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Michael Nobbs’ “Take the 20 Minutes a Day Challenge” post yesterday really got me thinking.
I posted a comment on his blog asking myself “Should I art journal, exercise, meditate, write, or something I’ve always wanted to do, but claim never to have the time for?”
I expanded that thinking to ask myself, “What would be fun? What have I always dreamed about, but was afraid of admitting or committing to? What have I never done before, but always wanted to? What things have I enjoyed in the past, but have not done lately?”
Make videos. Tell stories with pictures. Learn to draw. Make birdhouses. Paint birdhouses. Design a garden.
These are things I think about, but rarely have time for.
I realized I rarely have time, or make time, for fun, new things, or even fun, old things.
I read to relax. It is my favorite pastime. And, I write.
I started art journaling, but usually it is to help get stuff out of my head onto paper. It’s mostly therapeutic, but I do have fun. It is an activity I can get lost in.
But, “What else is there? What am I missing?”
I rarely do anything just for fun, with no purpose other than to play.
I scares me a little that I’ve forgotten how to play, to just have fun. It scares me to think I’ve allowed so little time to play in my life.
Then yesterday I got a glimpse of what having fun can be like again. I was working on a special project, and I did have a purpose, but in the midst of it all I got lost and had a great time.
I told a story. I played with words. I made myself laugh. For hours I was wrapped up in an imaginary world and I had a blast.
I haven’t done that kind of writing in a very long time.
I like to have a purpose. It helps me focus. But, I also need to remember to have some fun and to play.
Break it down. Take baby steps. This has worked in the past, why not now?
That’s where Michael Nobbs’ “Take the 20 Minutes a Day Challenge” comes in. He has the same philosophy. Twenty minutes a day? I can do that.
My challenge…I am going to write for fun. I am going to start writing stories again. I am going to engage my imagination and just let the words and stories spill out of me.
I’ll follow Michael’s guidelines…
Dedicated time: between 11am and 12pm or 7pm and 8pm.
Supplies: I only need a notebook and a pen.
No distractions: No Twitter, Hulu, phones calls, etc. (okay, I can do this.)
Public commitment: This blog post says it for me.
Time limit: 20-minutes a day, no more, no less.
Rewards: When the twenty minutes is up, I’ll take a break, relax an have a cup of tea.
Then, tomorrow I’ll do it again. And, the next day and the next.
Although this project is about having fun and playing it helps me to have a purpose. So I think I’ll make Fridays, “Fun Day” and share some of my 20-minute challenge results.
How about you? Will you take the 20-minute challenge?
Check out this word cloud made with Wordle.
I had so much fun doing this I had difficulty choosing my favorite to post here.
But, if you are curious about what The Dreaming Cafe is all about this word cloud says it all.
If you are sitting in a classroom, or workshop, seminar and have a question, ask it. More than likely there are numerous other people in the audience with the same question. Plus, because you were the one to ask, you are the one most likely to remember the response. This is the difference between being an active learner versus a passive learner.
Same if you are at a demonstration, whether it at you local Home Depot and they are showing how to fix a leaky faucet or at a cooking demonstration. When the presenter asks for volunteers, volunteer. This is being an active learner. By actually performing or helping performing a task you will be more likely to remember what you learned. This is the difference between being an active learner versus a passive learner.
What if you want to teach? Do you love baking bread, building birdhouses, fixing cars? Want to teach a class? You still need to be an active learner. Just by virtue of having to organize your thoughts in a way to teach someone actively engages all of your senses.
And, when teaching you also have another opportunity to be an active learner. When a student asks a question and you don’t know the answer, admit it, but promise to find out. And, when possible, invite the student to help you find or discover the answer. You are an active learner and you are encouraging your student to be an active leaner.
How else can you become an active learner?
Do something you’ve never done before.
Volunteer to take on a new project at work, one no one else wants, or is afraid to tackle. Then go for it. Research the problem. Find the answer. Ask questions. And, just do it. Will it be perfect first time out of the box, maybe not. But, the only person who will know is you. If anyone else knew how to do it, or wanted to do it, they would have.
Start a new project. Always wanted to created a butterfly sanctuary in your backyard. Research it. Read about it. Ask your local garden club members questions. Attend a workshop or take a class. Then start applying your knowledge and build your sanctuary. Will you get everything right at first? Probably not. But, when things don’t work, or you fail, the opportunity to figure out why engages all of your senses and you are an active learner all over again. Our failures often teach us more than our success. Solving problems is an active learning activity.
