Goodness
Lately, I keep hearing myself say the word “goodness.”
It started from this thing that I say to my golden retriever Winston. He’s so sweet that I squeeze his face and say “he’s just the goodness of goodness.”
I didn’t notice I was saying this until the other day I was in the car with my son Jake and an email for work came through on my phone.
‘Nothing I can do about it now’ I was thinking but I opened my mouth and out came “Goodness.” Jake said, “Is that about Winston? You just said goodness like you talk to the dog.”
Now I catch myself saying it all the time.
Not like the other day when it started pouring rain when I walked my dog. I tried to get us into house quickly and Winston decided to backup instead of move forward. I tripped over him and totally face planted in a puddle on my front step.
This wasn’t a Goodness moment. An R-rated four-letter word came out of my mouth instead.
I’m talking more about the moments when it only takes 10 minutes to walk to your car and when you unlock the door, you’re dripping with sweat because it’s like living on the Equator in summer. Goodness comes out of my mouth, like “Goodness it’s freaking hot.”
And I hear my mother’s voice when I say it. I hear myself making the same sighing noise she makes. I hear her unsettled laugh when I catch myself saying that word.
The last few years, I’ve really started to feel the effects of getting older.
I have a a great big birthday coming this year that will no longer allow me to click that 40’s checkbox.
The outside of me still doesn’t match what’s going on with my insides. Like I need to get that prescription filled for a new pair of glasses. I haven’t done it yet because that would mean that I’m getting older.
That prescription has been sitting for so long on my desk that there’s a good chance that I need to get my eyes tested again. Eventually, I’ll give in and get the thing filled.
I’m working my way up to that.
The Rocks and the Jar
I was deep in the zone and working through my list of things to do that day – finish updating the content for my Social Media Productivity Planner { check }, sales page copy for a new coaching program { check }, postings in my Facebook groups …. almost checked off because I started to stare out of the window.
I don’t know how long I sat there watching the kids walk home from their bus stops and the lawn guys riding around on their John Deere mowers. I shook my head really hard to come back to my world of work.
What was that?
I blamed it on being tired.
Or maybe its because I’m getting older and can’t work straight through the hours like I could when I was younger. I opened my mouth to say something and the word, “Goodness,” just came out.
I was just about to do the things I do to get myself back into into that productive work zone again when I had a thought about what just happened when I spaced out.
What if that moment of staring and dreaming into space was really a part of this productivity thing? What if this was like the story of the Rocks and the Jar?
We’ve all heard one of the many versions of this story: It’s either a teacher or speaker talking to CEOs in a meeting about how to prioritize your time. The speaker takes out a large jar and fills it with large rocks.
Is it full yet? Yes, everyone says. Then he adds small rocks and the same question and responses. From there he adds in gravel, asks his questions before he makes his point by pouring water into the rest of the space left in that great big jar.
The moral behind the story is to always put your big stones/projects in first on your calendar so you can find time to work on them or you’ll fill your day/jar with every little thing { busy work } and never get time to work on those big important projects you want to accomplish in your business.
OK so we all get that, right?
But what if we use the same Rocks and Jar story and we look at that last step the speaker did to the jar, the water, as some form of dreaming in our day? How can we work to our full potential every day if all we’re doing is filling our jar with big rocks, little ones and all that busy work from the gravel?
What if we really can’t be productive and get more done in our day if we don’t add the water into our day to dream and space out?
Routine Includes Renewal
Almost every post you read about being more productive will tell you to take productive breaks in your day. And we read that paragraph and say, “I know about that, let me just finish writing up this blog post and I’ll take some kind of break.”
But we really never do take that much needed break.
I get that.
As weird as this is going to sound, the reason you don’t take a ‘productive break’ is because you really don’t know what to do. Taking a break or – as I like to call it dreaming – requires discipline and a bit of planning on your part to actually do it.
So if you’re not sure what to do, here’s some ideas to get you started:
1. Meditation
A lot of people swear by this one. They’ll tell you that spending just 20 minutes mediating can make you feel like you’ve taken a nap for an hour.
Meditation can improve your ability to concentrate. The act of spending these 20 minutes a day can increase your happiness, reduce stress and even slows down the aging process.
I was intrigued so I tried meditating but it was a bit of a struggle. I’d close my eyes but my mind would wander,
“How long have I been sitting here? Maybe I should get up and just exercise for 10 minutes. Hey, what’s that meme about the word exercise sounding like eggs and sides. Exercise … eggs and sides … exercise … eggs and sides … I hear it now. Eggs and sides … like hash browns and bacon … and a toasted bagel. Eggs and sides … exercise … crap this isn’t working. Now I’m just hungry.”
I’m still working on this one.
2. Listen to 5 songs on the radio or your online media player
This one will definitely take you out of the work space in your head and get you dreaming. Maybe you’ll think about where you were when you first heard that song or it reminds you of one of your best friends.
Where ever you go with that music, just let it flow. And if you feel the urge, get up out of your seat and move a little.
Yeah I’m going to say it — forget dancing like no one is watching. Dance like a toddler. They don’t even care if there’s music.
3. Laugh it off
Find a funny video on Youtube or watch a clip from your favorite comedian. And don’t hold it in, laugh out loud.
Laughter really can help you recharge. It reduces stress and increases your energy level, enabling you to stay focused and accomplish more. Seriously, you’ll be amazed at quickly your mood will shift from watching a funny 5 minute video.
4. People watching
Watching people go about their business is the ultimate form of disconnecting from your world.
Whether you’re in your office staring out the window or at a local coffee shop, watching the world go by you with no one aware of you watching them, takes you away from your work and into a dreaming state deep into your imagination.
5. Step outside
Take a walk, sit on the porch or just go out and get the mail.
Whatever you do, make sure to leave your cell phone inside. Disconnect from everything and charge your phone while you’re charging your body. You’ll come back to your laptop feeling refreshed and ready to get back into work.
Want to learn new habits to help you be more productive?
The Social Media Productivity Planner will introduce you to a new way of managing your social media marketing so you can learn how to show up consistently online and grow your social presence to get more customers.
The steps in this planner will give you a simple easy to follow process to incorporate a social media routine into your weekly schedule. When you work through the worksheets in the Social Media Productivity Planner, you’ll not only be more productive but you’ll get connected to the right people who want to buy your stuff.
When I couldn’t figure out why anyone wasn’t clicking on my Facebook posts or how was I going to find the time to post on all these sites the experts keep telling us we need to be on – what did I do?
I took a good hard look at all my social media sites.
After a year of creating this worksheet and typing out my numbers into this table, I put all the information into one place.
Check out this quick video I created to show you how I learned to easily and quickly see what was working and where I needed to spend my time.
Learn how I developed an effective social media plan to let me know exactly where to go and what to do. From that all that monitoring of the social pieces and marketing parts, the Social Media Productivity Planner was born.
Click here to download your copy of the Social Media Productivity Planner
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