Thursday, February 1, 2018

Mini-Challenges (not resolutions - because resolutions are made to be broken)

This year, instead of setting a new year's resolution, I decided to try a 30-day challenge. Inspired by a TED talk suggesting that I "Try Something New for 30 Days," and an article about how writing 3 pages a day can change your life, I pulled out one of my old journals on January 1 and committed to writing a little each day for the whole month.

First, let's talk about the 3 pages (in case you didn't read the article). They have to be hand-written. So I did cheat a bit by using a smallish journal.  But the good news is the words you write DON'T MATTER. You can even write the same word over and over for 3 pages and still get the benefit.  The more I did it, the more it became a stream of consciousness - starting with a "dear diary" format, then ending up with grocery lists and reminders throughout.

It definitely made me realize how very little I sit still and think. I mean, I can sit for a LONG time and view Instagram stories or other social updates. But having to do something with my hands and brain that was not connected in any way to a screen was FOREIGN.  When is the last time you hand-wrote anything longer than a post-it?  I can tell you, before this month, for me, it had been a very long time.

In case you are wondering, it takes about 15 minutes to write 3 pages worth of words on average journal-size paper.  And also, in case you are wondering, I did not end up doing it every day.

What did happen: After writing, I had a clearer head and a sense of accomplishment. On the days when I wrote in the morning, it gave the day a good start, and on the days when I wrote in the afternoon, it seemed to give my afternoon a kick, so I could re-focus on the work at hand.  It became a little ritual, where I would leave my desk, pick up my journal, and find a quiet place where I knew I wouldn't be interrupted. I looked forward to escaping to this mini-retreat every day!

So, will I keep it up? Yes, I think so! First, I'm farther along in a journal than I ever have been in my life. Second, I'm not beating myself up about missing a few days.

And what's up for the next month? I'm planning to join See Jane Write for 28 Days of Grace. Basically, taking a little time for yourself each day. Check out the link for ideas of ways to "take a moment" if you need one!

What's your favorite go-to "me time" activity? And if you want to report in on your resolutions, feel free - but also feel free to turn them into mini-challenges that you only planned to test out for a month!  :-)

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Quest for Happiness - in life and at work

The Quest for Happiness - in life and at work. That's a pretty lofty title to an article, huh?

One of my favorite speakers/authors/people to follow on social media is Jane McGonigal. The first time I ever heard her speak was in 2011 at an ISTE conference in Austin, TX, where she talked about her latest book, Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.  She then asked the entire audience (20,000+) to play a game of thumb wars. Side note, I think we set a Guinness World Record that day for largest number of people playing thumb wars at one time.

Since that conference, I have been an active follower of McGonigal on twitter (her handle is @avantgame if you want to check it out), and I keep an eye out for new material. Last year, I stumbled across her TED talk, The game that can give you 10 extra years of life. It's about 20 minutes long, and if you take time to watch it (and play along during the talk), you can add about 7 minutes to your life span!


I decided to take Jane's talk and turn it into an interactive workshop for managers and employees. The first step was to get people interested, so I had to come up with a catchy name, and "The Quest for Happiness - in Life and at Work" was created.  Within about 10 minutes of posting the session, the registration maxed out, and I started hearing from people asking how they could get on the waiting list.  "The Quest for Happiness" was a very popular theme!

Here's a breakdown of the workshop:
Introduction: Spoiler alert: there is no magic pill for happiness. We are not giving away the secrets of life in this session.
Warning: we are going to make references to science and math, so be prepared.
Let's Get Started:  We led our audience in the same activities Jane did during her TED talk. A roomful of about 60 people did exercises in Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Social Resilience, and we talked about how doing things from each of these categories each day help make for a happier and healthier life.
Let's Talk About It:  Finally, we broke into groups and got people talking with each other and thinking about ways to incorporate those things into their daily routine at work.

The ideas people came up with were simple - and most of them were inexpensive.  Walking meetings and regular recognition - these are ways you can get people out of their same old work routine and add a few brain cells and synapses while you are at it.

If you have time, I recommend watching McGonigal's TED talk this week. And if you would like more information about the interactive workshop, send me a note or a comment, and I will be happy to share!