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Grow & Scale A Business That Will Set You Free

Space Exploration

by Walt | Aug 20, 2015 | Success | 0 Comments

I’ve been puttering in my garden. I love my garden. But I find puttering to be a challenge.

You see, I’m a big believer in action: Doing, achieving, accomplishing; moving like a shark lest I perish from inertia.

Steeped, as I am, in the cultural paradigm that, in order to succeed, I need to work longer, harder, faster, it is difficult for me to slow down.

Puttering sometimes seems aimless; pointless; wasteful.

But it’s not.

By puttering, I open up space for myself. I allow my mind to relax. I give myself the opportunity to think, reflect, create… and be.

Just be.

Every business leader we consult with, every professional we coach wants more time; they want – they yearn – for space.

The greatest crisis of our age is not terror in the world; it is the terror that we allow within ourselves.

The greatest crisis of our age is not that we don’t have enough, but that we have too much: too much information; too much noise; too much stimulation; too much to do.

The greatest crisis of our age is that we have lost touch with that that place of quiet, that still point within us.

We’ve lost the capacity to sit still, to be still, to know the beauty and the grandeur of the here and now.

We’ve lost the capacity to be: To just be.

When we give ourselves the gift of quiet, when we open up that space, our sense of possibility expands. We see the opportunities that we miss when we are racing to that imaginary finish line.

When we allow our minds – and our bodies – to relax – ideas flourish, insight lights, we create the ground for moments of “ah-ha.”

Commander Mark Divine, author of The Way of the Seal, teaches that we need the power of silence in order “to set the conditions to win.”

“Silence creates the space for you to think and thus see reality more clearly.”

“If you’ve ever noticed how good you feel after coming out of nature after an extended stay without your cell phone and laptop,” writes Divine, “here’s the reason why: It’s because you’ve slowed down enough to quiet your outer mind, allowing your inner wisdom to poke it’s head out a bit.”

And it is that inner wisdom that truly sets us apart; that allows us to excel and truly succeed at extraordinary levels.

Habit 7 in Stephen Covey’s celebrated business classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is Sharpen the Saw. “Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have—you,” Covey said.

Self care, self-renewal.

Opening up space.

Puttering.

What can you do right now to create that space… for you?

Do You Do This During Sex?

by Walt | Aug 13, 2015 | Leadership, Success | 0 Comments

He leaned in and whispered. Conspiratorially. I thought, perhaps he was going to tell me that he had taken up with his secretary; or that that he had fallen in love with heroin.

“I’m going to leave my cellphone behind,” my colleague confessed.

Dangerous. Foreboding. Uncharted.

Imagine, a vacation without a cellphone! (And he’s a lawyer!)

But likely difficult for too many of us to imagine.

Our phones have become like appendages… Indeed, without them, some of us actually experience phantom ringtones or vibration. We check them continuously: Studies suggest, on the average, 150 times a day; 6 to 9 times an hour; every 7 or 8 minutes.

Eighty percent of folks sleep with them. We grab them first thing in the morning. We look at them right before going to bed.

Twenty percent check their phones during sex. Some actually take calls during sex; or even update their Facebook statuses. (Seriously? During sex?)

The consequence is that we live in a constant state of distraction and overwhelm.

We find it difficult to focus; to listen; and to be truly present.

We miss the time to think, reflect, create, and be.

It’s impossible to be mindful.

Our productivity suffers; our intimacy too.

We dishonor our work; we dishonor our relationships; we dishonor ourselves.

We lose touch with that still point within us, that place of quite where our power dwells.

Experiment with giving yourself the luxury of some time away from your cellphone. Maybe just for a dinner, or a day? (Or during sex?)

My lawyer friend will likely feel a bit antsy for a time. Cellphone detox can be an unsettling thing. But, without that constant stimulation, think of the quiet, the deep relaxation… the peace and the chance to re-create.

Will you give it a try?

The Secret Power of White Space

by Walt | Aug 6, 2015 | Success | 0 Comments

He was overwhelmed. Stressed out. “Slammed,” he said.

Of course, my client, a young lawyer, is not alone. The Economist reports that, in a recent study, 45% of executives cite lack of time as their biggest challenge in achieving their career goals.

I looked at a screenshot of his Google Calendar: A sea of colors; back-to-back appointments all week long.

No breaks; no respite.

No white space.

White space is the key to creating a saner life.

In my weekly planning, I deliberately create lots of white space on my calendar.

I create white space because sometimes things take longer than I think they will.

I create white space because unexpected interruptions crop up.

I always leave a big block of white space on either side of a coaching appointment. Beforehand, I want to have time to review my notes and think about my client; what we worked on in the last call; and where we want to go. Afterwards, I want time to finish up my notes, reflect on the work we’ve done, and consider where we need to go next.

White space allows us the time to:

Think

Reflect

Create

Read

Listen to music

Hydrate

Enjoy some quiet

Breathe

White space is a powerful time management secret.

