MEETHEAD

PhotoCredit: Attention

One of the hot topics of the pandemic has been the possible watershed moment for remote working. In many respects this is self-evident, the clear result of necessity being a wonderful catalyst for invention. In other respects it's a solid maybe. The global economy cannot seemingly decide: is remote work; flexible work; or the compromise of a 4-day work week inevitable, or are we all in on a "return" to work? It's all great fodder for click-tastic-bait headlines and something everyone seems to be right about!

Meanwhile, awash in a sea of burnout, we seem to be skipping over the topic of our inefficient work environment. The collision of the modern workplace with a rampant virus has only amplified the productivity issues that existed. That may or may not mean we need to think differently about where we work. It is, however, imperative that we improve how we work. We need to call time-out on the presenteeism practices that dominate the corporate world.

There are so many things that fall in this category. I will endeavor to talk to a few over the coming weeks. First off the rank: meetings.

We are all guilty of agenda-less meetings where people turn up un-prepared and immediately disengage. Don't hate the player: most meetings are likely 50% longer and 50% more inefficient than they need to be. In a universe where skilled talent is scarce and expensive, every minute of productive brain power should be spent on-task or up-skilling.

The rally-cry is to reframe what has become one of the biggest sources of waste in the modern economy. We can all own our part in this. Start with this HBR article to think about meetings you host. Even better, start a conversation with your team about where your meetings could be improved. And best, see if you can cancel one meeting a week and cut meeting time in half. I'm personally a huge fan of the 15 minute meeting.  

Time in person, whether on a zoom or IRL, is invaluable when done correctly and intentionally. Most meetings are neither of these. When in doubt, please, just don't.

YA KNOW

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The book How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie is almost 100 years old. Ok, that’s slightly over-stated as it was first published in 1936 but that might as well be 100 years ago. If it was a pair of Levi’s it would for sure be considered vintage. 

It appears highly ranked in many top 100 all time great non-fiction books type lists. That’s a fun rabbit hole to go down on the internet…this was my favorite of the lists but I also liked the Good Reads top 100 list.

I've been thinking about influencing lately. True influence is an art form. It's not manipulation, it's not about seeking capitulation and it's certainly not about determination. Influence is much more about discovery and open-ness and less 'what part of my plan is the right plan don’t you understand?'. 

So why do we approach projects like we are going into war? Full military style 'rally the troops and go do battle.’ With an everyone-must-fall-into-place orientation? When the reality is we want to execute in a sneaky, crafty, they-didn’t-see-that-coming style. Execution that requires all brains on deck - permission to speak freely with maximum creativity and deftness.

Conversation is the key to excellent strategic execution. Through conversation we seek to more deeply understand our colleagues diverging views and, from that place of understanding, the organization absorbs knowledge and becomes smarter. Smarter wins the war.

In the only battle I care about, the battle for disruptive thinking in organizations, we need to think less about chain of command and more about elevating ideas. And for me nothing is more powerful than conversation: a work of art with more than one creator.

So this week as you find yourself doing battle, ask yourself what you can learn from those fighting on your side. Instead of insisting you are right, seek information. You might not just win friends and influence people - you might just also look smarter in the process.

NOWHERE TO GO

PhotoCredit: Macaron 

There were a few occasions during peak-pandemic that Mark and I decided to get dressed up despite our mandated seclusion. It felt important at the time - and I am glad we did it - but it smacked more of defeat than victory. All dressed up and nowhere to go just never feels right.

In much the same way, ummmmm major segue alert, our goals are completely useless if we don’t have practices, rituals, and actions to move us towards them. Great ambitions, alone, are as hopeless as a ballgown in a pandemic.

I wrote last time about reviewing your goals for 2021. Now we are midway through the year this is a great time to get focussed on what is truly critical. You might even want to eliminate some goals and get real about what is possible.

The next step is to create daily and weekly actions and practices that will support your goal achievement. Maybe only one muffin-day a week versus every day being muffin-day? Remember, I love you. Maybe reading for 30 minutes a day to get some brain enhancement. Maybe a little more sleep or a few more days of exercise. Maybe?

This video from Farnam Street notes that habits are algorithms operating in the background to power our lives. Bingo. Your job is to design and execute the algorithms. I could talk about OKR’s here but I will refrain. All I will say is that you want to monitor the habits/actions you put in place to ensure they are taking you towards achieving your goals.

Remember also that less is more when it comes to habits and actions. One of my favorite thinkers in this area is James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. Big changes can feel impossible. Make them small and unavoidable. Compound interest doesn’t just work in your bank account [insert nerdy comment about depressed interest rates here].

And do it today. Think fast. Just start. Momentum is everything. Change will create room for more change.

