Tag: speaking

Out of the room

FabrizioLeave a comment

It is difficult not to be bothered by a fly in a closed room.

For as much as you force yourself into a state of flow, the fly will make its presence noticeable incessantly, and eventually you will be left with two options: either be distracted by it – shooing it away, having your pressure and heartbeat rise, calling it names, trying to catch it -, or open the room to let it out and continue your activity.

There are two points to this short and conventional story.

The first is that, more often than not, we choose the distraction over the solution. It feels easier, we don’t have to stand, it gives us a prompt and lasting excuse not to do the work (well), and it feeds an illusion of time passing.

The second is that if we want to do the work (well), we first of all need to keep flies and other distractions out of the room where the work is done.

It is that simple.

The first time

FabrizioLeave a comment

We are rarely as nervous and preoccupied as when we attempt something for the first time. Yet, in principle most of us are ok with the idea of failure when trying something new.

The first time is a learning opportunity, a chance to put in practice some of the theory we have read about, a way to tweak the recipe and make it ours. It is the stepping stone to every rewarding activity and we should approach it with some healthy excitement and a smile.

Right

FabrizioLeave a comment

Right is not a good way to describe your work and the work of your team.

Innovative, passionate, committed, engaged, consistent, challenging, concerted, exciting, inspiring, intentional, purposeful, additive, reinvigorating, ameliorating, thoughtful, driven. These are all better words to use when you talk about what you and your team are trying to achieve.

Do not settle for right, it is quite a capricious term.

See the 61

Fabrizio3 Comments

When you break an habit, particularly when it is still just an attempt to establish an habit, the tendency is to just give up the whole thing.

Perhaps you have medidated daily for two months, but then for a couple of days in a row you could not find any time to sit down and breathe. Most people would really struggle to go back to regular meditation. Despite the score being 61 to 2. That’s because we focus more on the streak than on the act itself. Once again, destination versus journey.

So when that happens, when you are breaking an habit, do not forget the work you have put in, the doing and the effort, the experience you have accumulated, the feeling of accomplishment.

Going back to it is not so impossible if what you see is the 61.

Above everything else

Fabrizio1 Comment

If you are not enjoying the journey, how do you expect the destination to be any different?

If you do not like your job, the work that needs to be done, sitting down at your desk, taking coffee with a colleague, having that difficult conversation. How do you expect the next promotion to change all that?

If you do not feel happy in your relationship, hate to spend time together, fear the moment something important needs to be discussed, prefer to go on vacation with anybody but your partner. How do you expect the upcoming wedding to change all that?

If you are not up for practice, choose a lazy afternoon in over a run in the park, forget to bring your equipment to training, do not listen to your coach when they advise you, follow your very own personal diet. How do you expect the next personal best to change all that?

We put too much emphasis on milestones, but milestones are nothing more than the sum of the various moments you have lived to get there.

Cherish the journey, above everything else.