November and Good Habits

In November it's really hard to keep up good habits. I searched for a list of good habits, that will make life better. There are many of them for sure. Here are some of the things I found.

Wake up early

Everyone says it's good to wake up early. The morning is peaceful and you will have a productive day. It doesn't matter if you're not a morning person, it's a habit that can be learned.

In reality:

It's pitch dark and you wonder how it's possible that you heard the sound of your wake up alarm. You manage to get up and make yourself coffee. The second cup of coffee makes you feel a bit awake and the day starts. Productive day ahead? You are happy to manage to get to work.

Eat healthy
I love the idea of healthy eating. Sometimes I might succeed. The truth is that I will usually never eat as much fruit or vegetables as I should.

In November:
Chocolate has a lot of energy and coffee keeps you going.

Exercise
Well, I actually like exercising. It seems like there is not so much time for it as needed.

In November:
It's too dark and cold outside for exercise. Of course it can be done indoors. Yes.

The truth is, that it's not easy to keep up good habits. It's easy to find excuses for keep doing the things that are good for you.

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."-Vincent van Gogh

Leading Others

"How you see yourself determines how other people see you." —Margie Warrell

Leadership starts from the inside.You can't be a leader until you see yourself as a leader.

When you have mastered leading yourself, you are ready to lead others, right?  I've been thinking about leadership and the qualities of a leader. What makes a person a good leader? It's easy to criticize leaders. Being a leader (a good or excellent one) requires a lot of courage, self-knowledge and empathy. Just to mention a few things.

A leader is a person, who is building trust and caring about people. Trust must be earned.

Leadership is moving people to do things that they wouldn't otherwise do

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams

Leadership is a position where it's possible to inspire others to learn more and become more. There are good leaders and great leaders.

“Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.” - Orrin Woodward

A part of being a leader is dealing with challenging situations. Everyone faces challenges in both personal and work life. I've been bad at facing challenging situations. When I realized, that I had to learn to manage them, it helped a bit. Then there was lot of practicing ahead. Some unexpected situations came ahead, and I just had to deal with them.

Leaders can't avoid facing the difficult situations. They will come, and something has to be done. A leader is a person, who is able to make decisions.

Great communication skills and the ability to listen are also important things.

How about curiosity? A good leader is curious about new things. Every situation is a learning opportunity.

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." – Walt Disney

Leadership is shortly:

• active responsibility
• positive influence
• personal development
• consistency in good times and bad times

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227012

https://medium.com/the-mission/10-things-that-immediately-happen-when-real-leadership-shows-up-c16658c1a21

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashiraprossack1/2018/02/02/how-to-establish-yourself-as-a-leader/#10454bc16723

Leading Yourself

Every moment of every day we are each called to be the leader of our own lives. We have the power to make our own choices.

What does it mean to be leading your own life?

Simply it could be taking care of yourself. Making good choices and getting things organized.
Someone has said, that before you can lead others, you must be able to lead yourself.

I think the important question is, how is it even possible to be organized without getting stressed out? When you have a lot of things to do, it seems almost impossible to be well organized and unstressed. The key to this has to be in prioritizing things. It takes a lot of self-discipline.

It's easy to make lists of what you should do and how to take control of your life. In reality it's much more complicated. I don't want my life to feel like a day in the army. Now you do this and now you do that, and in the end of the day you feel exhausted. On the other hand I don't want to be struggling with an endless to-do list, without getting anything done and dreams waiting for their accomplishment until forever.

Well planned is half done. With good planning it's possible to get more time for the things you would like to do. Those things are making you feel relaxed. I enjoy singing, playing guitar and drawing. Still these are something, that I don't have much time to do.

Here are some important points to think about:

Limit time wasting activities

Can you stay away from your phone, when you don't need it? Social media takes easily a lot of time without even noticing it.

Work - life balance

Finding rest, not burning yourself out. Getting the exercise you need and eating well. This has also to do with knowing your own limits. It's good to sometimes push yourself beyond your limits and reach out for your dreams. And sometimes realize, that we are only human. Every moment can not be effective.

Leadership is action
Make good choices. Every action is a reflection of the character. Today's actions are tomorrow's results.

Everything can't be done in one day
You have to take one step at a time.

