Spirit in the Village

Seth Godin - We are Living in the Industrial Revolution of our Time

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This is Part 2 - See Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity.

Part 2 - Seth Godin - Invisible or Remarkable

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin at the Communitech Leadership Conference in Waterloo Ontario. His presentation called Invisible or Remarkable focused on the changes happening in our world from the way we interact to how we create wealth.

According to Seth we are living through the Industrial Revolution of our Time and this revolution will dwarf the one experienced by our ancestors in the 1700 and 1800's. Technology and new media provide us all with the tools for being part of this revolution and what's exciting is he invites us all to play an active role in what's coming.

The Old Paradigm - Interruption Marketing

He referred to the old paradigm for marketing as Interruption Marketing where companies found innovative ways to interrupt people with commercials, ads and by getting in their face.

Interruption Marketing was successful but at a cost: average products for average people. If you’re going to be successful and interrupt everyone, you better be average.

The formula for success in the old paradigm: buy ads > distract > sell more > make a profit. (And remember: be average)

This formula has fallen apart recently.

He says there is too much clutter in the old paradigm. Products are branded to death, too costly to promote and it’s getting harder for marketers to break the noise and get through to consumers. In the new paradigm customers don’t want our attention. They are not listening since they have been spammed too many times.

The question: How do you take your business above the noise?

(I like this photo)

The New Paradigm - We are in the business of spreading ideas.

The new paradigm is take something that is good enough and change it so everyone is talking about it. He uses the purple cow as an example and says nobody talks about cows, but if you create a purple cow, everybody starts talking and the spam goes away.

His Advice for Companies

You need to totally embrace new media for your business (by committing resources and time) or stay away from it completely.

Your message is too important to be left to the marketing department.

The race is for permission. The race is for tribes.

Permission Marketing

Permission Marketing is where you learn to turn strangers into friends and you earn the right to connect. He says Apple has earned this privilege and other companies are learning to do the same.

The revolution as Seth describes is direct communication with people who make and buy your services.

Tribes

Tribes are everywhere and have been around since the beginning of civilization. They are a natural part of our human desire to connect and can be found within religion, politics, corporations, everywhere... The opportunity is to build and lead tribes. It takes only 10 people to build a tribe and a person can make a great living with a committed tribe of 1000 people.

The Big Shift in Thinking

We are no longer creating Customers for Products but we are now tasked with creating Products for Customers.

Success before Commitment is now Commitment before Success.

The first point says to me that through the structure of technology and new media we now have the ability to hear what our customers want and make products and services specific for them. The second point says we need to take risks, try various approaches and commit until we succeed.

Final Thoughts & Observations

Seth Godin is an excellent presenter who provokes us with images and words to wake up and understand the real story of what’s happening in our world today. His blog is considered the most popular marketing blog in the world and with a little reading you can understand why he has earned that title.

As I personally speak to executives and business owners I am excited by how many are trying to absorb the message of new media and apply the methods to their business. The big questions today: Should I blog? Should I Twitter, use Facebook or YouTube? How do I take my product or service and rise above the noise?

Traditional business structures are changing. Marketing, PR, Sales, Product Development and overall organizational strategy are going through fundamental shifts. The next few years will require a leadership, fresh ideas and the courage to look at business in a new way.

The Industrial Revolution of our time is the Internet, new media and the infrastructure that technology provides. Adapting and thriving in this new paradigm will be our task.

Jeremy Gutsche – Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin and Jeremy Gutsche talk at the Communitech Leadership conference in Waterloo Ontario.

Here are some highlights which I have divided into two parts.

Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity

Jeremy Gutsche is the CEO and Founder of Trendhunter.com, the world’s largest community for trend spotting, ideas, creativity and innovation. Jeremy started by saying the main challenge for consumers and businesses is how we learn to manage and make sense of all the chatter and noise on the web.

He says inspiration has become distracting and the noise too much.

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

In order to compete effectively companies need to find ways to rise above the noise with innovative messaging, a better understanding the customer and a willingness to take risks. Jeremy touched on what he calls adaptive innovation where he says the Internet and social media have changed the rules for customer engagement. Today creating culture is the best way to attract customers and says when planning your business, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Risk is Good

He encourages companies to let go of rigid controls that hinder innovation and develop more of a gambling philosophy. This worked for the BBC as they struggled for years with rigid controls when they took a risk and produced the hit TV show, the Office.

