“Excellence is the ultimate in selfishness.
There’s no higher high than great performance at anything.”
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Carl Richards’ Newsletter – Forget working hard. Try resting hard.
Posted on July 25, 2019 by Alun Rees
I read and enjoy several dozen (or more) Blogs / newsletters which I should share more often. Carl Richards is a Certified Financial Planner and creator of “The Sketch Guy” column which has appeared in the New York Times since 2010. His website is “The Behavior Gap” (sic) and here’s the Link
He wrote an excellent book “The One Page Financial Plan” which is well worth a read if you wrestle with money.
Here’s his most recent newsletter which may well strike a chord or two.
I couldn’t agree more.
Hi Alun, Carl here.
I’m tired.
Like, really tired.
And I’m tired of being tired.
Up at 5 in the morning? Tried it! Daily workouts? Yep. Paleo, bulletproof, gluten-free, cold showers? Check.
Build a business, start a side hustle, dominate Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook? Yeah, I’ve done all that too.
You know what I don’t understand? How come nobody ever talks about rest?
You know, rest. As in, relaxing. Doing nothing. Getting a good night’s sleep. That stuff’s kind of important, too…
…
I know I’m not alone here.
The last 10 years have felt like the #CrushIt decade. Every time you turn around somebody is on social media talking about how they’re crushing something. Gary Vaynerchuk wrote the book on it, and according to him, people “need to work harder. And faster. There’s really nothing else to it. I’m exhausted every day, but I’m making all sorts of things happen in my 18 hours.”
Sorry, Gary. But I disagree. I don’t need to work harder and faster. And neither do most of the people reading this. I have a feeling most of us are already working hard enough.
And you know what else, Gary? Being exhausted every day sounds like a stupid way to live.
…
Look, if this doesn’t speak to you, just toss this email in the trash and forget you ever saw it. Crush on.
But if it does speak to you, if you’re nodding your exhausted head along knowingly, then consider this message my permission to make this the year of resting hard.
I don’t care if the year’s half over. Start now and keep going for 12 months. This year we’re going to be as good at resting as we are at crushing things. We’re going to become pros at turning off social media, getting great sleep, working less, and living more.
Seriously. Give it a shot. Start today. What do you have to lose? A handful of Twitter followers? A contract? A bit of income?
What you have to gain is a) peace, b) clarity, c) more time for your friends and family, d) not dying of a heart attack or an aneurysm at the age of 50.
Chances are, you don’t need a cup of coffee and a slap in the face. More like some decaf herbal tea and a hug.
Sound good?
Great.
Enjoy your rest,
-Carl
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Your Job Shouldn’t Kill You…
Posted on July 18, 2019 by Alun Rees
Excellent Blog Post from the Kolbe Connect Blog. Knowing and understanding your Kolbe A can help to cope with and understand what you do and what you should do. My clients who embrace Kolbe Wisdom get so much more from themselves and from their teams.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially recognized burnout as a medical condition…
…In addition to concerns about burnout among employees, there has been a rise in awareness about the stress of being an entrepreneur. Inc. magazine released an article, “The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship”, which states, “it’s time to be honest about how brutal [building a company] is—and the price some founders secretly pay.”…
Most of the advice about dealing with workplace stress, like “take a vacation,” “play harder,” or “bring a pet to work” only offers temporary relief.…
…working with our clients, we’ve consistently seen that when people are required to work against their instinctive strengths they report higher levels of stress, miss more work, and ultimately are more likely to quit or be fired.…
…The long-term solution is creating alignment between a person’s conative strengths and the demands of the job.…
Take a look at my website to take your Kolbe A and find out more about building your perfect team.
Filed under: 7 Pillars of Successful Dental Business, Blog, Kolbe, People, Personal Development, Recruitment, Resilience, Success, Systems | Leave a comment »
Just say no….
Posted on July 16, 2019 by Alun Rees
It’s easy isn’t it?
To say “No”.
Really?
I would love to say that having been close to and through burnout on a few occasion as both an employed dentist, a practice owner and (even) as a coach – yeah, yeah I know, I should know better – saying “no” is still one of the hardest things to do.
You want, and think you need, the business, the popularity, the money.
You don’t want to turn someone away, to use a negative word, to let them down.
What if this is the last person who asks you?
What if this leads to a hugely successful opening or opportunity?
What will they think of you when you turn them down?
We all know that we are all trying to achieve too much, demands on the only thing that everyone has (time) are growing, last week I visited Practice Owner and mother of three sorry, Mother of three and Practice Owner, Lauren Harrhy and marvelled at her composure and balance as she seeks to carry on her good work and become a BDA rep.
Tony Barton from Red Kite World who was one of my teachers during my Coach Training sent me a link this morning. It features Greg McKeown and his book “Essentialism – The disciplined pursuit of less”.
I own this book but haven’t read it – yet.
Why? Because I haven’t found the time.
Why? Because I keep saying yes to other things.
Take a look at Greg speaking
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The Monday Morning Quote #561
Posted on July 8, 2019 by Alun Rees
“Repetition is the mother of skill.”
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The Monday Morning Quote #539
Posted on June 24, 2019 by Alun Rees
“The successful person is one who finds an opportunity in every problem.
Unsuccessful people find a problem in every opportunity.”
Thanks to RRW
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The Weekend Read – Stand out of our light by James Williams
Posted on June 1, 2019 by Alun Rees
Full Title: “Stand out of our light : Freedom and resistance in the attention economy.”
This relatively short, but very important, book takes a good, hard look at “The Attention Economy” and the insidious effect it is having on our lives. The author, winner of the intriguingly named Nine Dots Prize, worked at Google as a strategist for a decade where he received the Founders’ Award – the company’s highest honour – for his work on advertising products and tools. More recently he has studied at Balliol College, and the Oxford Internet Institute. His research topics are the philosophy and ethics of attention and persuasion as they relate to technology design.
He argues that, “attention is the fuel of our lives but we are living through a crisis as our attention is reduced by technology that we have allowed to dominate our lives. His writing pleads for society and the tech industry to ensure the technology we all carry with us every day does not distract us from pursuing our true goals in life.”
As information becomes ever more plentiful, the resource that is becoming more scarce is our attention. We have moved from a time where we marvelled at and enjoyed the novelty of instant communication to where we are now. The advertising and marketing industries sees us all as fair game and will do whatever they can to sell us anything and everything, behaving as if it their right, not ours, to choose what we see and when we see it. As Williams says, “…digital technology does not act as an honest GPS, but instead entices you along paths that make your journey longer. All in the name of capturing your attention, such that you are deflected from your intentions.”
The author’s philosophical yet practical approach to the subject is worth a read and will encourage you to examine the way that you spend your seconds, minutes, hours and days.
Thanks to reestheskin for the birthday present.
Available HERE.
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