TRASH

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Of all my systems, the one I come back to without fail is Keep, Throw, Maybe. It started with a reality show...Clean Sweep...which I watched like a puppy watches his food being scooped into his bowl. Clean Sweep was Marie Kondo before she folded her first t-shirt.

I wrote about the Keep, Throw, Maybe system in the early days of squiggly.com. “The genius of Keep, Throw, Maybe is it’s simplicity. Any overwhelming pile can be organized with a quick categorization of each item as: a definite keep; a definite throw; and a decide-later maybe pile. The trick is to categorize lightning fast, speeding up the process but also to get out of your conscious “I can justify anything” mind.”

I use this system for everything: from cleaning out my cupboards, to my to-do list, to my life. I especially love it for life. Keep - what’s working for me at the moment? Throw - what is one hundred percent NOT working for me at the moment? Maybe - what do I need to think about a little more…

It’s the ‘maybe’ that I like the most, it gives me permission to create a list of things I should think about. There are many things I am trying to figure my way through, practices and habits I am not sure are serving me but which I really enjoy. Practices and habits that a nerdy and uptight, stick-to-the-rules-type, might suggest are verboten. TV is a great example of this. I go through phases of, let’s call it aggressive binging. As a result of that I swing to not watching TV. Straight to the “throw” pile. If I instead put it on the “maybe” pile, I create space to think about what really works for me. 

The answer to TV is the same for me as the answer to alcohol - every now and then it’s awesome. Everyday, no bueno.

I like to Keep, Throw, Maybe my life each month. I do it on the full moon - for no especially good reason but I like the 'reflective' quality of that. If that’s not your jam, the end of the month is a great time to do this AND it just so happens that we are entering the middle of the year. So….good time for you to look at your goals for the year and assess what is supporting you towards those goals, what is NOT supporting you and...what you need to ponder. 

HOURS AND HOURS

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In a future gazing moment the other day I asked Mark if he thought Tom Hanks will run for President? I had just read an article about the most beloved one that felt like political positioning. 

“President?” Mark replied. “Maybe Senator, but don’t you think that job would completely bore him? It’s hardly the most exciting job in the world.” 

Once upon a time, being a movie star seemed so much fun. Mark and I then reminisced about #theonetime we both were on sets. Mark, as always, has the cooler story. He worked on RoboCop 2. I was part of a crowd on a commercial.

Once upon a time, I thought being a singer would be amazingly fun. Being up late and performing for crowds seemed like the coolest of cool. Now being in bed at 9pm with a good book is my idea of a life well lived. As for crowds <shudder>.

Hours and hours of doing the same thing. Talking, singing, walking (we also determined modelling was not as fabulous as it might otherwise appear). Gosh, what terribly repetitive jobs. How lucky am I that I get to do what I do...which is...hours and hours of doing the same thing.

Much of what I do would bore most people senseless. Mark had the same reflection. He once spent three full days, like eight hour days, sanding a bench smooth. I mean, it was SMOOTH. I mean, talk about boring.

The easy conclusion is that when you love what you do “you’ll never work a day in your life.” The more finessed conclusion is that in the pursuit of mastery, work is elevated beyond notions of exertion. There is no way I would spend three days sanding a piece of wood. There is no way most people could sit in a board meeting for an entire day. Let alone do that three days straight as I sometimes do.

In the pursuit of excellence, the monotonous becomes our craft. The repetition becomes a teacher. Doing the same thing over and over again makes us smarter and stronger. Slowly, but surely, we work towards mastery. And the work continues.

STRETCH GOALS

PhotoCredit: StretchGoals

I had the most awesome response to my note on the 1927 Solvay Conference. A very dear friend of mine replied that his great grandfather attended that conference. As the story goes, he was uninvited from the group photo due to his radical views on alignment "not being linear." A man after my own non-linear heart.

It gets so much cooler. Apparently he and Einstein "Allie" were drinking buddies. To think of Einstein kicking back with anyone, let alone someone related to someone I know, just makes me happy. I am possibly clutching at vicarious straws here.

As the story was told, Max Plank evidently always teased Marie Curie for the rhyming of her name. I guess that's all Plank had to give her grief about. Of course, Curie didn't take that lying down with the comeback “At least people will easily remember it. Especially when it comes to the Nobel selection committee.” You go girl!

My favorite part of the story, aided by a journal entry, is that just before the group photo was snapped, Plank leaned to Marie Curie and whispered that he thought she thought “too big” and “somewhat bold”. She winked at him and said, “Go big, brave, and bold, or go home.”

While we are all still in the throws of being at home, there is still so much scope for being big, brave and bold. We can still be magnificent, even in our sweats. Stretch goals are a favorite tool of mine to test whether I am pushing myself to my maximum. Goals are often what we know we can achieve. Unreasonable goals supercharge our potential.

