A Present

During this week of Holiday Celebrations (and I truly hope yours is filled with love and joy!), I want to give you a gift.  It is the season of presents, after all!

So here is my Present to you: Be Present!

(See what I did there?!)

Seriously, I've been trying to remember the various gifts I've received over the years at this time of year, and while I can remember some of them, mostly what I remember are the times I got to spend with people I love and who love me. I admit, it's easy for me to get caught up in the "what are we getting for who" process, so maybe this is more of a present for myself than it is for you. It's so easy to lose sight of that simple reality - that giving our time and attention to one another is truly the best gift we can offer! 

So that's my simple gift to you (and myself) this year, a simple reminder to Be Present with people. 

Here's to Being Present this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

Perseverance!

I thought it might be helpful to follow up last week's message about finding The Next Step with another layer to this process of accomplishing big projects - Perseverance!

If we are going to set and accomplish big goals or tackle large projects, we have to figure out what the next step is in the process and tackle that...next (I know - pretty straight forward as I shared last week). But there is something else that is also required, and that is deciding to lean in with the discipline to take the next step, often when we may not feel like it.  And let's be honest, there may be many times when we don't feel like taking the next step, which is why we need a sense of Perseverance to help us. This is about finding some grit, digging in, and moving forward with the next step regardless of our feelings.

Let me illustrate with my recent backyard project. 

At one point earlier this year, I was working on the floor part of this project which required laying out a bunch of pavers in a pattern.  I thought I could make it work by just laying out some bricks and figuring out a pattern as I went.  The truth is, that worked for a while, but then I got to a point where I realized the pattern I had been using was going to leave a weird gap on one side. I thought maybe I could "fix" it by creating a "border" on the edge, but that was only going to work on one side and not all the way around. As I kept trying to experiment with new patterns on the ground, someone suggested that maybe I just needed to go and create a map with graph paper to actually figure it out. To be honest, I was super annoyed at this suggestion because I didn't want to waste all that time making a plan when I thought I could just figure it out! However, after several more failed attempts I went inside and got out the graph paper.  And again, being totally honest, I didn't want to make a map and I was really annoyed that I couldn't figure it out!  However, I leaned in with some grit and determination and decided to Persevere with this step of creating a pattern on paper first.

Of course, you know what happened. I was eventually able to figure out a map, and once I had it, actually laying out the pavers was so much easier.  I wanted to skip the step of making the map, but by setting aside my emotional reaction and leaning in with some Perseverance to the step I knew made the most sense, I saved myself a lot of work and headache in the long run.

What about you? Are you currently involved in a big project but are feeling annoyed at the next step you know is the best one to take? How could you lean in with some Perseverance right now?  What are the feelings you need to acknowledge but know they aren't actually helpful feelings right now, and how could you counter those feelings with some determination and grit? The truth is, at some point in every big project, some kind of Perseverance is definitely required.

Here's to leaning in to the next step with Perseverance this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

The Next Step!

I think I have shared with you before that I have some home projects I've been working on. Over the weekend I got one of them "finished." There are still some smaller items that need to be done, but for the most part, the project is complete enough that it is usable and working! 

During the weekend we had some friends stop by and we gave them a tour of the project because they had some interest in a similar idea. As we were showing them around, I found myself almost standing at a distance and listening to myself describe all of the steps that were involved in the process. Hearing all of that and knowing the amount of time that has passed during the journey, I realized this was no small undertaking!

That got me reflecting on how we got to this point of "done" in this project? As I thought about it, I realized it didn't happen because of some huge effort or massive push, but because of the persistence of just continuing to take The Next Step. In order to do what I did this past weekend to "finish," I had to do the stuff last weekend that was the step before this one. And before that I had to do the step that was necessary in order to keep moving forward to get to that point.

You see what I mean.

There is the big project, the overall objective, but that doesn't happen all at once. It gets accomplished through a series of small steps that build on each other. As a result, I think that sometimes it's easier to just think about The Next Step. If I stay too focused on the overall project or objective, I can get discouraged at how slow things are moving. But if I can focus on The Next Step, it makes it easier to just work on that knowing that the step after that will reveal itself in due time.

The truth is, there were steps I ended up taking to get this project accomplished that I didn't even know I would need to take at the beginning. And if I had known how much was going to be involved from the very beginning, I may not have even started!  But by focusing on The Next Step along the way, we eventually got there!

How could you take this idea of The Next Step and apply it to your life? Is there a large task you are facing that feels overwhelming and daunting? If you were to think about what just the very Next Step is in keeping that project moving forward, what would it be and how could you tackle just that? Are you leading a team in a significant advancement? Could helping them to focus on just The Next Step reinvigorate a project that feels stalled or totally overwhelming? 

Here's to focusing on just The Next Step this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center.  We specialize in professional coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you!  Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.