Thank you for all your kind birthday wishes. It’s encouraging to to know that so many of us “think different” when the ever-present media complex seems to want us to think the same.
And yes, I had some zippy birthday waves. The surf on the North Shore is always spicy, so it creates tasty waves even when they are “fun size.”
I am writing this on our way to San Francisco to spend tomorrow teaching some health care leaders how to maintain their own health in our high-stress world. Here are some highlights of what I will say:
Nothing grows or improves without making investments. Living day to day by coping or teeth-gritting self discipline will eventually exhaust you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. So here are some science-based ways to recharge, reset, and grow in 2012.
- Physically – Eat to keep your blood sugar level throughout the day and night. Eat so you are never over-full, or ever very hungry, because that’s when we eat stupid. When your energy level is constant, you will have better judgement and a better personality. Walk briskly, take the stairs, just move. Get up every hour and stretch…hell, dance!…do something that gives your body a reason rejoice and feel alive!
- Emotionally – Tell someone you love one thing you are grateful for each day. It will make your brain look for the positive which will cause you to notice hidden opportunities. This is what research says makes people luckier.
- Mentally – Opening our minds requires examining facts and evidence which are contrary to our current opinions. This makes us nervous, but also much wiser. When we open our minds, we can play with curiosity, which makes life so much more exciting rather than frightening. Who knows what we may learn?
- Spiritually – Do what you came to do. When we stop and reflect, most all of us feel a deeper calling to make our difference. This personal calling resides at the intersection of our passionate interests, our deepest values, and our motivated talents (the talents we most enjoy developing and expressing). When our work is the consistent expression of our calling, it ceases to exhaust us.
That’s the simple message. Live healthy, become happy, think freely, and do what you came to do.
The longer I live, the more I need to do those things.
So what about you? Do you have any coaching for the rest of us? Leave us a comment with what you have learned on life’s journey.
And if you have a question about finding your best career, please write me at askwill@thoughtrocket.com. I am recording some final ” to dos” early next week, and I want to make sure I have tailored the course to whatever you most need. Thanks!
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I’m reading a book “What’s the Economy for Anyway?” (John de Graaf, David Batker) I recommend this book as a way forward for 2012 and beyond. Imagine what our country would be like if we, as the book embraces, focused on an economy that provided the greatest good for the greatest number of people for the greatest amount of time. This is not a pie-in-sky; some countries have fully or partially implemented this as their economy.
When you give of yourself, you will grow as a person.