a personal note from Cairene

Sometimes I wonder if I talk about mindset too much. Give them practical advice, Cairene! Tell them how to stay on top of their email and catch up on their filing. Enough with the woo-woo stuff already!

In a world of "tips and tricks" it's sometimes difficult to see the value of good mental and emotional housekeeping.

There are times I still find myself completely irked that introspection is required to do something (okay, everything) well. I want to skip the navel-gazing and get on with it already. Except I know the way you approach a task has a big influence on how well it turns out.

For example, I have two marketing workbooks on my shelf waiting for my time and attention. They were prepared by insightful authors and I am confident they both contain information that will help me to attract more business. But I know from perusing the content, they will ask that I do some soul searching and reflection on what my business is about before crafting the details of my marketing strategy. I know this is the necessary order of things. I ask it of my own clients. And yet I am resisting.

I know that if I skip the reflection, the results will be ineffective. The outcome will not be worth the time I put into creating it. So why the temptation to pass over that step? Why put it off?

First, it can be a little scary to honestly look inside ourselves, acknowledge our likes and wants, and commit to finding ways to honor them.

But mostly I think the temptation to skip introspection comes from the mistaken assumption that the answers are somewhere out there, rather than within us. If the answers are outside, then looking inside is a waste of time. I mean, if I thought the answers were already inside me, why did I buy those marketing workbooks?

I bought them because they will help me to access my own wisdom. They will help filter out what is keeping me from seeing the answers more clearly. I chose these particular programs for that very reason. [Don't they say the best teachers help you to learn what you already know?]

This week's newsletter is all about keeping your mental environment clean so you can see the answers more clearly.

workshops

The True Discipline of Time Management
Stop trying to force your activities into boxes on a calendar and “discipline” yourself to conform to a schedule. Learn how to create a flexible and synergistic calendar that helps you stay focused and organized.
• 6-week class begins November 4 [details & registration]

Get-In-Gear Fridays
Finish what you've been putting off! Join GiGF and have some fun tackling the bottom of your to-do list.
• sessions offered monthly [details & registration]

one-on-one coaching

Want more individualized attention than is available in a workshop? Need help with a specific area of your business or special project? I currently have two openings available for one-on-one coaching.

Whether it's making better use of your time or putting systems in place to streamline your business, gain the skills and information you need to succeed through individual training and support in the areas you want it most. [learn more]

get in gear > keep your filters clean

The weather has been cool enough recently that we cranked up our furnace for the first time in months. It's pretty old, so we are always glad when it starts in the fall without any help from us. But like any furnace, it does need routine maintenance from time to time, the simplest part of which is cleaning the filter. A clean filter allows warm air into our home, while keeping out the bad stuff we'd rather not circulate and breathe.

You and your business need a similar filter. Something that will admit only what will inspire, motivate, nurture, focus and energize you - and block the rest.

be careful who you listen to

I've been especially reminded of this as I try to understand the drastic shifts in our country's economy recently. I've come to appreciate just how much a person's interpretation of events can influence his or her behavior. So I have been very careful to continually check what the "experts" are saying this all means against my own day-to-day experience. So far, the two aren't syncing very well, so I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude.

I know that if I buy into the panic, I will become dysfunctional. If I allow everything that is being put forth through my filter, it will leave me gasping for air. However, I am grateful for the voices of reason from people who have kept their own filters clean, whose viewpoints are not clouded by polluted thinking [like this and this]. This is clean air that I can allow through my own filter, air that helps me to breathe easy.

stop working in a polluted environment

Who you listen to makes a big difference - including how you listen to your own mind.

In my current Time Management class we've been discussing how to stay awake to our own experience and respond honestly to our wants, so we can be sure we are giving our time and attention to the right things. Doing so is as much about learning which external information, people and influences to let in and which to filter out, as it is about learning how to screen out the fictions we tells ourselves and quiet our negative self-talk.

You cannot make good decisions for yourself or your business in a polluted environment. You must find a daily practice that helps you to keep your mental filters clean and functioning well.

This might be the calendar system I use to check in with myself on a daily basis, it might be Morning Pages as recommended in The Artist's Way, it might be The Work, it might be meditation, yoga or some other spiritual practice - or a combination of these or similar things. There's no right or wrong method - it's just important that you do it.

get in gear > be your own EPA

You may have heard me say that whatever system you use to organize your time, it needs to function like an interdependent ecosystem - a healthy, self-sustaining rainforest, for example - in which each part contributes to and supports the others in some way. Remove something essential or bring in something non-native, invasive or polluting and the ecosystem will fail.

You and your business are as fertile and resilient, and as fragile, as a rainforest. You must protect the ecosystem of your life. Let in too many pollutants and soon you're coping with three-legged frogs and other mutations that are equally unnatural. Follow the wrong advice and next thing you know you've razed the forest to graze cattle for quick profits selling beef - and then what do you do?

Be vigilant. Develop the self-awareness to observe changes to the health of the system and respond as needed. Make sustainable choices. Establish criteria by which you evaluate and decide what stays and what goes.

Create and maintain your filters. Keep them clean. Take care of your mental and emotional housekeeping. Do it and the email and the filing will take care of themselves. Do it and your business will thrive.

Get the guidance you need to create effective filters and keep them clean. Access your inner wisdom in The True Discipline of Time Management. The next class begins November 4.

talk back

Like what you've read? Irked? Have a suggestion? Got a question? Let's start a conversation.
I'd love to hear from you - send me a line.

recently on the blog

• Blaming the Client | seek advice from those who empower you
• The Flow Chart | I think get it now
• The Anti-Newsletter | what I would have sent last week if I only had the nerve
• Life or Death Decisions | on the harmful effects of stress
• Looking Too Far, Too Often | the perils of a gaze focused too far in the future

subscription info

An archive of past issues of the Get In Gear newsletter can be browsed here.

Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Cairene MacDonald.
© 2008 Cairene MacDonald, Third Hand Works. All rights reserved.

Cairene MacDonald
Third Hand Works
PO Box 31113
Portland, OR 97231
info@thirdhandworks.com

Third Hand Works | unconventional workflow strategies for unconventional people
administrative guidance for creatives who want to succeed in business and still be themselves