Jeremy says learning to fail is a good and his motto win like you are used to it and lose like you enjoy it!

Success Leads to Complacency

He used the analogy of Smith Corona who in 1989 sold $500 million in typewriters and by 1995 were bankrupt after being unwilling to adapt to consumer demands and opportunities for new technologies (like computers).

He says, success leads to complacency and encourages companies to talk with customers, listen and be open to the complete possibility of what could be.

Supercharging your Message for Results that Creates Impact

When marketing for the web he says create a message that is simple, direct and supercharged. When Sarah Palin was running for Vice President, one simple change from Female Vice Presidents to Hot Vice Presidents garnered a million more hits to his website. Another was for a hamburger franchise, Fleurburger who took the term the world’s most expensive hamburger and supercharged their message to the $5000 hamburger resulting in increased hits.

Observations

I came away from this presentation with a feeling that every rule I ever learned about business has changed forever. The Internet and New Media are like the Wild West, everybody's carrying a six shooter and who knows going to live, die or take all the gold.

How we attract business will require creativity, innovative thinking and leadership from all levels within an organization. These are exciting times and an opportunity for average people and companies to create incredible wealth and rise way above the noise...

I will leave you with a video from Jeremy’s website.

Next Post: Seth Godin and the 21st Century Industrial Revolution.

Food for Thought Fridays - 5 Reasons Why My Blog is Perfect

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

In our society we get sucked into a number of conditioned behaviours, one being the idea of perfection. Many of us feel that to prosper we need to be perfect. Traditionally women have been conditioned to think constantly about their appearance or the need to be slim or beautiful. Men are conditioned with the need to make money and have a successful career. Many of us carry this burning need for perfection in whatever we do.

While it is good to strive for our goals it is our attachment, fixation and addiction to perfection that creates stress and suffering.

The Perfect Blog

In the blogging world I’ve found myself having this desire to build the perfect blog; to create quality posts, have perfect post frequency, great layout and design and hundreds or thousands of readers. The reality is my blog is imperfect at least according to the norms of the experts.

I’m learning however that perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

Here are 5 reasons why my blog is perfect:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
If you look at Susan Boyle’s recent success she was able recognize her own perfection and overcome society’s pre-conceived assumptions about her appearance. My blog is the same in the sense that those who look deeply enough can see the perfection.

Learning is difficult when one starts at perfection
If my blog and experiences were too perfect then people might become suspicious and worse yet they might think it’s impossible to do what I do. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and social media are the great equalizers of our generation and everyone should feel they can have a voice and more importantly express who they are.

Marketed perfection is fake and provides no learning
Corporations have difficulty creating a real voice in the social media world because of corporate speak or too much fake marketing. Many bloggers attempt to be like corporations and create this illusion of perfection, but for readers their content feels contrived. My posts are not attempting to market the illusion of perfection. In the web world people want more authenticity.

Organic growth allows a person to evolve
By allowing my blog to grow naturally or with flow I’ve let go of the need to make everything perfect. If there is a bad post or a gap between posts it shows there is real person behind the site. This is good. Organic growth is better for me because my interest is in building relationships and a site that will be around in 10 years.

Perfection is about the journey not the destination
Most people see their goals as an end game. My life will be better after I have this experience. The exciting part of building this blog has been the opportunity to see it evolve and share the experience with others. Relaxing into the journey is part of the perfection.

Meditation Update

I’ve been following through with the meditation Deepak Chopra provided to the audience on Monday. This meditation has been so powerful that I’ve decided to increase my length of time in meditation to 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. I’m feeling more empowered, centered and connected through this experience.

This meditation has helped me to connect to pranic breath (I think that’s what you call it). This is breathing that comes from a deeper place and is difficult to explain. If there are any experts on pranic breathing please send along any information.

Deepak Chopra - Consciousness, Awareness, Meditation and Art

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Deepak Chopra through his books and recordings was the first to explain to me God or consciousness from a scientific perspective. On Monday April 27th I had the opportunity to hear Deepak once again during his visit to Toronto.

What Does Science Really Know About God?

There are many perspectives on what we call God or consciousness, so many in fact that we rarely agree. Our religious or spiritual traditions teach us how to live and within stories we are encouraged to have faith however the biggest challenge is so much is un-provable from a scientific perspective. Chopra and other ground breaking philosophers and scientists we are getting closer to helping us understand God.

