Daily Inspiration 10-21-20
Daily Inspiration 10-20-20
Manage Your Busy Life Like a Delicious Three-Course Meal
Inspiration comes from the oddest places! I read an article in the New York Times today as I waited for my son at the skatepark and had to race home and write this for you.
The article wasn’t about personal productivity, work life balance, or time management. It was a chef’s process for composing a three-course meal and it absolutely connects with a crucial concept related to creativity and project management.
The author was inspired by the memory of a salad he ate while in Normandy, France. He explained that when you create a multi-course meal you must pay careful attention to balancing flavors and textures throughout the meal. The meal must have a progression and momentum to it. He chose to start light then delve into deeper flavors and end with something slightly sweet. He was inspired by old cookbooks, a walk through the super market, and a sudden flavor craving he sensed in himself.
This is very similar to my approach to musical composition and project management.
Project Management in Seven Stages
Identify the Spark
Gather
Brainstorm
Structure
Action
Refine
Celebrate
Once you have your spark or your primary inspiration, you must gather your materials. You can’t just bring them together - you have to connect with their innate beauty and value. If you want to be more productive - start cultivating beauty in your life. Tap into your passion and purpose and you’ll never have to complain about email in-boxes, to-do lists, and other paltry stuff.
Appreciate how your materials complement one another and how they contrast. How does one material or experience lead to the next?
The 3-course meal described in the article is: beet and tomato salad with scallions and dill, pan-roasted duck with wild mushrooms, and lemon tart with a touch of lime.
Now, consider taking this beauty-appreciating approach to your roles and the management of your busy life. Just like one course leads into the next in fine cuisine, you must enjoy the flow between all the hats you wear. Your roles are your materials - your main ingredients. What happens if you have shitty ingredients? Bad food. The same goes for managing your life. Choose your 16-20 roles very carefully.
Here’s an example of embracing the beauty of each role in a typical morning.
Visionary: putting on my creativity hat when reading the paper and soaking in all the ideas
Chef and Dad: making breakfast for my sons; timing, subtlety, sequencing, movement
Writer: coordinating different elements and focus them into a coherent written piece
Entrepreneur: allowing empathy to come to the surface while writing copy for my web site
Meditator: surrender, stillness, openness, and a gentle focus
Exercise: Create a list of unique attributes you bring to each role.
Creativity and Cooking Articles
Project Management Stages
Art and Creativity in Cooking
Connection between cooking and innovation and creativity
Redefining creativity with cooking
Cooking and mindfullness
Approach your busy life with the love and care of a master chef composing a Michelin-star-deserving meal. Project management, work life balance, and creativity depend upon combining various elements into a whole that magnifies the beauty of all parts.
What I Learned About Goalsetting from The Twilight Zone
The original Twilight Zone series is a masterpiece. They made 156 episodes featuring countless actors including Burgess Meredith and William Shatner - two of my favorites. A while back, I set a goal for myself: exercise on the treadmill every day while watching an episode. I’d do this for 156 days in a row. And I’d post a blog post about a self-development lesson I gleaned from the episode. The first two days were awesome. On the third day, we lost power and I didn’t exercise, Then came bunch of other excuses.
I severely underestimated the commitment required to achieve my goal. We often don’t realize what will be required. My goal was simple and clear. enough. It was exciting and far-reaching. I was all in! But ultimately, I exerted on 1.28% of the effort required to fulfill the goal! Two divided by 156 = .0128 and when multiply by 100 to get our percentage.
This isn’t to say I can’t hop back on and continue with my goal. I’m always inspired by addicts who display the strength to start a new streak.
Grant Cardone has an exciting book called The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure. and his main point is that we should multiply the effort and commitment we believe is required for any worthy goal ten-fold. Your goal will take 10x more effort, 10x more time, 10x more motivation, 10x more vision, and 10x more accountability.
I attacked my Twilight Zone exercise goal with baby effort and I came up severely short. With the above formula, you can figure out the commitment needed for any goal. Seeing that measly, pitiful number of 1.28% had an effect on me. Don’t get discouraged - hop back on - but with increased resolve.
Goalsetting Links:
Grant Cardone’s Goalsetting Book - The 10X Rule
Undermining Goalsetting and Goals
Mindtools Goalsetting Insights
Kanbanize Article on Underestimating Goals for Projects
Have a friendly relationship with the journey of your goals. When your goal whips your ass, come back tougher tomorrow. I loved what Sara Safari said as a guest on my podcast regarding goals: you have to become as big as your goal or vision in order to meet it. Yes! We must monitor the pacing and effort we’re using in the pursuit of our big goals. Trevor Lohrbeer, another excellent podcast guest, talked about adjusting pacing of one’s pursuits toward goals, as well. These are vital skills you need to achieve your goals and get on track with goalsetting and goal attainment.
