Just Do It! Advice From Nike in 2010
January 27, 2010
I’m being haunted by a voice in my head. The longtime slogan of Nike keeps ringing in my ears – JUST DO IT!
It seems to be my emerging theme for 2010.
As 2009 drew to a close, I began to notice in many of my clients, in myself and in those around me a collective “holding back”. Action seemed to take a back burner during the holiday months as the fears of the economy mounted and frustrations of draining, unfulfilling work got the best of us.
For me, it showed up as a kind of paralysis. My list of to do’s was long, yet each day I spent more time staring at my list than I did accomplishing even the most minor of tasks on it. I knew I should be doing more yet there was this feeling of “waiting” that came over me.
“Why start something new now?” the voice questioned, “It’s the holidays. Take time off. Don’t work so hard. Wait until January.”
Was this normal holiday haze or was it something different? The frustrating part for me was that I knew what I needed to do. I had taken the time to plan. I had taken the time to explore my fears and know what my blocks were. But still, there was no action.
As I probed deeper, memories from my last December in corporate America came flooding to my mind and body. The exhaustion caused by the long hours and the push to get the last bit of work done before the holiday break. I remembered my resentment at the late evening and weekend phone calls with my team that crept into my celebration and shopping time. And unconsciously there was this protective part of me that wasn’t going to let that happen this year now that I was my own boss.
But was I stuck in neutral in spite of myself? Was I really protecting myself or was I hurting myself and my business? My guess is that I won’t know until more time passes and I have the clarity of hindsight. (I’ll keep you posted.)
And despite the lack of clarity, something did shift for me. In the days leading up to the New Year, the itch began to grow. I started checking things off my list and getting excited to start work again.
And now that 2010 is in full swing, I am seeing the results of my new Just Do It! motto. How am I doing it? By following a few simple “rules” I’ve learned over the years.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post when I’ll share these simple tips.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. What was your energy like at the close of 2009? Has that changed in 2010? What are you doing to stay in action and move towards your goals?
What’s life got to do with it? – Extraordinary Foundation
January 13, 2010
This post originally ran on July 30, 2009 on the blog, Less Ordinary Living.
Has this ever happened to you? You had an unfocused, unproductive week at work and you couldn’t understand why!
That’s what happened to me last week. I thought I had everything in place – a 3-year business vision, annual goals, monthly revenue projections, a marketing strategy, monthly goals, daily and weekly action steps, two weekly calls with my accountability partner Phil…Yet I still couldn’t get out of my own way. I couldn’t manage to sit down and accomplish much. My attention wandered, I was distracted by email, doing laundry and waiting for the next post to pop up on Facebook. I was having trouble sleeping and was exhausted most of the day.
What was up? What kind of coach and role model was I being? I followed all the rules, implemented all the systems for success and still nothing could break me out of my unproductive funk.
Disturbed, I pulled out my journal and began to write down any thought that came into my head. Surprisingly, not many of them were work related. Here’s what came out on the page – I’ve been struggling with the chronic illness of a family member, worried about my husband and concerned how much longer he can endure working at his unfulfilling job while managing a job search in this economy, feeling guilty because I’ve been busy and out of touch with friend and family, worried about money, and frustrated that I haven’t finished my home office renovations yet.
My guess is a few of these ring true for you as well. So many of us push through the daily tasks of our work telling ourselves that we’ll get to our personal lives later, when we’re done with work. Yet work never quite seems to end and later keeps getting pushed off. And if you’re like me, when I don’t take time to focus on my personal life, honor what’s important to me and process my emotions, I feel like I’m on shaky ground, carrying a bag of rocks around with me through dense fog. And boy does it wipe me out trying to work while I’m carrying those rocks through the fog! Whether we’re conscious of it or not, our personal life is with us during our workday. The unresolved issues and unprocessed emotions take space in your brain; they mentally (and physically) wear you out and keep you from doing your best work.
As I’ve moved through my career, I’ve noticed my tolerance for pushing off my personal life has decreased as the impact it has on my professional success increases. I now see self-care as a top priority not only in having a high quality of life but also in my career success. If I don’t have the solid foundation of my personal life, no matter how hard I try, I cannot be fully present and successful in running my business.
So when it hit me last week that life was getting in the way of business, I took swift action. I made time for some self-care, I got in touch with friends and family, I talked to my coach, did some financial planning and finally got my home office together.
The energy shift was amazing! Not only do I feel good about the attention I paid to my personal life but in less than a week’s time, I’ve gotten many tasks off the work to-do list and several doors have opened to exciting and unexpected opportunities.
I am taking away a powerful lesson from this experience; a critical key to career success is making your personal life a priority. Taking time to care for yourself, process your emotions and nourish your relationships not only frees you from carrying that bag of rocks through fog, it also is a vital source of energy to accomplish nothing less than the extraordinary in your business and career!
What’s standing the way of your career success? What needs handling in your personal life? What support do you need to move forward?