You are currently browsing posts tagged with personal growth
1. Dress for work.
Causal is okay, but no sweats or pj’s. You are a professional and this is a professional work environment.
2. Connect with others.
Take time everyday to engage with people on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Read and comment on other people’s blogs. Send and answer a few personal emails. Skype a friend. Arrange a lunch date. Yes, connecting with others takes time, time out of your day and time away from your work, but if you shared an office with other people how much time would you spend connecting? It’s just as important when you work out of your home office.
3. Work with a project or editorial calendar and a to-do list.
Knowing ahead of time what needs to be done on any given day provides structure. It helps you to dive right in and get started. It also can help signify the end of the work day. When today’s to-do list is complete, or all the “A” items are done you know the work day is over. You then have a choice, continue to work or call it a day.
4. No eating in the home office.
A cup of tea or coffee is fine, but no snacks. A home office is for working, not eating.
5. Take a break.
Have a snack or a meal while sitting down at the dining room or kitchen table. If the weather is pleasant, eat outside on the deck or picnic table. Use real silverware, plates and napkins. Treat yourself well. You deserve it.
6. Celebrate.
If you just finished a big project or received some good news reward yourself and celebrate. Take your spouse, kids or a friend to lunch. Send an email to all your friends. Tweet your celebration and invite others to celebrate with you.
7. Remember who’s the boss.
No one can tell you what to do or when to do it. That means you have to be the boss. You have to make the decisions and keep your commitments.
8. Working from a home office is about working.
Remind yourself, your family and friends, that when you are in your home office you are working. You are a professional. You have work to do. No one is going to do it for you. Even if your ‘office’ is a corner of a room, or the kitchen table for a few hours, respect the space and what it represents.
Today The Dreaming Cafe is one-year-old.
The Dreaming Cafe started out as a free Wordpress.com blog on Monday, February 23, 2009.
My first post was called “What is The Dreaming Cafe?” If you are curious, it is still a public post and you can read it here: http://thedreamingcafe.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/what-is-the-dreaming-cafe/
A year later and my vision and mission remain, although much clearer, like a picture coming into focus.
I know I am on the right path.
I know The Dreaming Cafe is headed in the right direction.
My mission is to use the written word to share stories, ideas, and resources in ways that inspire, motivate, inform and empower others to embrace their own creative journey to self discovery.
Self-knowledge, self-care, self-expression and self-employment are all topics The Dreaming Cafe explores.
It sounds selfish, but it’s not.
To be the change you want to see in the world, you must first know who you are and what you want. Peace, love, change…they all flow from the inside out.
The Dreaming Cafe is a safe place to start.
The Dreaming Cafe is about…
Exploring who we are now and who we can become in the future.
Embracing the moment, while dreaming of better tomorrow.
Taking responsibility for ourselves, our hopes, our fears and our dreams.
Moving forward despite our fears, self doubt and insecurities.
Putting one foot in front of the other, and taking one step at a time.
Leaning into the vision we hold for ourselves, our family, our community and our world.
Exploring from the inside out and discovering who we are and why we are here.
Dreaming, learning, exploring, creating and taking action.
Leading by example in both word and in deed.
Kindness and compassion.
Love and peace.
Hope and inspiration.
And, using the written word to communicate, to teach, to share, and to help heal the world, one word, one idea, one person at a time.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for hanging out with me over the last year and making this one of the most rewarding adventures of my life.
When I joined Derek Sivers email list last year he sent me a personal note.
“Wow!” I thought. “This is real!! And, way cool.”
I thought about what it meant to me to be contacted personally, not just with an autoresponder, by the man behind the blog/website.
I realized I wanted to do that. I wanted to connect with people and know more about them. I wanted my readers / subscribers to be more than just a faceless name in a database.
Today, I too, email all of my new subscribers. Sometimes it may not be right away, but I do contact them. And, if they have a blog or website and they share it with me, I check it out. If they are on Twitter and share their ID, I follow them and say hello.
It’s not a marketing ploy. It’s about connecting to people, getting to know them better and building a community.
I know how much it meant to me when Derek emailed me and if someone has taken the time to subscribe to my newsletter I want them to know that I appreciate it.
This morning Chris Guillebeau at The Art of Non-Conformity shared what commitment meant to him in the post Overnight Success, Year Three. What he wrote about resonated with me and reflects my own commitments to myself and my readers.
Ken Robert today also talked about commitment, about keeping promises to yourself at Mildly Creative in his post Gearing Up For Your Next Big Move – Realizations from My Relocation.
These two posts led me to think about my own my commitments and promises to myself, especially those related to The Dreaming Cafe. They were the catalyst for me to write this post.
Over the last few weeks I have been thinking of ways to reach more people, to grow The Dreaming Cafe. In addition to just personally emailing new newsletter subscribers and answering emails from readers, I wanted to commit to reaching my readers more consistently. I wanted people to know they could rely on me to be here for them to share stories and resources to help them on their creative journey to self discovery.
I know how I feel when I find a new blog and connect with what the writer has to say only to discover they post sporadically, only once or twice a week, or only once a month. I feel frustrated and disappointed.
