Just Do It!

“Just do it!’  The often-quoted Nike tag line captured our attention because it is such a compelling call to action.   Here are three ways in which we need to “just do it” in order to successfully complete our projects.

1. Just capture all the to-do’s cluttering your brain.  The first step is to create the list and only after you’ve got it all down in front of you can you prioritize, realistically assess the importance, urgency, amount of time needed to successfully complete the task and determine if you need any additional resources.  The first step is to know what needs to get done!
2. Just break down the big, daunting project into bite-size, do-able chunks and then jump in.  The sense of completion you feel after you finish the first chunk will ease you into the rest of the project.  The second step is to battle the tendency to procrastinate because the project feels overwhelming or we don’t know where to begin.
3. Just transfer all the high-priority and now do-able tasks to your calendar so you block out time to get the work done. If something unexpected pops up don’t give away the time you’d set aside for the task without finding another time slot on your calendar.  Re-think how you schedule your time so that you leave chunks of time open for doing your work. The third step is to schedule the time to get it done!

Just do it…with the confidence that you’re in control.

Salad, sushi and a steady diet of magazines…

“Feed me!”   It’s almost as if my brain screams to be nourished with a steady diet of magazines.   Look around my office and home and there’s always a nearby pile of current issues of Time, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Fortune, Vanity Fair, More, Home and, recently even People Magazine.

I have my favorite columns such as “Made to Stick” in Fast Company.  I typically start by reading Time’s “Verbatim” before checking out my favorite columnists.  While I love Newsweek’s “Perspectives,” I hate their new layout which barely distinguishes between advertising and editorial.  I find BusinessWeek’s shorter-format stories make it easier to digest the business news I want to know.   I confess that I only read one or two of the Vanity Fair stories each month but I most often love the cover and photography.  I nurture the mature woman dimension of my personality with More magazine and love the articles that talk about being better, smarter, more beautiful and more confident at this stage of life than we were in our twenties.

As I flip through the pages I make note of stories I want to share with family, friends and clients.  (I usually start off reading hard copy  and often go online to forward electronic versions of my favorite articles.)  I get ideas.  I become curious about things I’d like to explore in greater depth.  I tuck away in my brain thoughts about leadership, managers, communication or creativity that I hope I can retrieve as I’m developing my next workshop.  And I tear out reminders about technology, clothing or make-up I think I’d like to buy.

There are those moments when I feel too-stuffed (aka busy, stressed or exhausted) to read another word, but most often I love feasting on my magazine diet.  As I nourish my body with salad and sushi, Time and Fast Company nurture my mind.

Remembering

Today — September 11, 2009 — marks eight years since the tragic terrorist attacks that changed our lives forever.   I’ve been thinking about something a friend posted this morning on Facebook, “Can we remember something you can never forget?”

To me, never forgetting is passive; we have a memory of the event.  But remembering — marking the occasion, reflecting on its significance, honoring those who lost their lives senselessly, revisiting the intense emotions we experienced that day, somehow learning from the shared experience — are all intentional and purposeful acts.    Remembering — interrupting our normal activities to mark this date — becomes even more critical as we see a new generation of young people (tomorrow’s adults) who are blessed not to have their own memories but live in a world forever changed by that day.

Yes, today we remember September 11, 2001.