We are not our bodies

Chopra tells the story of life from the perspective of our bodies, our minds, beliefs and our emotions. He says science shows us today that we are none of these. He uses examples from quantum physics that describe how with each breath we take in 10 to the power of 22 atoms from the universe. That’s 10 plus 22 zeros atoms from just one breath. When we breathe out we do the same and with the simple act of breathing these atoms are re-creating our bodies, our organs, our heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc.

He says within 3 years the human body recycles 98% of itself and what makes up your body today might be atoms from a plant, a snail or other human beings. He says each human living today has over a million atoms that were once in the body of Christ or Buddha but we also have a million atoms that once belonged to Hitler or Saddam Hussein.

We intimately share our bodies and yet we live in this illusion that we are separate.

Science has proven that we are not our bodies.

Our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, possessions and relationships

What about our thoughts, beliefs or emotions?

Deepak describes while we can understand the physical nature of the body and mind there is something within that is unexplainable.

He calls it awareness. Other philosophers call it consciousness, aliveness and some call it God.

Deepak goes on to say that awareness is non-local meaning it’s not necessarily located within our body or brain. In fact we don’t know where it’s located. He says it is both local and non-local at the same time meaning awareness within you or me is part of a much greater universal consciousness or universal mind.

Why Does Knowing about Awareness Matter?

Our bodies, our possessions, our relationships, our jobs and those things we think are real are actually not real at all. He says our interest in the material world is more like a “superstition” or even an “addiction” especially when they take over our life.

If our bodies, minds, relationships or possessions are not real then why are we here? This is where most people get lost in this teaching because each one of us has a job, families, mortgages, wants and desires. This is where it becomes important to listen to the next phase of what he says. By knowing we are awareness we have the ability to tap into that awareness and improve the quality of our lives.

What I like about Chopra is his willingness to go after the highest truth and although is a little mind bending what he speaks of makes sense. The next part describes how he gets in touch with that awareness.

A Meditation to Connect with Awareness

Here is a meditation for getting in touch with that awareness.

• Close your eyes, relax, breathe, listen to your breathe and get comfortable.
• Think about those areas of your life where you feel grateful. Having gratitude opens the doorway to awareness.
• Put thought in what you want from your life from relationships, career, health, abundance, prosperity or whatever it is for you.
• Silently meditate and repeat within your mind the mantra “I AM” “I AM” and continue to repeat for 15 or 20 minutes. If you get off track then just bring yourself back into the “I AM” mantra.

This meditation is designed to connect us with the universal consciousness or awareness. By connecting with our awareness we can tap into the power of the creative process or the universal mind.

Everything in this world once started as a thought. To create a chair there is first the thought, the planning, assembling the materials and then construction. All things from buildings, to artwork, and even relationships are created with thought first.

Art and it's Connection to the Soul

The day after Deepak we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) in Toronto and as I walked around looking at the works of art I began to connect with that sense of the awareness. Artwork sometimes can allow us to connect deeper within our soul.

One thing I know for sure is the awareness can only be explained to a certain point with words. In reality it can only be experienced.

I’m going to practice Deepak’s meditation of Gratitude, Desires and then the mantra of I AM and I’ll keep you posted on how that meditation comes together.

Here is an interview with Ellen and Deepak.

Religious and Cultural Balance – Part 2 in a Series on Work-Life Balance

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

When I ask people what they feel is the major cause of strife in the world, I’m usually given one word: RELIGION!

Whether you’re a believer or non-believer when we look back at history, wars, genocide and conflict in the name of religion are common. Ironically at the core of most religions is a message of peace, good will or the golden rule yet with all those good intentions religion contributes to conflict or misery around the world.

Is the search for God engrained within us?

Human beings have a natural inclination to search for something beyond life. The earliest civilizations looked to the stars and heavens for answers. At some stage in our lives we all ask the question; why am I here? What happens to me when I die? Where did I come from before I was born? Etc… I’m convinced that our search for spiritual meaning is inherent within us. Even for Atheists there is a search for understanding and based on that search opinions are formed.

Our quality of life would greatly improve if we could find a way to create religious and cultural balance. Karen Armstrong is a well known author who has written a number of books on God and world religions. She spoke at one of the Ted conferences and discussed her Counsel for Compassion as a way for religios leaders to find peace.

I’ve split her talk up into 3 main areas aligning with my theme of factors that I believe would help to create more balance on a religious and cultural level.

