and encourage you to go visit her blog and ask yourself some of the same hard questions.
So far, they have 713 people committed to doing – something. It’s encouraging and uplifting to see the types of commitments people are making and publicizing.
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Mar 7, 2010 
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Habits, Productivity, Tracking, Type A