See a moment. Take a moment. Give a moment.
Get excited by vintage letterpress
Originally uploaded by flowers&fleurons
Do you see something that could be better?
Or see something that’s just not right?
Do you have a dream of better things…for you, your company, country or world?
Then muster your courage.
Follow the urge.
And take this poster’s sage advice:
Get excited and change things.
Originally uploaded by jcgr
As athletes, members of a track team compete individually.
But they also work together as a team, competing effectively, collectively against other teams.
Sometimes teammates work in especially synchronous fashion in sports, work, and life.
Here, in one especially synchronous moment, members of a track team run in almost perfect unison in the inside lane, and in almost perfect mirror images of each other, between the inside and outside lanes.
As the photographer who caught this moment, it reminded me of times I’d experienced as part of an especially strong team.
What are the most synchronous and effective team experiences you recall from your work or life?
We’re constantly creating, each of us, in our own way.
We create products and services.
We create relationships with suppliers, partners, and customers, as well.
We create personal relationships. We create families.
We build bridges, networks, and communities.
We create moments. We craft futures, with decisions and actions, large and small.
We’re creating in more ways than we even know.
Here are thoughts others offer on the process of creating in various ways:
True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
We are constantly creating ourselves by what we move toward or away from.
George Weinberg
You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.
Unknown
We are creating the future.
Gunter Grass
Dreaming of something you’d like to achieve?
Dream fully, imagine freely.
Pre-experience success.
Notice what you will see, hear and feel when all actions have been taken and everything has played out well.
And after imagining completely…take the first step.
Today.
Tomorrow.
And every day, even if it’s just for five minutes a stretch.
At the end of the first week, you’ll have more than a half hour of progress invested, leaving you with a half hour less of dream-making work ahead.
That’s not much, you say?
Well, then, invest 20 minutes a day, or an hour, if you can.
By the end of the first week, that will give you more than two hours of progress.
By the end of the first month? You’re at least ten hours ahead.
And at the end of the first year?
You’ll have invested at least 120 dream-creating hours more than you have now.
It adds up fast.
Consider what you dreams you can begin to achieve if you invest 5, 20 or even 60 minutes a day.
As for me, I think I’ll go spend my 5 minutes today starting to learn French…
Don’t wait until the finish line. Celebrate along the way.
Here’s what others have to say on the all-important subject of celebrating well:
Celebrate what you want to see more of.
Tom Peters
Life has meaning only in the struggle. Triumph or defeat is in the hands of the Gods. So let us celebrate the struggle.
Swami Sivananda
Celebrate the little things in life, appreciate tomorrow, love your neighbor or don’t, but never condemn yourself to a life without cause to celebrate and be thankful for what you have. Never forget the people you love and love them when you have an occasion to do so. Celebrate their life and celebrate yours.
Unknown
Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey!
Barbara Hoffman
Stymied?
Stuck in a rut?
Or is there a problem you’re tackling that you know must have a better solution than the solution you have – but you just can’t see it yet?
Pretend you’re someone else.
Try to solve the problem, or plan how you would, in the way you think they would handle it.
Imagine, for example:
How would someone who works faster than you do, but still produces a great result, get the job done?
How would someone who likes this job or task better than you do handle the job, or meet this particular challenge?
If you outsourced this project or task, how do you think that person would get the work done?
How would the person whose work you most admire do the job?
How would your customers expect you do the work?
How would your manager expect you get the job to be done?
How would your most successful competitor get the job done, as well or even better than you do now?
Focus, instead, on “I am…”
To make progress, you have to see and reward progress.
You have to have the courage, again and again, to even attempt progress.
So many of us focus on the ways we think we fall short of the mark.
Instead, we’re far more likely to move closer to our goals if we concentrate on “I’ll try” instead of “I can’t,” on “Thanks!” instead of a “Why me?” mode.
Just for today, focus on the ways you ARE taking the next step, showing the courage and persistence to move ahead, even in the tiniest ways.
Just for today, don’t say “I’m not…”
Instead, focus on the ways you can say, “I am…”
Creating something new?
Or is a new phase of your life beginning to unfold?
The various phases of change take different energy and focus.
You can be sure that persistence will be needed, through it all.
Here are a few other thoughts about creating in work and life:
You need to save some mental, physical and emotional resources for enhancing your product after you ship. A revolution is a triathlon, not a hundred-yard dash. It requires long-distance stamina and multiple skills such as creating, churning and evangelizing.
Guy Kawasaki
The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing.
Michael E. Gerber
If I don’t put effort toward creating what I want, I have to put effort toward coping with what I get.
Unknown
Humor never hurts.
Here, a little amusement is thrown into the design of a functional item, a holder that makes sure your glasses won’t get lost.
Is there a way you can add a dash of humor, a bit of creativity to something you’re producing so it’s more fun to make and use, as well?
We need a few moments regularly of untethered time to keep everything in perspective.
For me, a few minutes in nature does wonders.
Every single time.
What’s your favorite way to find even a few minutes of refreshing, technology-free and otherwise completely untethered time?