Calibrate your ambitions this week. Are you being brave and bold. Are your ambitions outsized? Or are the sweatpants an enabler to play it safe. WWMCD? What would Marie Curie do?

SHOW UP

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Most people are surprised when I explain that I am an introvert. I do a very good job of being extraverted, when required, but I get energy from 1:1 interactions. Or being on my own for very long lengths of time. Preferably in my pajamas with endless cups of coffee.

Sometimes that even extends to writing this newsletter. I always feel like I am speaking directly to all of you. I love that and I love the emails I get back from all of you. But every now and then the introvert in me shows up. I want to hide in my little Cancer shell and do only Claudia-things. These might include replying to email, tidying my kitchen cupboards, organizing my endless to-do list and always includes reading.

So today, when I had an introvert-moment I said to Mark "I don't want to" and he said "but you need to". And he was right.

There are so many moments where we don't want to show up. We might even tell ourselves we can't show up. And those are such important moments. It's the moments where we do the thing we really don't feel we can that deliver game-changing reward. We don't have to be aggressive about it. Just determined and open to the invitation of changing that habit of reluctance. Stepping into power instead of disappearing into a comfortable old habit.

I'm already feeling more energized from writing. What felt a little difficult ended up being empowering. So next time you feel the need to step out, hide out, and be quiet - challenge yourself. Show up! The world needs you. Don't tell yourself otherwise.

CHOCOLATE FOR BREAKFAST

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When the pandemic hit I was one of the original 7.9 Billion people on the planet that decided to bake their way through it. I rapidly mastered chocolate biscotti, cheese scones (or biscuits as we confusingly call them in the US) and various sourdough delights. It was cathartic, well except for doing the dishes.

Then Keto entered my life.

For this "any carb is a good carb" gal, Keto was a shock. I quickly loved the energy it gave me. I constantly struggled with how limiting it felt. Cooking stopped being fun as I felt restricted by "getting my macro's" which often lead to incredibly unimaginative meals.

Well I don't do unimaginative so, over time, I have discovered-slash-invented some epic keto meals. My most recent discovery is that life-changing I had to share it.

From a squiggly perspective, I look at diet as something that helps me achieve peak performance. I am also a big fan of fasting and I toggle both based on what is happening in my life. The busier and more intense my life, the stricter I get with Keto and fasting.

So, chocolate for breakfast? There are some phenomenal chocolates out there that are sugar free and delicious. I don't love them to snack on but cooked into this most-delicious chocolate loaf, they are magic. To make this I use coconut sugar and coconut oil, I use raw cacao instead of cocoa (try 1/4 of a cup as the raw cacao is much richer), and almond milk. I'm also obsessed with heilala vanilla from New Zealand so I replace vanilla extract for quantities of this.

The loaf freezes brilliantly. Cut it up, freeze it and pull out a piece in the morning. By the time I have finished fasting it's always defrosted. I have it with some blueberries, raspberries, hemp hearts, yoghurt, and whatever nuts I have around. It's the most delicious thing ever, it makes me insanely happy and it's incredibly filling.

Chocolate: the squiggly breakfast of champions.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

PhotoCredit: Morning

I will readily admit I don’t always follow my own advice. I have a strong rebellious streak and will often wreck havoc on myself purely for the fun of breaking a few rules. I could never let someone else down. Letting myself down? In a hot minute. Three glasses of wine too many on a school night? Fun! Carbs, bring them on! Skipping yoga class, genius idea. Neglecting my own work in favor of helping others, heck yes.

Cut to feeling like shit and being overwhelmingly behind.

Thankfully, I am mostly wise enough to not let all my systems fail me. Mostly. Thankfully I am also slowly learning that feeling good is way more fun than being a rebel. Slowly!

My recent discovery is a bit of a game-changer. After being plagued with a severe headache for two days I realized I had to drastically shift my screen time and light exposure. I listened to a few podcasts on topic (Dave Asprey, Dr Mercola and Rich Roll are my standard nerdy go-to’s) and decided to test a few things.

It’s been life altering. This is what I have been experimenting with:

1. Natural (blue) light exposure first thing in the morning. Very easily achieved by taking the dog for a quick early walk and just soaking up the morning light. Winston and I are both enjoying this;

2. Open windows during the day. Especially in the morning when the air is cool. I am not sure what this does to the light filtering (clearly something) but the combo-act of cool air and unfiltered light is a winning combination. Such an easy thing to incorporate in your morning;

3. Constant breaks from the screen in the form of gazing at the sky and into the distance. This is so important for eye strength and fatigue-prevention. You can also pretend you are thinking deep philosophical thoughts when you are really just trying to decide what you should have for lunch;

4. When you can, shut the screen. We don’t have to be on zoom for every call; and

5. My personal favorite is spending the hour before I go to sleep listening to a Tara Brach podcast and shutting off all lights. Honestly, I wake up feeling about 60% better when I have done this. Listen to whatever takes your fancy but find something that is calming (and that doesn’t get your mind running a million miles an hour).

