(Written version)
We start a new month, and what is interesting about August is that it serves as somewhat of a flag for a lot of us. For those whose work is related to academia or are currently in school, August marks the end of the summer and the calendar starts taking shape for Fall. For those who do not have that experience, this time of the year opens the vertigo of the many milestones during Fall that land us in the holiday season. But no matter where you find yourself in this set of experiences, there is no perfect timing for reassessing what works for us and what does not, so this month, we are zooming into strategies as a topic.
You have heard me say this before: any and all strategies that are not thought out to serve us will not serve us. We can fight with ourselves, and our circumstances, and we can keep beating ourselves up about why the one recommendation that every guru makes to optimize your life does not work for you. But that will not get us any closer to what we want for ourselves. In fact, it will likely harm our chances of getting closer. You may also have heard me discuss the importance of habits and routines. There are caveats to this (and we will get into that later), but habits and routines offer us the structures that we need to nurture ourselves and focus our energy on what we want to create. Discipline as a child might sound like a nightmare, but as we get older, it can be a tremendous ally.
This month, we will explore the role that strategies that make sense to us play in helping us make progress in our lives and careers, and how to reframe our relationship with them so they become less tortuous and more supporting. We will explore ways of reconnecting with what we need when strategies that used to work no longer do. We will consider the role of continuous improvement in building momentum, and I will share some insights on how to experiment with our strategies to land us where we want over time. Because as we have been discussing in the past months, it is about the process as much as the outcome.
For this first discussion, I want to offer a reflection and an invitation. I think of strategies as the overall theme that groups habits. For example, one strategy that serves me tremendously in my day-to-day is to find time for quiet and reflection that helps me connect with myself. Habits that go into this strategy, for me, are meditating, journaling, going on a short walk, taking a break to be in silence looking out the window, and so on. Why do I make this distinction? Because as we will explore later in the month, our habits may not serve us at different times. Maybe I have a very packed schedule for the week and I cannot squeeze time to go on my morning walk at the nearby park. Or maybe I am so tired I do not feel like writing at all. But since I have a menu of options to pick from, I can adjust and adapt to what I need at the time.
The second reason is that habits can feel like a double-edge sword. On one hand, they help us take care of ourselves and infuse some stability in our day-to-day so we can focus our energy on what we want to create. In the best case scenario, habits become second nature that serve us consistently without even thinking about it. But on the other hand, some habits may stop working for us, either because our needs or our circumstances have changed. I often witness among clients this frustration that opens up immediately after, during that period of time where we fight with ourselves because what used to work no longer does. So instead of adjusting the habit as a tool, we beat ourselves up for the change. Yet, if we think about habits as part of a menu that serves an overall strategy, we are able to open the space for some additional flexibility that helps us reassess. The one habit may no longer work, so we can put it away in our toolkit and try another one instead. What do you think?
My invitation for today, and for the rest of this month, is this one: Think about one thing you want to address in your life that supports you so you can focus your energy on what you want to create or accomplish for yourself. What strategy comes to mind that can help you get there? What menu of habits or routines may be part of the toolkit for this strategy? I look forward to hearing from you on what comes up, so make sure to email back to share!
