Embrace Your Quirks

In our professional circles, we often try to put on our most polished and sophisticated faces to present to peers and colleagues and possible new clients. I've been reminded recently that what most of us want in the relationships we hold dear is authenticity. We connect more deeply with people who make us laugh and are easy to be with. We love their quirks. It gives us ample opportunity to tease and play with them in a good-natured way.

Why not loosen up in our professional circles and let them see the real us? Are we afraid they would think less of us if they knew we love to tango?  Let's embrace our quirks--they are part of our charm. Maybe you juggle for fun, or you have the habit of alphabetizing letters in words. These are the very qualities that make you unique and special. By embracing the parts of ourselves that are fun, weird and quirky, we send a message to our own subconscious that says, "I like this person." 

I'd much prefer to have coffee with a colleague or client who is relaxed enough to be real. When I find myself in the company of those stiff, all-business types who won't talk about any other aspect of life, it seems extremely limiting and one dimensional. Let's give ourselves and each other the freedom to be whole, multi-dimensional beings who enjoy life on many levels. 

Surrender to Simplify

The segment intending process was a good first step. It got me through a crucial step that needed to be completed on  a project I'm working on. Looking at it a week later, I've come to the awareness that part of the challenge is I simply have too many distractions vying for my attention. I'm ready to wave the white flag of surrender and admit that I can't do it all. At least, not all at once. In an attempt to simplify, I've unsubscribed to a handful of mailing lists and put aside a shopping bag full of books that were taking up mental and physical space.  If  we whittle down those things that are really soul-expanding and delicious, what might life be like then? 

Adding to my best practice list: Keep it simple, more is not necessarily better. Before taking on one more book, client, project, ask: is this how I want to spend my time now?

Best Practices

I've decided to follow my own advice and set up best practices in each area of my life to act as guidelines, so that I'm not recreating the wheel every time an old issue resurfaces. The area that seems to be most challenging for me lately is handling all my commitments with ease. I'd like to be managing my time better. One tool that has worked for me in the past was segment intending.

Segment intending works like this: In this next hour, I'm going to focus my best thinking and give my full attention to (fill in the blank). Then I'll take the next highest item on my list of priorities for the day and devote a block of time to it. No multitasking...that simply waters down my effectiveness and delays my accomplishing anything fully.

I'm aiming to mine my memory over the next few days to come up with a list of five of the best practices I've used to manage my time and be effective. Keep it simple, if I practice those five, I'll be way ahead of the game.