Here are some highlights of her talk and video is included below:

A. Leadership and a Common Vision

In her travels Ms. Armstrong says religious leaders from around the world are looking for ways to find common ground, peace and understanding. She says even in places like Pakistan (where democratic freedoms are repressed) there is a yearning amongst the population to find a way to live in peace.

Looking for Common Themes

Every major faith she says, has a common idea of “compassion” or what can bring you into the presence of the divine (God). She says when bringing spiritual philosophies together looking for common themes is important and every one of the major world religions uses the idea of the Golden Rule to treat others as you want to be treated.

Hijacking Religion

She says religion today has been hijacked. Even in Christianity where Jesus taught love your enemies, Christians today around the world judge others. Teachings of Islam or Judaism that teach hate and intolerance have also been hijacked. She says there is a religious illiteracy where compassion and the golden rule are put into second place behind beliefs like, the need to be right.

Religion as a Force of Peace and Harmony

She goes on to say, religion should be made a force for harmony in the world and the golden rule should be applied globally. We should not treat other nations as we do not want to be treated ourselves. She says there is a hunger for change and the desire for change is global.

What’s needed is a coming together of leaders from all religions to find common ground.

B. Changing Fundamental Beliefs - Acceptance versus Tolerance

Ms. Armstrong says the most critical part to changing attitudes is to shift our belief from being tolerant to acceptance. These words have a power because by accepting another person or their religion it means we embrace them for who they are. This shift in attitude will require wisdom and leaders from all religious faiths to have vision to lead and show the way.

A Global Movement – A Charter for Compassion

Ms. Armstrong finished her discussion with her wish:
“You would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a charter for compassion crafted by a group of inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principle of the golden rule. We need to create a movement among all these people who want to join up in some way and regain their faith which in some way has been hijacked.”

The charter would create guidelines as to how to interpret the scriptures working together to create a document that would be signed by at least 1000 of the leaders.

She wants leaders to look at their religion, reclaim it and make religion a source of peace in the world. Organizations like the Alliance of Civilizations at the UN could help to foster this process and establish a neutral voice.

C. Technology, Communication & Community

One thing that she does not cover is the power of technology, communication and community to deliver both the message and vision of leaders from around the world. I’ve talked about this before but technology gives us the tools and makes it possible for us to establish religious and cultural balance in our lifetime.

I’ll discuss more about religious and cultural balance in future posts.

Work-Life Balance - Practical Wisdom versus Bureaucracy, Rules & Incentives

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Here is a video of Barry Schwartz in a recent talk called The real crisis? We stopped being wise. This talk is a call to bring what Schwartz calls practical wisdom into our world that seems to have gone crazy with bureaucracy, rules and incentives.

Job Descriptions Reflecting Human Interaction

Schwartz sites the example of the job description of a janitor at a hospital and how not a single thing on the job description involves interaction with other human beings. Yet in the reality of a hospital setting and other jobs much of our work (including work of a janitor) involves interaction with human beings.

The Lemonade Story

He relates the story of Dad who unknowingly purchased Mike’s hard lemonade for his 7 year old son at a Detroit Tigers baseball game and the authorities ended up taking away his son. Schwartz says, although there is a place for rules that protect us, many times they prevent us from thinking and they take away our moral skill to make the right decision.

Schwartz says a wise person knows,

• when and how to make the exception to every rule
• how to improvise
• how to use these moral skills in pursuit of the right aims

And finally, a wise person is made not born.

Undermining our Moral Will to do the Right Thing

Society is quick to use rules and incentives and they may work in the short run but Schwartz says, "they create a downward spiral that makes them worse in the long run. Moral skill is chipped away by an over reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn from our improvisations. Moral will is undermined by an incessant appeal to incentives that destroy our desire to do the right thing.”

From a professional level incentives are a war on moral will and do the opposite instead of someone asking “what is my responsibility”, they ask “what is my interest.”

Work-Life Balance & Practical Wisdom

Work-life balance have a direct connection to practical wisdom. Although they have a place companies who get too bogged down in rules, bureaucracy and incentives generally will create an environment where moral will is compromised, competitiveness rules, creativity and teamwork stagnate and overall job satisfaction declines.

Finding innovative ways to bring practical wisdom into our work lives is one way to improve our overall work-life balance.

How do we Re-Moralize Work?

