A category of one

You are a person who belongs to a category of one.

Or probably better put in the words of somebody who knew better.

Every individual is an exception to the rule.

Carl Jung

That does not mean that you are alone, not necessarily. It means that you are unique. That what works for others, maybe will not work for you. That what others consider ok, maybe is not ok for you. That you have the full power to write your own story and to be proud of it.

Of course, it also means that others around you are unique. That they might have a completely different point of view. That they might see things that are crystal clear to you in a completely different manner. That they might argue with you, disagree with you, be mad at you, while still fulfilling their own unique story. And be proud of it.

This is scary and also exciting.

The way you look at that changes everything.

Cookies in a jar

When you are looking for a culprit, remember there’s always someone who ate the last cookie in the jar.

Of course, that jar was full at some point. And the person who ate the last cookie might be the one who ate them all, the one who ate most of them, the one who ate some of them, or the one who just ate that last one.

Blame is assigned with great ease to those who are most exposed.

But if it’s reasons you are after, if you want to avoid the jar getting empty sooner than you expected the next time you fill it with your favourite cookies, you have to look a bit farther, a bit deeper, a bit more carefully.

From within

We spend an incredible amount of time looking at others behaviour and trying to figure out what they think, when actually the largest impact comes from changing our own behaviour and the way we think.

Awareness starts from within. Don’t get distracted.

Giving mindset

In order to set your mind to giving, you have to rid yourself of the expectation to get something in return.

Of course, mixed motives will play a role. But it’s eternally unsatisfying to keep a ledger of what goes and what comes.

Give freely and you will be ready to welcome any reward.

Finding meaning

We can’t keep assessing productivity in terms of quantity.

The amount of emails we reply to.

The number of meetings we have scheduled.

How many conversations we are in.

How late we are leaving from work.

The quantity of leads, presentations, or projects we deliver.

Productivity needs to be a function of a goal we set and of the actions we take towards that goal.

If within a measure of work (an hour, a day, a week) we complete something that takes us closer to the goal, that’s where we find meaning.

The rest is just a poor proxy. Just faked busyness.