I did some research and ultimately decided against the various light blocking glasses. I don’t love wearing glasses as it is and I wanted to see what I could impact without buying another gadget. Switching to Dark Mode on your screens is likely a better place to start. I have been on and off with this over the years because the tech isn’t perfect, but it’s a great addition when you can’t avoid a lot of screen time. Check these resources to change your phone and your computer. Just search “dark mode” and your device type if you are not a mac-junkie like me. 

My absolute game changing favorite is the hour of no-lights pre bed. I know, I am telling you to cut the pre-sleep binge-watching. I am the WORST person. You’d like me a lot more if I said potato chips+wine+a few episodes of ‘Nailed It’ was conducive to a great night’s sleep. But sadly, it’s not. I tested that theory last night. No bueno people. No bueno!

THE THREE V'S

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When I first started public speaking I learnt that the audience’s perception of a speaker was largely driven by the energy of the speaker. Content was less important than delivery. This information helped me to freak out a little less about what I was saying and focus on enjoying myself. If I was having a good time, odds on my audience was too.

Fast forward to present day, speaking is an online game. It’s been a huge shift for us all to find ourselves navigating a world of online everything: investor calls, board calls, strategy days and mentor sessions. The same rules apply; presence is key. Being "present" in an online setting sounds like an oxymoron: how do you do this well in a virtual setting?

There are some good articles floating around but this podcast from a16z is very instructive. Matt Abrahams, a Stanford School of Business communications lecturer, speaks with Andreessen Horowitz’s Editor in Chief Sonal Chokshi. These are two people who know their craft.

It’s long. Please know that I don’t recommend any long content unless it’s excellent.

Anyone wanting to develop their communications skills can learn from this. At minute 28.35 they switch from the broader topic of moderating panels (which might not be for everyone) to the art of communicating virtually. If you are strapped for time start listening from that point on. They explore the three V’s of presence: visual, vocal and verbal. How you appear visually, how to moderate your vocals for interest and stamina, and the importance of being verbally articulate (specifically removing what they call verbal graffiti; the "um’s", "ah’s", "like’s" and frankly anything needlessly repeated).  

I will leave you to listen as there is no way I can succinctly capture the richness of this content. However, I will emphasize one point they make which is that there is NO question we are in an “unprecedented age of online communication and collaboration." It is critical we all develop these skills and learn to not just survive this massive online shift but to thrive in this new way of working. It delivers benefits just as much as it delivers fatigue.

INBOX ANXIETY

PhotoCredit: Styles

Lifetimes ago, when I was a baby lawyer, I developed a deep anxiety of the phone ringing. It was pavlovian, of sorts. The phone ringing sent me in a spiral of worry as it inevitably meant more work. As a baby lawyer you are never short on work. I never felt on top of it all and the phone ringing signaled the problem was about to get worse.

Later in life the stress response didn’t serve me at all. Drastic action was required. I set my ringtone to PSY’s Gangnam Style which proceeded to make me laugh every time the phone rang. Now it’s our inboxes that cause unhelpful (but justified) anxiety. Ready for a change? Here is my step-by-step guide to Gangham Style your inbox.

Step One: Turn off all notifications, alerts, alarms, banners, home screens and any other form of email announcements. A new email does not warrant a trumpet flourish. Notifications are not your friend - they interrupt your focus and cause switching fatigue.

Step Two: Highlight all of your email in your inbox and mark UNREAD. Get rid of that nasty ticker telling you that you have 103,984,567 unread emails. You will never get to them, stop kidding yourself.

Step Three: Create an email folder “OLD” and move all email from your inbox into that folder. They are all still there for you. You are not deleting them. Stop telling me you can’t possibly do that. DO IT.

Step Four: Create two subfolders for your inbox: URGENT and IMPORTANT. From now on, any email that needs a response today goes into your URGENT folder. Anything else goes into IMPORTANT.
**You can go a level deep on this if you want to and create two additional subfolders: NOT URGENT and FUN. Anything you don’t really have to respond to can go into NOT URGENT (I call it the “no one will die if I don’t reply to this email” folder) and anything you want to read or peruse later goes into FUN.**

Step Five: Look at your URGENT emails and assess how much time you need today for those items and put that time on your calendar immediately. I like to have about 90 minutes in the middle of my morning to knock out those emails and do a quick sort of any new email.

