I enjoy listening to podcasts as a break from sports talk radio. One of my favorites is megachurch pastor Joel Osteen, whose podcasts are upbeat and fun. One recent episode dealt with a topic that is close to my heart- overcoming an attitude of surviving and moving towards thriving.When so many people are negative and depressed, it can be hard to stay positive. Maybe the economy is bad. Maybe your job is on the line but there is still hope- I suggest that we start with some of the smallest of things.
At Home
- Declutter: choose one space per day for a week to pair back and clean out.
- Simplify: identify one area of your home life which could be streamlined.
- Prevent: stop spam mail by arriving in your in-box and into your mail box.
- Take a sabbath: commit to a weekly break where you can pray, be with family and relax.
- Make it your own: add a decorating style or landscaping signature piece to really make home feel like your own.
- Plan for your next move: carry out a home improvement project which will ready your house for resale.
At Work
- Minimize your interruptions: find ways to let people know that you're working and need some space to focus on the task at hand.
- Control your meetings: keep them simple, focused and with an end in sight- it's the only way to keep sane in a knowledge-working world.
- Watch your calendar: look back, nail down and look forward to the week(s) ahead.
- Arrive early once a week: make it a point to be the first one at work at least once a week.
- Set up 6th gear: I'll talk about this later in the week but for now, 6th gear is that time of the day when you should be getting tired but somehow find a way to squeeze one final push of work before the day is out.
Photo by St0rmz