Be an active learner. You’ll have more fun and remember more.
In addition to carrying an ‘idea’ notebook and writing in multiple journals I also often email myself ideas I don’t want to forget.
This is an idea for a book proposal that I emailed myself over a year ago.
Book Proposal, January 10, 2009
There are many books written about vegetarian, vegan and macrobiotic diets. Most are dry and filled with vitamin and mineral facts and detailed descriptions of diet related disease research, but few tell the story of what these life supporting diets really mean to people, and to women in particular.
Regardless of the changing gender roles in our society women still represent home and hearth and in most cases are responsible for the care and feeding of their families. Women have a unique and often adversarial relationship with food. Food plays an integral and central role in society and families.
Celebrations are nothing without food and drink, birthdays, holidays, family gatherings, sporting events, etc. But, our relationship with food goes even deeper than that. Food connects us to the earth and to all that is Divine. When we move beyond the advertisements and commercialization of food we recognize the deep connections between what we eat and who we are.
Consuming a diet closer to the earth, and in balance with the universe offers us so much than just life support for our physical bodies. A natural, wholesome diet eaten in balance with the world around offers us the opportunity to live in peace and harmony, to connect to the Universe, to God, to the Divine, and to every other living thing on the planet.
Women are the recognized care givers and stewards of both the family unit and the planet. In this book I propose to share not only the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of a natural, whole foods diet, but the stories of the women who practice and incorporate a whole foods diet into their whole lives and the lives of their family and friends.
I would solicit the personal essays of women who are the leaders in the natural foods, vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic and raw foods movements and have them tell their stories of what this diet means for them and how it has changed and impacted their lives and the lives of their families.
Sample group:
Mary McDougall, author and wife of Dr. McDougall and proponent of a vegan diet
Jessica Porter, author of “The Hip Chicks Guide to a Macrobiotics”
Lindsey Wagner, Movie and TV Actress, author of “High Road to Health: A Vegetarian Cookbook ” and a vegan diet proponent
Christina Pirello, http://www.christinacooks.com/
Virginia Messina, RD, http://vegrd.vegan.com/
Freya Dinshah, wife, founder of the American Vegan Society
and Moira Nordholt, http://feelgoodguru.com/ (I added Moira today.)
Stories are what moves us. Stories are the way we remember and relate. Storytelling has been used since the dawn of mankind to teach, to share and to remember.
Facts and figures are a wonderful support for sharing knowledge, but it is the stories that we remember and repeat to one another.
It is the stories we will remember when shopping and when we need to make a choice between the freshly picked corn on the cob, or the canned cream corn; the crisp, fresh apples, or the fat laden and sugar filled apple turnover.
It is the stories we remember when we decide to stop at the local produce stand to buy a summer sweet watermelon or basket of green peppers.
It is our story we will pass on to our children as we teach them by example to live in accordance with nature and respect their own bodies and minds.
It is the stories that are passed on from one person to another that help people change and build the foundation for a new and better worlds.
***********************************
I always think about writing the books I want to read.
I have read extensively on the topic of the relationship of food and nutrition to health and disease.
The problem is that facts and figures often have us operating from a foundation of fear. Fear does not lead to permanent, positive dietary or life changes. We are sick, overweight and living in fear. Fear leads to immobilization which leads to hopelessness.
Stories on the other hand inspire us and give us hope. Stories teach us by example. They help us live from a foundation of hope, forgiveness and self-acceptance.
That’s why I want to write this book. I want to live from a foundation of hope, not fear. And, I want to inspire others, to help others, and to make a difference.
Will I write this book? I think so. Maybe not today, but one day.
Is this a book you would like to read?
Ever feel like your head is going to explode? That’s how I feel this morning.
I am well rested from my recent trip to Austin and hanging out with Barbara Winter and now I can’t stop thinking.
It started on the plane ride home. The flight was way too bumpy to read my Kindle.
(I get motion sickness very easily.) So, at 10,000 feet I pulled out my iPod
and closed my eyes. That’s when it started. Between resting and listening, the ideas started to pop like warm popcorn kernels. I kept jotting half formed ideas down. Ideas about everything. I started to see a glimmer of clarity for 2010, something I’ve been missing.