Life is like walking you take one step at a time. -Taylor Swift

What drives you?

I was running my fourth half marathon last weekend. Somehow I was feeling a bit exhausted already before I started running. Maybe it was the flu season, or the feeling of just not having enough rest. Anyway, I wasn’t feeling full of energy at all. Not a good feeling when you should be running a while.

The running experience was not comfortable, which was no surprise. I went through the run promising myself that I could quit - when I had been running just a bit more. My legs were hurting and finally I was expecting a bird to fly low enough, so I could grab it’s wings and it would fly me to the finish line. That bird never came.

Also I was waiting for the tailwind to blow, so it would push me fast forward. Surprisingly it didn’t happen. Instead I had to run myself. And Spotify stopped playing music. Also Sport Tracker stopped working, so I have no track of how many steps I have been taking.

In the end it didn’t really matter. It didn’t go as planned, that’s for sure. The more important thing is that I finished. And well, I did three minutes better than last year.

A half marathon isn’t the place where the magic happens, a lot of practice is needed.

Practice can be very boring. How about all the health benefits? Increased cardiovascular capacity, reduced blood pressure, learning structured training. Just to mention a few things. Maybe, just maybe, it could be the reason to start practicing for a half marathon?

I guess it needs a bit more than that. 

My motivation has actually not so much to do with the health benefits. Running is something, that can be done anywhere, anytime. It's great to know that it has good effects on the health.

Long distance running has never been anything I've been even thinking about to do. I wouldn't have believed, that I could have the discipline for it. Training is also proved to be increasing self-belief and confidence. 

“With self-discipline all things are possible”

-Theodore Roosevelt

Well planned is half done, part 2

The grass isn't greener on the other side.

The grass is greener where you water it.

That's true. If your neighbour has greener grass, what could possibly be the reason? It's not some magic rain cloud, that has watered only your neighbour's side and left your grass without water.

Planning is good. Many times the harder part comes after that: following the plan. In a garden it takes time to see the growth.

Watering is needed. Without water the plants will not grow. If you are lucky, it might rain every now and then. Usually it rains too much or too little. That's why a watering system is essential.

Weeds have to be eliminated. They are growing fast, and have long roots. If you let them grow whole Summer, they will take over. And the real plants will not have enough space to grow.

The plants also need light and good soil.

Consistency and hard work will bring the results.

A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. 

-Colin Powell

In a vegetable garden, some things are certain:

1. If you don't pick up the weeds, they will grow big and take over.
2. The vegetables can't grow if they don't have enough space.
3. Without water all the plants will die. Only most of the weeds will survive.

Working alone or with others

If you are working alone in your vegetable garden, you are responsible for everything there. The good thing is, that you know all that should be done. And if it doesn't turn out the way you planned, there is only one person to blame.

When there are many workers, things have to be more organized. Each one has to know what they are doing. And what happens if they don't know?

Things like this could happen:
1. Someone has removed the weeds.
2. Another member of the team has planted the weeds back.
3. A third person wonders whether the weeds should be there or not?
4. If there is nobody doing the decision, they might end up removing the weeds, and planting them back again.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. -Henry Ford

Well planned is half done

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

There is a difference between having a plan and doing real planning.

Last year when I planted my vegetable garden, I had a plan. My plan was to buy vegetable seeds, and I knew more or less what to buy.

The carrot seeds (and some other seeds too) were so small, that I accidentally planted too many of them. When the carrots (and the other vegetables) started growing I had no idea whether they were weeds or not. This happened because there were not growing in obvious lines. The other challenge was, that they were growing too close to each other and didn't get enough space.

At that point some of the plants should have been removed and the ones remaining could have received more space. Survival of the fittest.

Although I forgot the planning, my vegetable garden was quite alright last year. It could have been better though.

The challenges were:

• I didn't remember what was growing there
• The plants were not growing in clear lines, which made it hard to find the weeds
• Some plants were removed with the weeds
• The carrots became very small
• I forgot to collect some of the vegetables
• I found some surprise vegetables

The strengths were:

• Peas, potatoes and salad was growing well
• We did eat most of the vegetables (that were identified)

This year I did some things differently.

Before planting there was planning. I sketched the whole area on paper. Planned the rows, what would be growing where and made paths in places, that would make it easier to pull weeds.

