April 29, 2009

Get In Gear Newsletter

a note from Cairene

I'm sure my recent sense of "waking up" has been helped along by spring busting out all over here in Portland. Trees and flowers are putting on impressive shows of fantastic color everywhere I turn. It's nearly impossible not to be energized and inspired by that. I hope you are feeling the same urge to bust out with your own fantastic show, whatever that may be.

classes

the true discipline of time management
Become a Time Disciple with me! By this summer, you could be on your way to calm, prepared, energized, confident - and ready for anything.

• course begins Monday, May 18 > early-bird extended to May 3! [details and registration]

bite the candy
Have some guilt-free fun finishing something you've been putting off and discover the treats at the bottom of your to-do list.

• next session: Thursday, May 28, 9:30am-1:00pm Pacific [details and registration]

what's normal?

The last month or so has been pretty weird around here. Not just crazy busy. Things have been downright wackidoodle behind the scenes at Third Hand Works.

I find myself waking on the threshold of May (not looking like I thought it would), wondering what the heck just happened.

And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

A good chunk of March and April seem to have just *poof* disappeared - I mean zoomed by - so I made myself a little timeline to retrace my steps, to see where the wackiness made it's way in. To find out how I got here.

I made a list of the major events of recent weeks then gave my activities some general labels, which turned out looking like this:

new
new
drain
pain
new
new
stuck
stuck
pain
action
stuck
action
action
insight
pain
new
drain
stuck
new
new
stuck
pain
action
stuck
drain
pain
pain
action
drain
pain
insight

In summary, that would be 8 news, 7 pains, 6 stucks, 5 actions, 4 drains, and 2 insights. Every week something new, every week some sort of physical pain. Almost every week some sort of stall or some kind of drain. It all far outnumbered action and insight.

And I wonder why I've been feeling discombobulated...

It's funny how we sometimes see things as being "normal" but when you actually look - wow - not so much. I mean, it felt weird, but I thought of things as being normal. So it shouldn't have been weird. How weird is that?

Of course it was weird. Just the amount of new and pain would be enough to throw anyone.

And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"

There are a number of lessons I'm taking away from the recent weirdness, but here are the two biggies I want to share with you.

> Lesson Learned #1: Leave more empty space around new stuff.

I'm a big fan of leaving empty space in your schedule, but I still underestimate the time and energy it takes to cope with New Things. Even when they are small. Even when they are very much wanted. Even when they turn out wonderfully. They still require extra time for preparation and recovery. Given that, it's not so sensible to say yes to a bunch of new things at once.

One thing at a time, my dear. One thing at a time.

> Lesson Learned #2: Listen and respond when your heart and body speak to you.

This probably all began in February, about the time I noted in my daily log, "Tired and pissy that I need to work on a Saturday."

The wackiness might not have shown up had I listened to that voice. I didn't. There were things to do. And I kept doing them. On Saturdays.

Since my heart wasn't getting my brain's attention, it delegated that job to my body. If just feeling pooped and cranky isn't enough to stop her, they agreed, we'll use pain. And so a less than charming repetitive stress injury was born. It started in my right wrist, then crawled up my arm to my elbow and shoulder where it remains.

Now I have to stop at the end of a reasonable work day/week because a) my arm hurts and b) even if it doesn't hurt, I know if I don't stop anyway it will never heal. (Don't worry, I have professionals helping me with the healing.)

There are better ways of learning to pace oneself. I don't recommend this method.

And you may ask yourself, "Am I right?... Am I wrong?"

But the thing that made recent weeks feel especially wacky? Doubt.

Between the new, the tired and the pain, I couldn't cope with a moment of feeling like a total fraud. (You know the feeling I'm talking about.) Without the emotional or physical reserves, I couldn't process it. It was just a moment, but doubt is highly contagious and soon it had infected everything.

Not wanting to say, "I don't know what to do," in one situation led to paralysis in nearly every situation. Suddenly I had nothing to say. Nothing felt ... sufficient. (I could blame the drought of blog posts and newsletters on my injured arm, but this is largely the cause.)

I was empty. Of ideas. Of energy. Of presence.

And you may say to yourself, "My God! what have I done?!"

And now I am feeling the consequences of that.

It's funny. My ego has come through this intact. It turns out to be resilient (though you couldn't have convinced me of that four weeks ago). My business? Maybe not so much.

The lesson learned here is less about having a better way to process a moment of doubt (though that's worth working on) - it's about having reserves. Reserves of time and energy I could have given to neutralizing that doubt before it spread.

Doubt is normal. New is normal.

So space has to be normal, too. Otherwise, doubt and new create a lot of wackiness.

Same as it ever was.
Same as it ever was.
Same as it ever was.

Want to create more space and reserves for yourself and your business? Become a Time Disciple with me. The next True Discipline of Time Management begins May 18.

let's chat

Like what you've read? Irked? Confused? Have a suggestion? Got a question? Let's start a conversation. I'd love to hear from you - send me a line, comment on the blog, or follow me on Twitter.

And if you need a little guidance or a nudge in the right direction, you can ask your burning admin questions here.

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Unless otherwise attributed, all material is written and edited by Cairene MacDonald.
© 2009 Cairene MacDonald, Third Hand Works. All rights reserved.

Cairene MacDonald
Third Hand Works
PO Box 31113
Portland, OR 97231
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