This morning, after a great nights sleep, I was able to pick up where I left off with one big difference…since I was no longer tired, the ideas were coming faster and more furious than I could write. Pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, whatever was handy at the moment, I was jotting ideas and full page outlines down. Some half formed, some fully formed ideas.
I haven’t had this ‘my head is going to explode’ feeling in awhile. I’ve missed it. It is such a high, when I feel all is right in the world, time seems to stand still while at the same time passing without me even noticing it, when I feel like ‘yes, I can do this!”, and when at my core I know I am one with the creative universe.
During a brain break to make a pot of mid-morning java, I realized why this feeling has been missing and how I can get it back more often. Other than my trip to Minnesota in November right after I resigned from my day job, and one breakfast, business meeting, all I do is sit in my home office and work. That’s not really cutting in, if you know what I mean. What will work, has worked, and will always work is to get out of the house, engage with people, especially people on the same wavelength, change my environment, take a trip with purpose, take a class, go to the library, attend a meeting – whatever – just get out of the house!
It’s kind of like Julia Cameron’s
Artist Dates. To be creative you have to change your environment once in a while and engage the world on a different level. I’ve known this for a long time. I don’t know how I could have forgotten it.
But, whatever I call it, I know one thing, I’m getting out of the house more often! A brain is a terrible thing to waste.
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Okay, I admit, I love Barnes and Noble. I love indie bookstores, too, but B&N has a store less than five minutes from my house. I can go there anytime to relax, read, have a cup of coffee or just wander around the stacks of books and feel better. It’s calming.
But, they are going to fail, just like any other brick and mortar bookseller if they keep trying to compete head to head with Amazon. They have to find a way to set themselves apart, use what they have, build on their knowledge and take some chances.
I have been thinking of ways to save B&N for years. Thinking that if I ran the chain, or they hired me to consult with them, how I’d do things differently. One of the biggest things I would look to do would be to create multiple profit centers within each store. I am not talking about adding more movies, music or other products unrelated to books. As a matter of fact, everything they do should revolve around books and building a community. I would strive to make each store unique to the community it belonged to.
Let’s get started. Here is my list of a few things that could save B&N…
• Expand the café offerings – make the café offerings unique to each store. Buy the best pastries and bagels from a local bakery. Have specials of the day. Encourage people to come back often to buy their favorites or to see what the special of the day is. Monitor what sells on a daily basis and adjust the product line accordingly on an individual store basis.
• Answer the questions, “What’s selling? Which departments are the most profitable?” And, answer the questions at a store level, not a district, state or national level. Aim for making each store unique to its community, not McDonaldilized versions. Once these questions are answered, adjust accordingly. Eliminate certain categories and expand others.
• What do people want? Monitor the online buzz. What are people talking about? What book releases are they anxiously awaiting? What are they reading right now? Have these books in stock and prominently displayed. We are an ‘I want it NOW’ society. Yes, Amazon can sell it cheaper, and offers free shipping, but a lot of people see what’s popular and want it right now. Take advantage of that impulse buying need.
• Get rid of the music and movie section, unless it is in the top three profit centers in the store. They are lots of cheaper stores to buy movies and music, online and off, than B&N.
• Once this section is closed, create a new profit center, one based on bringing people into your store and growing a community. Remodel this space and create meeting rooms and/or classrooms. Rent these rooms inexpensively to local businesses and community groups. (Most of the people attending a meeting or workshop in your store are going to browse, and more than likely make a purchase at the Café.)
• Offer catering from the café for an additional fee.
• Offer book birthday parties for kids.
• B&N membership – mine that data and do something with it.
o Create a gold or platinum membership for people who spend a certain dollar amount.
o Offer special discounts to individuals based on their buying history. If 75% of a member’s purchases are in the business section, offer him a 30% off any business title in addition to his member discount. Or, if someone spends above a certain dollar amount offer that member a 20% off shopping day.
o What are your members buying? How much are they spending? When do they shop? How often to they shop? Where are they shopping? Answer these questions on a member by member basis and market to the individual. Make them feel special and appreciated.
• Join the conversation and use social media – each and every store should have one or two staff members dedicated to building a community online. What is happening in the store right now? Real time information, communicated in an authentic, enthusiastic way, to a targeted community and at an individual store basis. Build a community.
These are just some of my ideas. New ones pop up every day. I think I’ll start writing them down just in case someone asks me one day.
What are your ideas? How would you suggest B&N save themselves and stop trying to compete head to head with Amazon?
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