Are You a Storyteller? Critical Thinking and Creativity are In-Demand in Today's Job Market
Murray Schisgal, playwright and screenwriter, passed away recently. He wrote Tootsie - the classic comedy starring Dustin Hoffman! His obituary described when he first learned he was a storyteller. As a child, he couldn’t fall asleep until he heard a story. So, he made up his own. He took the random scraps of the day - the experiences and events he recalled - and cobbled them together with a single thread and created a story.
That’s the simple process for starting an audio journal. Scribble down interesting thought throughout the day then explore them each night into an audio recorder. Five minutes and you’re done!
Critical Thinking Links:
Soft Skills and Critical Thinking Needed
HBR Critical Thinking Article
Defining Critical Thinking in the Workplace
Hiring Problem Solvers and Critical Thinkers
The act of connecting seemingly disparate ideas will help you practice these skills daily! Spend time connecting ideas - have a theme or motivational phrase for the week! Have a theme for the year! Reflection, critical thinking, and creativity are hot commodities in the job market!
Ep 44 - Unleash u Now with Michael Fabber, High-Performance Success Coach
This episode explores how to build a tribe and serve them with constant value. Michael shares his effective approach to social media that creates outstanding engagement. Also, he describes life-changing experiences he’s had with mastermind groups. As a bonus, Michael was kind enough to share some awesome business coaching at the end of the interview that you can apply today!
Michael Fabber is the Executive Director of the Joseph Patrick Fabber Memorial Foundation. It has a mission to prevent suicide, drug addiction, and bullying. He is a High-Performance Success Coach, author, entrepreneur, speaker, and owner of several businesses.
Related links:
Ep 42 - Creating Top Performance with the Ironmind Mindset: An Interview with Dr. Richard Greene, Triathlete and Performance Expert
Dr. Richard B. Greene: Keynote Speaker, Trainer, Coach, Ironman Triathlete
Dr. Greene’s experience spans more than 30 years as a corporate sales executive across many different industries. He’s an author, a business coach, and entrepreneur, a 7-time Ironman triathlete, and an ultra-distance competitive ocean swimmer. His sales acceleration training system has been highlighted on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and many other outlets.
Dr. Greene has been a featured speaker and worked with companies like Oracle, JP Morgan Chase, Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Nestle Foods, The Mayo Clinic, and has coached 1:1 with many of their executives.
Visit www.ironmindsuccess.com
Ep 39 - Providing Service Through Leadership: An Interview with Matt Rosenthal, Technology & Business Strategist, CEO of Mindcore
Matt Rosenthal is a technology and business strategist as well as the President/CEO of Mindcore, the leading IT solutions provider in New Jersey. Mindcore offers a broad portfolio of IT services and solutions tailored to help businesses take back control of their technology, streamline their business, and outperform their competition. Matt describes his commitment to providing customers with IT services and shares invaluable insights from a proven track record of business turnarounds and consulting.
Related link:
www.mind-core.com
Ep 37 - Fall In Love With Your Smart, Sexy, Spiritual Self: An Interview with Lora Cheadle, Life Choreographer
It’s time to get naked! Today’s guest, Lora Cheadle, teaches us to learn the value of our naked self-worth. Her book, Flaunt! Drop Your Cover and Reveal Your Smart, Sexy and Spiritual Self, will help you release self-judgment, shame and overwhelm and uncover the power, beauty and joy within. In these challenging times, Lora Cheadle is a lifeline to a new, powerful self we secretly aspire to become.
Related link:
Podcast Notes:
Her story: corporate lawyer to burlesque dancer
We all wear masks and play different roles
6:00 We’re not inherently connected with our true worth
We must unconditionally accept the negative
Take the lead in the dance of life
GPS analogy of goals: we must know where you’re starting from and our destination
11:00 Naked self-worth
Self-worth comes from inside not the outside factors
When we’re in an authentic state we don’t have negative people in our lives as much because they know they can’t get anything from us
Book: Flaunt! Drop Your Cover and Reveal Your Smart, Sexy, and Spiritual Self
FLAUNT acronym:
Find your fetish
Laugh out loud
Accept
Unconditionally
Navigate the negative
Trust in your truth
19:40 Men can benefit from Lora’s book, too
Our power lies at the edge of judgment
Step into your authentic self a little more each day
24:00 Hats that Lora wears
If your dream came true today, would you be ready?
Have you done the work needed to receive the goals you say you want?
You must feel you deserve the goals you seek