With white space, we’re not as frenetic. We slow down. We’re more mindful. We’re more aware of the beauty and the majesty that surrounds us. We’re able to connect more deeply with others. We’re able to recognize what’s merely urgent; and what’s truly important. We’re more resilient and resourceful. And happier too.

If you really want a life that is rich and full and deeply satisfying; if you really want to serve the people you’re meant to serve; if you really want to make an impact in the world, then create more white space!

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AND if you’d like help with this, I have a powerful system. Email me today! [email protected]

Why You Need To Do Less to Succeed

by Walt | Jul 30, 2015 | Success | 0 Comments

I didn’t run at all last week. Well, that’s not exactly true: I ran an ultra-marathon; 36 miles along the magnificent coast of Ireland.

But the week leading up to the race: I didn’t run. (It’s what runners call the taper.)

It made me pretty crazy.

Not running screws with my mind: Who am I if I am not running? Will I get fat, weak, out of shape? Will I fall down the slippery slope into some roiling vat of Crisco or Krispy Kreme?

Runners run.

Doers do.

But maybe that’s not exactly true either.

Because success – real success, sustainable success – requires both doing and not doing.

And often, it’s the not doing that actually empowers us to do.

It’s incontrovertible that rest and recovery are essential components of peak performance in athletics… Not doing is critically important in the repair of muscle; in the recovery of tendons, ligaments and bones; in the re-balancing of hormones and body chemistry; in the recovery of our nervous system and mental state.

But rarely do we apply these principles to our businesses and our careers. (Or our lives for that matter!) We like to think (pretend) that they don’t apply to us; that we’re different; that we’re macho; that we can muscle through.

We keep going like hamsters on a wheel; 24/7/365. Always on; always connected.

We don’t stop; we don’t rest and recover. We never taper.

And then, of course,

Productivity drops

Stress soars

Decision fatigue creeps in

Mistakes multiply

Morale plummets

(Oh, and relationships get damaged and marriages unravel and our children grow distant and our health deteriorates and we forget why we were on the wheel to start with.)

But just a few tweaks can change up the entire game for you:

Sleep more. There is no more powerful tool for rest, recovery and peak performance than sleep; and most of us aren’t getting nearly enough.

Create some white space in your calendar; time between obligations and commitments that you can use to get a breath of fresh air, take a short walk, drink some water, listen to a bit of relaxing music, read a chapter in a book.

Hydrate. Drink water. Often. Throughout the day.

Take a mental health day (or half) day on a regular basis; step away from the work; and get off the grid.

Take your vacations. All of them. And make them real vacations. (A working vacation is not a vacation.)

When you embrace the science; when you take the time to nurture yourself; when you allow yourself to rest and recover; when you give yourself permission not to do; when you can see – and believe – that not doing is doing; then… then you re-create yourself; you come back stronger; you get to perform and serve at an even higher level; and make an even greater impact in the world.

I showed up at the staring line of my race (battling my demons of depravity); and ran the 36 miles; and crushed my previous times.

Sure, I trained. But training (and living) means doing… and not doing.

The Power of the Pause

by Walt | Jul 23, 2015 | Success | 0 Comments

We get to stop from time to time. In fact, we need to stop.

Our technology, meant to free us, actually enslaves us. We’re ‘on’ 24/7/365.

There’s no space; no respite.

We’re expected to be at the net ready to volley. We’re expected to react: Immediately.

Forget about consideration; forget about reflection.

Everything is urgent. Everything is now.

Except that it’s not.

We’re not trauma surgeons. And even if we were, we wouldn’t make ourselves quite as crazy as we do.

Many of the lawyers I work with exist in a near-constant state of anxiety and stress. Everything appears to be an emergency; everything seems dire. Every day, they feel as if they are fighting a forest fire with a squirt gun.

No doubt, they have some pretty important deadlines to keep in mind. We all do. But for the most part, no one dies if we slow down the pace for ourselves. No one dies if we take the time to give a considered response.

No one dies if we take the time to pause.

But endeavoring to slow down in our culture of overwhelm can be one of our most daunting challenges.

It’s not really in vogue.

In fact, if you’re not ‘busy,’ if you’re not ‘flat out,’ if you don’t have your calendar jammed, if you don’t have stuff scheduled back to back for yourself (and your kids), something’s wrong with you!

But that’s not sustainable. (Would you run your high performance car that way?)

You cannot thrive without a pause. So pause you must.

Create time and space for yourself to think, reflect, create; take the time to decide how you want to impact, who you want to serve, and what you want your legacy to be!

Take the time to consider the beauty and the grandeur of the here and now.

Take the time to nurture and care for yourself.

Take the time to me mindful.

Take the time to be; to just be.

You will enjoy the rewards of a peaceful, grounded, joy-filled life that is productive, resourceful and resilient.

Your life is your masterpiece.

Artur Rubenstein once said, “The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes—ah, that is where the art resides.”

That’s the power of the pause.