Month: April 2021

Psychological Safety at Work

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I’ve been geeking over the author and Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson who created the term Psychological Safety. This turned out to be the most important factor in making teams work.

Dr. Amy defines Psychological Safety as “shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking”.

Also quoted here: “People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions out of left field, and brainstorm out loud in order to create a culture that truly innovates.”

There are many resources to delve into Dr. Amy’s great work like her book The Fearless Organization. Her TED talk is a great start. Very impressive work.

Psychological Safety at Work

Food journaling

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I started food journaling 3 weeks ago to track the reason of digestive system problems I’ve had for a while. I never attempted logging what I ate before because I usually don’t have weight goals and thought this was the only reason people would go for food journaling.

After trying it, I realized it’s amazing how food journaling habit makes us more mindful of what we eat. We actually pause and think before we eat because whatever it is, it will go into the food journal.

I’d like to keep this habit because I already had a very quick win defining my stomach pain’s root cause. I would encourage you to try it and tie food types to uncomfortable physical symptoms like headaches and bloating, so you can experiment with your diet based on that. We owe this to our bodies.

(in case you wonder: my trigger is sunny-side-up eggs, I would never have considered it because I’ve been having them for years).

Food journaling

Weekend Plans

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I imagined this Saturday going a whole different way but a spontaneous family outing idea changed that.

You see, spontaneity is something that still doesn’t come naturally to me. I love to know how my days would look like, especially weekends.

Here in Jordan, we still have complete lock-downs on Fridays (the first day of the weekend) and the weather was too cold last weekend, so saying no to this outing would have meant skipping 2 weekends in a row.

Moreover, creating family memories with my 2 kids is very important to me in my big picture goals. Being lighthearted, easy-going and fun is something I’d also like them to remember about me, therefore I said yes and went along for the ride.

Past me would have stayed home because that was the plan. If I was physically tired I still would have stayed home. In the future I still want to plan weekends ahead of time. Luckily, today I had the energy to both remember my goals and act on them when the chance presented itself.

I am glad I did.

Weekend Plans

Saving Accountability

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Yesterday, I sent this text to my accountability partner:

“I bought a new Kindle book for the amount of 8.99$. I am letting you know as I plan not to buy to more books in the coming 90 days. If I do buy, however, I must tell you what I bought and how much I spent, even if it cost 0.99$ only. Please ask me about this in our weekly calls. Also note, I am not depriving myself since I still have my monthly audible credit to look forward to use.”

I once heard good advice from the author Ramit Sethi, that whenever you want a book just get it, because books are valuable and one idea in the book will be worth it. I love that advice, however, the accumulation of unread books in my Kindle library and also physical space is not making me feel that good. More is not better. This new accountability will make me think more before buying a new Kindle book and help me overcome my digital/knowledge hoarding habit.

I also need to save more money. I think the why of saving money is not super crystal to me yet, so I need to write my why to help me commit.

Continue reading “Saving Accountability” →
Saving Accountability

Motion Vs. Action

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“Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.”

-James Clear

I love this idea so much by James Clear in Atomic habits. Reading it for the first time was a lightbulb moment for me. I do love my motion so much. I spend so much time planning and tracking. Being aware of the difference, however, helped me realize I may be acquiring clarity but not actually making progress towards my goals.

This week, after a super first quarter of the year, I gave myself permission to enjoy motion only. I spent my mornings doing the first quarterly review of the year on 2 different planners, mind you, plus re-thinking and re-writing of my goals for the second quarter, and simply reading. I did not record a new podcast episode. I did not create a mid-week post for Instagram. I just enjoyed the motions.

This on-purpose break is the exact thing I needed. I’ll make it happen more often, maybe this is how each quarter should actually start. As a result, I am definitely feeling more ready to jump into action again.

Motion Vs. Action

Reading Now: The Way of Integrity

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Just released and her first in 5 years, I excitedly started listening to the new book by the renowned author and life coach Martha Beck, called The Way of Integrity, and I am enjoying it so much already.