Step Six: Set two calendar appointments daily: one for the morning to sort your inbox and one for the evening to clear through some of the IMPORTANT emails and likely sort through your inbox again. I like 30 minutes first thing in the day so I can see what in waiting for me and I like about 60-90 minutes in the evening which I often use as reading/thinking time if I don’t have a heap of pressing matters.

Step Seven: Set an amount of time every two weeks to have an email blast. This is optional. You can use this time to quietly sort through your OLD folder if you really want to (I wouldn’t). It’s great time just to weed through all your folders and delete (or move to the OLD folder) to keep things really streamlined.

BONUS#1: Unsubscribe to any email lists that are weighing you down, annoying you, too frequent or part of your past. 

BONUS#2: Email doesn't have to suck. I like to play a great album or playlist as I clear email. It means I also get time in my day to listen to new music. A glass of wine helps in the evening as does a hot chocolate. Figure out how to make it fun.

TIME IS ON OUR SIDE

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Next Monday will be the first day of February. WTF! While 2020 felt like it would never end, 2021 has some sort of lightning speed quality. My inner-overachiever is hyperventilating at the notion I have almost lost 1/12th of the year. Am I on track? Are you on track?

The next thought I have is, do I even care? 2020 was the year of “anything could happen”, and did happen. We learnt that anything and everything could fall apart at any minute. Let us never forget that at one point we couldn’t even rely on being able to buy toilet paper. 2020 was a not-so-subtle teacher delivering a repeated lesson of the need for agility and flexibility. 

This is a great lesson. As one of my yoga teachers says “right now it’s like this, may I be at ease”. I said that quite a bit last year.

So, we can’t blame ourselves for approaching 2021 with a little hesitation. For having a heavy dose of “fu*ks given, zero” about everything. My 'give a damn' is a little bit busted, to quote a country song I once heard.

Busted but not beyond repair. We have one week left in January. Let’s make it count. In fact, it’s a great thing that there is one week. Seven days is so doable.

So, here is my question for you. Can you tell me what the most important thing for you is in 2021? What is your biggest goal? The “O” in your OKR? If you get to the end of 2021 with only one thing done, what is that one thing?

Now tell me, what can you do for one week against that goal? I am committing to my breath-work practice. I can do that every day for a week, no problem. What can you commit to? It’s never too late to start. And it’s still January. We’ve got heaps of time.

SLEEPING DOGS

PhotoCredit: GoodBoy

Winston is almost one. Still cute. Still a puppy. Just a mere 72 pounds of cute puppy. He’s in that awkward phase where he’s half big-boy and half-baby. He knows the rules but he doesn’t always feel he wants to follow them. When he wakes up from his naps he is just the most adorable cuddle-buddy on the planet. Full sweetness. When he needs a nap, not-so-much. Full monster. He doesn’t know he needs to rest, so he acts out. And then some. 

I have a habit of going to bed at about 8.30PM and reading. I get off my screens, make a herbal tea, and do something I hope is sleep-inducing and soul-enhancing. Lately, I have been a little off my schedule and as a result we end up with a terror of a rampaging honey-badger. I hadn’t realized that my wind-down was his wind-down. He is a little barometer of whether I am doing the right things. His teeth around my wrist tend to indicate that I am not.

We don’t all have such a clear indicator of when we need rest. Rest, not in the conventional sense but rest as a reset and a recharge. Taking him for walks each day has become my thinking time. Largely because if I am talking or listening to a podcast he notices my distraction and puppy-mayhem ensues. I have now come to enjoy his little reminders that I need to shift gears.

This ideas.ted article talks about needing seven types of rest. I appreciate the dimension the article gives to the notion of rest. We tend to bucket rest under the sleep umbrella and we are doing ourselves a disservice. Rest is time off screens, time outdoors, time reflecting, time in quiet, time in solitude, time in relationship. Rest is an investment in our performance. It is not a cop-out. It's a power-up.

One of my favorite forms of rest is active rest. The ideas.ted article does a good job of pointing to this. If I am doing the dishes, I focus on my breath and make it a restful activity. My rest-enhancing pro tip is to look out the window - or at least into the edge of your room - to rest your eyes (and therefore brain) on calls. I have noticed many people in smaller rooms on video calls and I know they are in that space for prolonged periods of time. If that is you, put something in the far corner of your room and practice looking at that periodically. A plant is awesome, a small water feature would be amazing and a mood board would also be brilliant. 

Finally, rest is personal. Take the ideas.ted article and make it yours. Think about how you can incorporate moments in your day that bring you energy. Rest is so much more than putting your feet up. Rest is so much more than sleep. Rest doesn’t slow you down, it makes you go faster in the right direction. Rest is fuel for the fire of your squiggly ambitions. It will give you perspective and it will make you smarter, happier and clearer about how to win.