Schwartz closes by saying we need to find ways to re-moralize work and celebrate those who do the right things. Find ways to bring practical wisdom into our jobs and have less reliance on rules, bureaucracy and incentives. Create job descriptions that begin to identify the human part to our responsibilities and enable us to take action because it is right, not because it’s in the rules or if I do it I’ll get paid.

He closes with a quote from Barack Obama who said,
We must ask, not just is it profitable, but is it right.

Michelle Obama at the G20 Conference - How to Build Self Esteem 101

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

How do you build self esteem in children? I'm sure these young women in London will remember Michelle Obama's speech for the rest of their lives.

Being Smart is Cool

Here are some quotes from Michelle Obama:

"By getting a good education you too can control your own destiny"

"The reason why I'm standing here is because of education"

"Being smart was cooler than anything in the world"

"You too can realize your dreams and then your job is to reach back and help someone just like you do the same thing"

"Your success will be determined by your own fortitude, your own confidence, your own individual hard work"

"Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women. Part of that wealth includes an outstanding education"

Here's the second part to this video where she is mobbed by the students. It would be nice to see the full video.

WOW! Inspiring words from an inspiring woman.

Observations, Mind Stuff, Visualization, Goals & People

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

The last few days have been interesting. In my post on Monday I spoke about 6 steps for letting go of our mental resistance. Yesterday I spoke about Anger and how it can be a motivator to help us to move forward. There has been so much going that I thought today’s post could offer some tidbits from what I’ve been learning.

Mental Resistance

Remembering the old adage what we resist persists. When we hold rigid opinions, judgments or beliefs about ourselves or others we are in resistance. The way to let go of our resistant thoughts is to become flexible in our minds, identify those thoughts that limit us and then shift our perception toward a more positive thought. When you let go of your judgments, rigid opinions or negative beliefs your mind relaxes and you feel great.

Here's the link to the 6 steps.

Negative & Positive Emotions

Positive and negative emotions are part of our experience as human beings. When we experience negative emotion it’s okay to sit with the feeling, meditate and know that like the flow of life this too shall pass. Contemplate what is bothering you, meditate and move your mind toward the positive thought. Staying in negativity too long can harm us. Sometimes we need triggers to bring us back into the positive, friends, family, books, music, words… whatever it takes… reflect and bring your mind back into the positive state.

Positive thoughts and emotions are the only way to go.

Meditation & Visualization

Sometimes our dreams and desires can seem elusive. We have our goals, we know what we want but at times it may feel like a pipe dream if it hasn’t yet happened. Some will give up and say this impossible, move into a negative mind state and stop the pursuit of their dream.

Let’s say you have a goal for your career. Here are some tips: write it down, let it come from your heart, start to see it happening in your mind, meditate and when you meditate visualize and see yourself in that place, in that position, working with those people, networking and having those positive experiences. Do it everyday for just a few minutes. Keep your goal front and center, focus but at the same time let your mind relax and see yourself doing and experiencing what you love. When negative thinking or negative resistance comes in just know it’s temporary and do what you can to get back into a positive frame of mind.

Visualization can have huge benefits in helping you to move in the direction of your goals.

People, Stories & Gratitude

Last night I had a chance to attend a song writers competition at a pub in Guelph, Ontario. Although I wasn’t participating (here's my song page) the talent was amazing and I couldn’t help looking at the musicians who got up on stage and being awed by their creations. Some of them were nervous, others seemed more relaxed, some already rock stars in their own minds but each one of them had a story to tell.

Over the past few days I discovered each one of us has a story to tell and the real essence of our lives is our stories. Finding our true passions is part of the story we tell and part of life’s journey. For some reason last night time stopped for me as I realized...

Finding our true passion is the only real truth in life.

Someone asked me a similar question at the site Divine Purpose Unleased and I didn't have an answer. Today I feel I have that answer.

Finding Balance, Making Choices & Capitalism

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Yesterday I came across two articles that talk to the subject of finding balance.

The first was from Shamelle a writer from Enhance Life. She commented on my post from yesterday and directed me to an article she had written called, Overworked & Overwhelmed? Achieving Life Balance Amidst Chaos. Her main premise is that creating balance is not about time management; it’s about choice!

Balance and Choice

Choice is an interesting concept because in our work, goals and responsibilities we are all limited to 24 hours in a day. Even if we think we can multi-task which I personally think is a myth, there are only so many meetings, phone calls or tasks we can accomplish. I’m sure someone will eventually invent the computer chip that will attach to our brain, allow us to multitask, process vast amounts of information, and then we may use robots or clones to be in many places at once, but until that time we are confined by our choices.