The first insight I got from her is to start feeling deep gratitude for the negative emotions that we have, because they are signs that our internal guiding system is working perfectly; telling us through those emotions “WRONG WAY”. All we need is to really start listening.

Continue reading “Reading Now: The Way of Integrity” →
Reading Now: The Way of Integrity

Digital Habits-April 2021

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We’re almost halfway through the month and I have not set my new digital rules yet! These rules are based on my performance and pitfalls of last month.

  1. Every night I will block Instagram via strict mode option on Appblock for Andorid to protect my morning routine. I can use it after, for 10 minutes to post stuff I already created/captured. Morning inspiration is part of what I like to do especially promoting waking up early.
  2. I will only check Instagram after kids go to bed. I still check it at 8:30pm most days but what happens is that kids are sometimes still not asleep by then, and I get so excited to reply and engage that their bedtime drags even more.
  3. I will recommit to Instagram’s 1-hour limit.
  4. If I have an important conversation going in DMs, I either apologize and say I’d respond later or take it to web version on my laptop.
  5. I will block Gmail web version completely on my phone.

I will report back here at the beginning of May and fine-tune where necessary.

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Digital Habits-April 2021

100 Days

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April 10th was the 100th day of the year. Doing my overdue first quarterly review, I’d like to keep here my achievements. Here it goes.

In the first 100 days of the year I:

  • Launched 10 podcast episodes.
  • Grew my all-time podcast downloads to +14K and subscribers to +1500 according to player FM.
  • Wrote 69 posts for this blog.
  • Committed to 1-hour LIVE sessions on Instagram for 8 consecutive weeks.
  • Committed to writing and sending my weekly newsletter “The Sunday Spark” (nearly 500 subscribers).
  • Was hosted as a speaker for a 1-hour virtual event at a global company where 300 employees attended live.
  • Appeared on 1 TV interview and 2 radio interviews.
  • Practiced digital decluttering for 45 days.
  • Grew my Instagram followers by +2500 with generous support.
  • Added 20 new members to the Sunrise Winners whatsapp group that I manage.
  • Traveled once.
  • Finished Life of Focus course.
  • Committed to good habits like meditation, reading a course in miracles, 2-min workout, bedtime story and walking.
  • Read and thoroughly enjoyed 4 books (Time Smart, Think Small, Rapt, Girl Stop Apologizing)

P.S. Yesterday I broke the chain of writing daily that I started on Feb 1st. Writing my weekly newsletter gave me the illusion I accomplished this task, and being it a national holiday, my routine was completely disrupted that I only remembered I didn’t post while in bed way after 12am.

100 Days

Work Meetings Rule

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A friend of mine complained to us in the group text we have about working over the weekend instead of spending time with her family. I gave her the below advice and it worked so well with her that it might work well with you.

To avoid the temptation of procrastination, reschedule all your project meetings from the first work day of the week to mid-week or to the morning of the last work day of the week. This will give you enough time to work on the updates you need to share in those meetings, and also be able to close off the week, prepare for the next work week and disengage from work time into family time.

I hope this advice would help you too.

Thank you Seth for reminding us: Happy day 100 of 2021!

Work Meetings Rule

Kind Reminders

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“Stress is caused by being here but wanting to be there.”-Eckhart Tolle

I think this is the kind of quote the describes many of my feelings lately, and our human condition in general.

When I am with my kids, I want to be working. When I am working, I want to be with my kids. When I am creating content I want to make progress on the online workshop I paid for, when I do the workshop assignments I feel I need to create content.

I want to speak kindly to myself so I am writing this post to remind me and also you dear reader:

  • You did super well so far considering all the circumstances.
  • There is no rush.
  • You are exactly where you need to be.
  • You will figure it out.
  • You are not lazy.
  • You are doing your best.
  • Your deadlines are great but remember you made up most of them.
  • You will get there.
  • It’s creatively wonderful to rest.
  • More strolling, less scrolling (Dani Dipiro)
Kind Reminders