SLEEPY START

PhotoCredit: FullSloth

I ended 2020 like a champion. My goal was to end the year the way I intended to start the next. It wasn’t hard. I mean, who didn’t want to celebrate the end of the weirdest year ever? So I was in rockstar form as of December 31 but, come Jan 1st, my vibe was more “lazy morning” than “productive mania”. 

So last week I just kinda lazed around. I baked some epic meatballs, thought about doing yoga (yeah it was that bad that yoga didn’t even appeal), likely over-walked the puppy and had some fabulous sleep-in’s.

I guess a little bit like I was on vacation. It’s just that it doesn’t feel all that vacation-y when you are sitting at home with little else to do but think about Marie Kondo-ing your cupboards for the 9th time.

There is a lot to be said for rest. It’s undeniably key to recovery and we all need a lot more of it than we allow ourselves. Not just sleep but cozy laziness. Brain-rebooting, soul-invigorating, perspective-enhancing rest. It’s perfect for a sunny beach day and equally perfect for a chilly home day. It’s always a good day for a long savasana.

This week I feel incredible, invincible. I feel clear, I feel determined and I feel steady. My week of rest was an investment and the dividends are already flowing.

This year is going to likely be another long one. We need to be rested to go the distance. Make slothfulness part of your habits for 2021. Add it to your over-achieving ambitions for the year.

FAST FORWARD

PhotoCredit: Iconic

There are lots of reasons to long for 2021. Long for 2020 to be a distant memory. With two months (almost) left in the year, I’m finding myself casting forward. Thinking about what I can achieve next year. What I might be able to create with a whole new year at my disposal. With this unexpected mess behind us. How glorious will 2021 be?

2020 took us all by surprise. We had such grand plans. A year of such numeric symmetry bode so well. The year we were going to achieve all of our dreams.

We were robbed.

Yes we were. Some more than others. Some robbed blind. 

We must always honor what has been lost. We must also always honor what is ignored. What we neglect. We joke about the pandemic pounds. We talk of zoom fatigue. We quietly admit we may be having the “odd” extra glass of wine. We claim it’s impossible to motivate ourselves to workout at home. Like the gremlin of 2020 is forcing us, against our will, to avoid the changes we know we should make.

It’s all 2020's fault.

But. Your diet was not perfect pre-pandemic. You were already meeting fatigued...zoom fatigue just sounds more acceptable. PuhLEASE, we have all been avoiding our workouts since we became not 7-anymore. And let's not talk about drinking - that would require way more self-awareness than I can muster in this moment.

Dreaming of 2021 is futile. Possibly feeble even? It’s time we embrace the present. As uncomfortable and confronting as that is. What can I do now? In this moment? What can I do with the two remaining months of 2020? We have lost enough - it’s time to gain something back. Well, other than pounds!

From little change comes big change. When we accomplish one goal we start to look at other things we can conquer. We show up in the world with a sense that all change is possible. So let’s do our little things so maybe some of the big shit can start to shift. Now is the time.

ROBOTIC

PhotoCredit: ByteDance

I remember my friend asking whether she should join TikTok. My reply was an instant and emphatic no. The last thing she needed to add to her busy life was another distraction. Another technology platform to learn. Another social media beast that was ravenous for content.

I still maintain I was right, but part of me was wrong. Distraction is bad, absolutely. However, new technology platforms are always worth investigating. It’s important we observe the waves of innovation. Never turn your back on the ocean.

I followed TikTok in the media from it’s early days. I saw the numbers climb. I could see something interesting happening but for some reason I never ventured into the app. It’s easy to dismiss a piece of technology that seems inherently designed for play. As TikTok, and the alleged importance of it’s algorithm, hit the headlines...I wanted to know more.

This podcast from Andreessen Horowitz (Spotify and Google) is the best analysis I have come across. The piece of the conversation I find most intriguing is the conversation about TikTok’s focus on the interest graph over the social graph. This is significant because it means content is discovered based on your preferences versus who you are following. Instagram does this a little if you navigate to search. TikTok’s main navigation works in a similar way, but better. This podcast explains that TikTok went all in on this functionality, giving priority to the content you love over the people you purport to love, friend, heart or follow.

The interest graph is an important innovation. AI and Machine learning’s ability to learn who we are and deliver relevant content is going to evolve many industries. I believe this is why TikTok is viewed as such a threat. Personally, I prefer this to the outsized influence of - well, “influencers”. TikTok is a (baby) step back towards the meritocracy that social media once offered.