The bottom line: To find balance we need to prioritize and make choices.

Getting into the Natural Rhythm and Flow of Working

Leo Babauta from Zenhabits wrote this article about getting into a working rhythm within our lives and how our current corporate structure is based on the old 19th century Industrial Age paradigm when he says, “when factory owners (and later, owners of businesses with office workers) tried to figure out how to squeeze the most out of their employees while paying the least amount possible”.

This article hits on one of the main reasons why people have such a difficult time finding balance in our society. Yes the lack of balance is partially due to our increasing wants and desires and we need to make choices, but it’s mainly due to the pressures put upon us by our antiquated business and technology models.

Technology & 20th Century Capitalism

Looking back futurists of the 60’s & 70’s believed that technology would make our lives easier. They believed that technology would be used to automate many of our day-to-day activities and that you and I would eventually see work weeks go down and people would have more leisure time. What they didn’t understand was how capitalism and technology would work together, driving production to gain profit and wealth for senior executives and shareholders while at the same time using employees as commodities rather than partners. Combining technology and our current capitalist approach is the main reason why executive wealth has climbed exponentially but average workers have seen their living standards decline.

The Changing Business Model for the 21st Century

As we observe the demise of banks and major industries many are realizing that business as usual approach with unlimited greed and profits (for some) is not the way to go forward. I’ll say that we are still in the early stages of these change but Leo defines a new model that is already emerging where more of us are becoming independent and more in control of our careers as office nomads, self-employed, free-lancers, consultants, web workers, just knowledge workers in general… As employees become more independent they will become less the slave to their 9-5 jobs and more a partner, giving them more freedom, flexibility and balance.

What can we do today to create more balance in our lives?

Making choices and getting into the natural rhythm of our lives is critical.

Contemplation, Meditation, Journaling, or at least put some thought into your goals and priorities. Start to think about your life and the work you do today. Are you working long hours or a 9-5 job? If so, consider what you can do to make your relationship with your job more empowering for you. Brainstorm with others and don’t be afraid to read, learn and ask for advice.

Often it takes thought, patience and time to make change. In some cases it might be few years but the key is to start looking at your life now. Ask yourself where would I like to be in the next 2-3 years? What are some of the emerging trends and how might I align my career with those trends?

I’m enjoying these articles on balance because it’s part of my own practice in building my own career and finding that balance for myself. As the ideas come I’ll keep putting them out there. Comments are always welcome.

Connect with me on Twitter.

Where's the Balance?

This is guest post from my wife Karen.

Karen has a coaching business Coach-Align where she provides mentoring and career advice for women. This weekend Karen will be participating at the Total Woman Show in Kitchener Ontario. If you're in the area be sure to drop by and say hello.

Here's Karen's post: Where's the Balance?

If you are like me, you have a lot of aspects to your life to manage. Between health, family, friends, community, career, finance and personal interests there is always an area in my life that isn't getting my full attention. I work hard at creating balance and I get stressed when everything isn't in line. The truth is that not everything can be my top priority in every moment and I have to give myself permission to allow that.

Recently I took on a new job and it has been a challenge-in a good way, and it required a lot of my attention for the first several months. In that time I have not been as focused on my Coaching and weight management as I would have liked. Over the summer months I fretted about neglecting Coach-Align and gaining a few pounds. I have put a lot of effort into both and was disappointed in myself for letting them slide. Even though it is reasonable to put a significant degree of attention on a new and demanding role, I wasn't allowing it to be that simple. I did eventually come to a point of feeling unsettled about the amount of attention I was giving my work and that is when I realized that it was time to start shifting my focus. Spending time with Coach-Align again feels good and appropriate and paying attention to my nutritional needs has put me back on track with my weight!

I have recently become a grandma for the first time. I have an intense desire to be with my precious little granddaughter to build a bond with her. She is so new and I am totally captured by her. I'm comfortable that I will learn to embrace this new role also and find a new way to balance life yet again.

The leaning in this for me is to accept the needs of the moment knowing that they will always be shifting and changing. There is time for everything and everything has it's time. Accepting the moment has gone a long way to finding fulfillment and feeling healthier physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Balance is fluid and always in motion.

Warm regards,

Karen

Re-Printed with Permission