I don’t want people to feel that way when they visit The Dreaming Cafe. I want them to know that I will be here, consistently, just about every day. To make this happen I set the goal of having 500 blog posts by December 31, 2010. This means writing and posting five to six times per week for the rest of the year.
Keeping my promises to myself and to my readers is extremely important. It’s a matter of honor and self respect and about respecting those who have joined The Dreaming Cafe community.
So, here is my commitment to you, the reader:
Weekly newsletter – emailed every Sunday, 5am EST – Personal stories, recommendations and resources written especially for those on the creative journey to self discovery.
Follow all new subscribers on Twitter. (Don’t forget to tell me who you are.)
Friend all new subscribers on Facebook. (Again, don’t forget to tell me who you are.)
Personally email all new subscribers and find out more about them and how I, and The Dreaming Cafe, can help them.
500 blog posts by December 31, 2010 – Sharing stories, videos, tips, resources, book reviews, interviews, and anything else related to the creative journey to self discovery.
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.
Sometimes the path to self-discovery shows us things we might not like about ourselves.
I’ve recently discovered something about myself that I am no particularly pleased with. I’ve probably known it for a long time, but never wanted to admit it or acknowledge it. It makes me cringe just thinking it, to even contemplate admitting it, but, here goes…
I’m lazy.
Deep breathe. Sigh. It’s done. I’ve said it.
Don’t they say that the first step is just to admit you have a problem?
I’m lazy.
Nope. Admitting it again didn’t make me feel any better.
It’s embarrassing really how easily I can fritter away the hours doing absolutely nothing while looking busier than chipmunk.
Last night I had a million and one brilliant ideas for blog posts, articles, workshops, books, events, art journaling, a video book review, and even an online tutorial for mind mapping.
This morning, blah. Nothing. No energy. No enthusiasm. No activity.
I might as well be wearing cement boots. I just can’t seem to get started. The lazy gene has been activated with a nuclear reactor and I sit here staring into space. (Well, I am writing this post, but that’s not counting for much today.)
Today is an anniversary of sorts and I think that is one reason I am out of sorts. Today marks 90-days since I walked out of the door and left my corporate job behind. 90-days. Twelve weeks. Three months. No matter how I look at it, it just seems like time draining away as my lazy butt sits around and looks out the window.
I can be quite productive when I want to be. And, I’ve had a few whirlwinds the last few months, but today isn’t one of them.
Maybe I’m not lazy. Maybe I am just beating myself up for not being as productive as I thought I’d be over the past 90-days.
Either way, I feel better now. You know my little secret. But, promise me something? Let’s just keep it between you and me. Okay? Thanks.
I’ll be back tomorrow and maybe, just maybe, I might finish that video book review.
I have been thinking about my 2010 theme, dreams and goals for the last few weeks. Actually I started thinking about them the day I quit my job in November. I’ve come to realize that thinking about something for too long just creates more confusion, not clarity and sometimes you have to listen and not think.
Last night I pulled out my 2007 ‘success’ binder. It contains a lot my notes from 2007, 2008 and a journal summary for 2001-2006. It’s pretty thick. It holds printed pages, hand written pages, index cards with notes, post-its, and pictures.
Not much has changed in the last nine years. The fact that my vision of what I want to do (work for myself) and how I want to try and combine all my many interests (most of which have not changed) is very close to the same things I want today reassures me that I am on the right path.
You could say if I knew what I wanted in 2001, why is it still 2010 and they haven’t manifested in my life yet?
The vision was there, although a little fuzzy, and the desire was there, but not the confidence or clarity. What has changed in the last decade is me. I have taken the time to get to know myself better and to feel more comfortable and at ease with my self. I’ve had a wide range of professional experiences and experienced a certain level of success. This has given me confidence, helped identify and hone my natural talents and abilities and taught me about the many things I do not want to do and the things I am not good at.
Another benefit of the past few years was that I could show up, do my job, get paid and still do my side stuff. I lived in two worlds. In the one world I was a loyal, hard working employee, wife, daughter, friend, etc. In the other world I was a dreamer, writer, spiritual seeker, healer and all things most people in my family and immediate circle of friends, co-workers and acquaintances did not ‘get’ or understand.
Over the last few months (after quitting my job) I have felt enormous pressure to give up the ‘woowoo’ personal world and get ‘crunching’ on building my business and generating cash flow.
This is where I hit a brick wall and fall down. I feel as if I am split in half, being pulled in two opposing directions – the internal world related to personal and spiritual growth and the external world of making a living, building a business and meeting family obligations. I’ve always felt split in two, but in the past I could make it work most of the time and live in both worlds. Now I am trying to create one harmonious world where work, play, self and other obligations all wrap together like a beautiful DNA double helix.
Whenever I feel like this the Buddhist saying “chop wood, carry water” floats to the surface and I am reminded that personal and spiritual growth doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It grows out of and in the midst of daily living. And, living includes making a living, building a business and balancing the needs of others with my own needs.
I still have some work to do to bring all of these thoughts and ideas together, but I feel calmer. I am remembering to take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and to embrace the philosophy of “chop wood, carry water”.
The theme I chose for 2010 earlier this year was “grow into my vision”. But, I think my mantra for 2010 will be “chop wood, carry water”.
« Older Entries