I am under no delusion that TikTok is just another social media platform that will behave in the way all large media platforms behave. Power corrupts. If we have ever known this to be true it is now. No, this is not a TikTok rave. My main purpose with today’s blog is to share the podcast and the insight that TikTok’s technology isn’t the killer innovation it’s purported to be. It’s the inherent design of the app that makes the algorithm powerful. 

Technology can seem complex when the big words are used and technologists speed-mumble explain it. While this podcast does trip over a few big words and terms, it mostly does a great job of revealing the simplicity of how this tech works. 

I also wanted to sow the seed of broader inquiry. What are you dismissing outright? What are you chalking up to being a big-waste-of-your-valuable-time. Sure, it’s hard to keep up with all things technology. And sure, you have important things to accomplish. Focus first, always. I just want to check in that you are not getting too comfortable under your rock. We don’t want you to fossilize.  

CARE-LESS

PhotoCredit: PoolSide

We just spent a blissful week away. I became rather addicted to ordering my dinner poolside and very addicted to the simplicity of vacation-existence. All the things that didn’t need to be done. The official no-worries zone.

Nothing feels complicated in a universe where your morning begins with deciding what swimsuit to wear that day.

It got me thinking, how can I bring vacation-simplicity into my life? While I can’t wander West Hollywood in a bikini, well actually I probably could, surely there are other things I can borrow from the no-worries zone.

It’s a great question. It seemed like an easy question. I challenged myself to make three changes in my life to cultivate simplicity. Until I got home and the concept seemed impossible. Everything went back to normal in an instant. Unpacking, laundry, deliveries and groceries felt like a punishment. I resented the re-entry into normality.

Finding ease in your day-to-day life is a great question. It’s also a hard question. It’s a question I expect I will continue to ponder. Am I the creator of the worry zone? Probably.

Probably and, I realize, forgivably. We are all in some version of the worry zone. Much of it is our own making, but there is a heck of a lot that is beyond our control. 

My life is not that complex, I make it complex. I make it harder than it needs to be. I am the source of the worry zone. Just as you my dear friends are the source of yours. No doubt you have some very valid reasons to worry. This will always be true. My question for you is this. If you went on vacation tomorrow...how much lighter would you feel? The problems are there but can the problems feel different in the no-worries zone?

When we worry about life's worries we compound the issues. We literally make life harder. Put on a metaphorical bathing suit, sit by an imagined pool and breath. It's not the answer but it's a much better space to ask the question.

PRACTICAL MAGIC

Photo Credit: Wand

When I was five years old I fell off a jungle gym and broke my nose. I don’t remember that, but I do remember the horrific reconstruction process later in my teens. I support all your life decisions - except elective nose surgery. That is one life experience I didn’t need.

It’s my fear of falling flat on my face (again) that restricts my progress with the bakasana pose I talked about last week. The pose literally requires you to suspend your face inches off the ground. One day I put a big bolster in front of me. Worst case, practicing this way, I end up face-planted into a pillow. That I can handle. More reconstructive nose surgery I cannot.

The pillow is a support that allows me to fully commit to the pose without fear. 

This post is your burn-out pillow. What follows are five steps to support you in the chaotic practice that is your life. They do not require much change or additional work. Just little tweaks that will make your day, week - and hopefully eventually your life - much stronger.

Step One - Maker Time: Schedule two maker blocks in your day. Make them 90 minutes each. I like them at the start of the day and make sure you do these somewhere other than your usual workspace. Even your bed if you have to. This is your time to work on focussed projects OR just to have some space to think about what those projects should be. No phones, no email - just you and your project!

Step Two - Binaural Beats: If you are not using these, start now. Perfect for maker time or any non-meeting time you need to focus. They are abundantly available on youtube and spotify. They are better than a cup of coffee. And I love my coffee. 

Step Three - Phone Management: Put your phone on silent and turn that thing UPSIDE DOWN when you are at your desk. You are creating constant interruptions with notifications and calls. Each time you are distracted your brain has to work twice as hard to get your back on task. Set up your family as favorites to make sure your kids can still get hold of you. Well, that’s optional <wink>.

Step Four - Social Time: Calendar specific times in your day for social media. Casual browsing messes with your brain in so many ways. Let alone your poor eyes constantly looking at screens. Of course you need a break; so do a breathing exercise, non-video call someone or take a walk around the block. The same goes for reading news all the time. Let’s not even go there with all the ways THAT messes with your brain.

Step Five - Self Audit: This is a pretty quick exercise. One piece of paper. Column A on the left and Column B on the right. Column A is all the stuff you are NAILING at the moment. Column B all the stuff you feel is sub-optimal (likely stuff like Me-Time, Exercise. Eating Well, Meditating, Breathing, Special (and important) Projects). Take one thing from Column A you care least about and switch it with the one thing from Column B you care most about. Your work is to implement the reprioritization of those tasks. For example, no online shopping till you have meditated!