Planting sticks worked as a reminder of what what planted.

This year I know at least what is growing in my vegetable garden.

Everyone wants to hear a good story

It's not totally useless to spend time on social media. Even though much of it can be a waste of time. Everyone should have a social media strategy. Especially for a business, building a social media presence is important.

We don't have a choice whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it. -Erik Qualman

Social media is perfect for telling stories. I'm interested in the process of finding the own writing style. How is it possible to tell a story, that will reach the right people? Some companies and organizations have succeeded as story tellers.

A story is nothing without the right images. Somehow it's easy to think about how to tell a good story about a holiday destination. There is sun, a beach, good food. Perfect pictures to take, nice stories to tell. Actually it's not harder than that. You just have to find the right stories about everything.

It's good to think about what people would like to know about your company. I few weeks ago I was looking for a hairdresser with a carchair. It wasn't so easy to find. Apparently they don't have it in so many places. I found one place close enough to home, and they had a picture of it. Search completed. The story is, that my son loved the carchair.

To get started:

1. Identify your audience
2. Pick the right platforms
3. Know your goals
4. Get visual
5. Be consistent

When it comes to telling a story about yourself, or creating something out of nothing, it's much harder. Having a clear idea makes it all much easier.

The questions are still the same:
What do you want to tell about yourself?

I think everyone wants to hear a good story.

Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell. -Charles de Lint

The art of messing up several things at the same time

After making the decision in the beginning of this year to get myself more organized, I have realized a few things. One thing is, that it takes time to form new habits. Life is a process.

Life also is like a puzzle, you have to get certain pieces in place before you can see the whole picture.

Sometimes it's good to stop, breath and think before acting.

It could be called mindfulness.

When you're in a hurry it's easier to rush forward. Instead of stopping and thinking what you could do differently. Is this hurry something, that could be avoided by slowing down for a while and re-organizing things?

The changes can be very small. Still they can be helpful.

This year I have managed to finish things better than before. It has become possible only by concentrating on one thing at a time. Less multitasking, and more concentration on one task. Also finishing that task, always when it's possible.

It's very simple. Doing only one thing at a time.

Productivity doesn't come from doing more and faster. By doing more than one thing you will become busier for sure. Studies have shown, that multitasking makes us less productive.

Our full presence to the task at hand, the conversation, the true connection is compromised by our inability to unplug and do just one thing.
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/the-one-time-you-should-never-multitask

"You can only breathe out if you breath in" -John Lennon

Communication fails easily

Writing emails is easy. It doesn’t take much time. There shouldn’t be anything new about emails, so
why even bother writing about them?
That’s right. It’s not a new thing. Still everyone can get better in communicating by email.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about writing emails. Firstly, it’s difficult to figure out the perfect
subject line and summarize the nature of your email in as few words as possible. Secondly, it can be
hard to make yourself understood correctly.
Emails are challenging:

1. Some messages are too long. It feels like the writer doesn’t get to the point, or you have to figure out the important information yourself.
2. Messages can also be too short. Additional questions are needed to figure out what the sender wants to say.
3. Emails can be sent at the wrong time. The right timing can be very important. It might not be the best idea to send emails when people are off duty. If there is no hurry to send and email, it can be more effective to send it a bit later.
4. Usually emails need some follow up.
5. Sometimes face-to-face communication would be more effective. It’s always not possible, when people are located in different places.

The interesting thing is, that emails can be easily misunderstood. Instead of sending an email too soon,
it could be important to read it one more time.

Usually it’s nobody’s intention to write a rude email. It can be avoided by trying to think about how the
receiver will understand the message. The tone in emails can be negative or commanding unintentio- nally. Human communication can fail.

The observation about how easily communication fails, was made by Professor Osmo Antero Wiio
in 1978. The fundamental Wiio's law states that "Communication usually fails, except by accident".
According to Wiio, a message, that can be interpreted in several ways, will be interpreted in a manner that
maximizes the damage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiio%27s_laws

I think Wiio is quite right. What would he have said about email communication? That's even harder
other forms of communication. Emails shouldn’t be the only way we communicate. Real conversations
are important.

“Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”

— Brian Tracy

The things you don't want to do

It’s fun to make new plans. In the beginning of the new year many of us feel optimistic and full of

energy. It feels like anything can be done. Then the reality comes in. It doesn’t feel so easy to make

the positive changes you have planned.

The mornings didn’t suddenly turn easier this year, and I wasn’t feeling more energetic in the

evenings than last year. Still I have tackled the difficult things and my never ending to do list.

There are things you could just leave them as they are. Who cares about emails? You read them and they stay nicely in the inbox. They will never quit to come. It’s the same with cleaning the house. The cleaning is never ending. But stopping cleaning would be crazy. Who wants to clean a house, that hasn’t been cleaned in a long time? I try to remind myself of being consistent.

My organized year started with going through my emails, pressing the delete key and cleaning the house. It’s amazing how many useless emails you can save. The question is, why they are saved and not deleted, because you don’t need them. Well, the answer is simple: you might need the information some day. Just might.

One interesting thing is the notifications different programs send to you. For example I got a notification last year from my Dropbox-account. It said something like this: your Dropbox-account is decreasing in October on a specific date. And it meant, that the account should be checked so that no photos would disappear. I did it, in the last minute.

The solution to the problem could be this:

• going through emails on a regular basis
• deleting the useless ones
• checking trash also
• deleting junk mail
• archiving emails and creating folders
• reading the notifications from different programs (Dropbox for example) 

Another useful thing, that I started doing, is keeping my calendar up to date. When I know about an event, I put it in my calendar. This sounds very simple too, but it isn’t. Because it’s easy to forget it. It has to do with the emails. You get an email, and there is something important, and you think about adding it to your calendar later. Later. Then you forget about it. And of course you can’t find it anymore, because the inbox is full with emails.

The lesson learned:

• add important events to your calendar as soon as possible
• also add important information about the events
• add reminders about things you have to do

I also did a weekly cleaning schedule for the house.

“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.”-Tony Robbins

More organized than ever

This year I’m going to be more organized than ever. That is what this blog is going to be all about:

Getting things together. Do you believe that it’s possible? I think getting things organized sounds

more like one of those posts on Facebook, where people tell how they have been drinking only water

for six months and eating just healthy food.
A life that is well planned sounds also a bit boring. No more procrastination and everything done in

time. Boring or not, it’s not going to happen right away. Changes are done step by step. After all,

recently I have realized that planning things more is not so boring. When you have a lot of things to

do, and only a limited amount of hours to get it done, planning is essential for survival.
Many of my weeks have looked like a total mess, that I have tried to get through. I recognize myself

from Sophie Kinsella’s books. I find myself getting sometimes into really funny situations. Grabbing a

shopping basket instead of a trolley, buying way too many things and then trying to carry them all to

your car for example. How foolish is that? Sometimes the funny situations are a result of hustle.

Things happen, when you haven’t planned what you’re doing.
I feel like I’ve had the habit of doing most things in the last minute. Procrastinating the less

comfortable things and spending the little time I have with social media or just doing nothing. That’s

not a problem if you have a lot of time. The problem comes when you don’t have. And you start

feeling stressed, because you suddenly lose all the time you could actually do things you love and

get forward with them.
There are always explanations why things are not done until the last minute. And there will always

be. Still there can be time found for the things we think are important.
My writing has been very spontaneous. I’m not much of a planner, it’s much more fun to do things

when you have the right feeling to do them. Unfortunately that’s not the way to get forward in writing.

A blog needs to be planned, and time needs to be owned. I have a lot of ideas for writing different

things. Many times they stay as ideas and never become something real. All because the lack of

planning. And of course, a little bit of laziness.
That’s why I haven’t been writing this blog for a while. I have many times thought about not writing

anymore, because I can’t get texts finished on time and not being pleased with them.
I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. There is no free lunch, habits aren’t changed in a blink of

an eye. Ideas need to be developed until they become something real. Now I commit myself to this

blog for the year 2018. This will be a blog about personal development. Getting things done, even

small things. Actually I believe the small things are in fact the big things. They can make a big

difference.
I started writing this blog for about five years ago. Many of the texts have been much shorter than

planned and the ideas not so well planned. This year I will try to find a clearer concept and focus in

writing texts.
Happy New Year!
“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”

-Oprah Winfrey