BONUS STEP - Unscheduled Day: This was recently dubbed ‘Flexible Friday” as I have always kept my Friday’s unscheduled. I do NOT book meetings or frankly any commitments on a Friday. I probably get the most work and thinking of my week done on this day. The lack of commitments makes it effortless to focus on what is most important. Sometimes this is a project and sometimes this is being available for my team, my family or frankly me! One of my fav. add-on’s to this is to book a monthly massage at 4.30pm on a Friday and have that day dedicated to powering up your business. Genius idea!

Trust me. Test these. Let me know what works and what doesn’t. I promise, you will not fall on your face.

MORE COWBELL

PhotoCredit: Coffee

I sang lead vocals in a band when I was in high school. It sounds a lot cooler than it was. I mean, I thought I was pretty cool at the time, but (#realtalk) I wasn’t. 
 
At one point the band thought we should add a little cowbell percussion into the mix. Something I could “play” as I sang. Sounded fun to me. I embraced it 110% as I do most things. Well, for a solid minute...it was rather quickly determined that we didn’t actually need cowbell. We definitely didn’t need me playing cowbell.

Singing while banging out a rhythm is hard. Especially hard for someone who lacks natural rhythm. Will Farrell and I share the same gift. 
 
I attempted a similar rhythmic feat the other day while on a board call. These are monthly meetings where we conduct a high level review of the key strategic priorities for the company. It requires your brain to jump from topic to topic - holding space for the new information that comes from the presenters and from the questions your fellow directors ask.
 
You learn to get great at reading massive board packs, excellent at listening and quite ninja about asking questions. If I have learnt anything from being a director it’s been how to ask a good question. That, and that multi-tasking really is a myth. 
 
Even simple multi-tasking. I am not trying to do calculus while a paper is presented. The mere act of silencing my phone, as a call attempted to interrupt the meeting, stopped me from hearing what was being said.

The problem is we need to do a little multi-tasking in long meetings. The science on optimal brain functioning, as I have been taught, suggests that 90 minutes is about all we are good for. We need a break from intense focus at that point to literally reboot our brain. A break on that cadence is difficult to coordinate with a complex agenda so I end up in brain-management mode. I know that every 90 minutes or so my brain needs to regroup and I consciously shift-gears for five minutes. Sometimes it’s impossible, that’s what caffeine is for. Having a snack will divert your brain and not your focus. Doodling or sketching your meeting notes also helps as it activates other parts of your brain. I have also found drinking cold water refreshing for mind and body. That last one might just be me!

My favorite, though, is the tried and true "walk and talk". Most of us can multi-task that combination. It has become harder now that we are all on camera. It can look a little odd. So, I have started declaring it to the group, saying, “I’m turning my camera off for five minutes so I can do some steps.” This is a pro-move that we can all integrate into our meetings and more broadly our daily working routines.
 
Have a think about what might work for you. There are a number of things that you can do that require very low brain functioning that can be done in tandem with being fully engaged in a meeting. The trick is to understand what those are for you. For me, cowbell is not one of them.

IN A DAZE

PhotoCredit: LovePik

I woke up this morning, after a restful and productive weekend, feeling super-charged for the week ahead. I’d cranked on a number of projects that had eluded me, I’d had some Covid-appropriate social engagement, Yoga and Pilates CHECK. I was ready to knock out the week. Garfield so got it wrong, Mondays rock.

I checked my email, to be sure nothing urgent came in over-night. Then I got cranking on a few admin tasks I had left over from my super-star weekend.

Then I realized, oh yeah, my blog. That thing I write every week. For like the last 18 months. Same routine. Each week. Still managed to forget.

I mean, it’s the first item on my to-do list for the week. I just hadn’t opened my notebook yet. I got so caught up in a lot of little things and I got distracted from my main thing in the process.

It’s all recoverable. I’m writing it now. I’ll get it done. What is super interesting is how easy it is for us to get veered away from the important things in life. Focus and keeping the main thing the main thing are core to my beliefs - and my daily practice. Still, it was that easy to miss a beat. That easy to slip up.

It was amazing to conquer some of the pebbles and the sand, to use Steven Covey’s language. My misstep was not re-focussing at the end of that process. I got too caught up in the impossible and unimportant goal of inbox-zero and distracted myself from what I really care about.

It’s the end of June. We are half way through 2020. The most distracted year on record. You can be forgiven for letting every little (and big) thing take you off-course. I’ll happily give you a pass for the rest of 2020 too. But, before I do. Sit down for 5 minutes and think about where you want to be January 1, 2021. Well, other than on a beach somewhere drinking Pina Colada’s. What do you really care about. And are you doing those things?