books

Notice the Mosquitoes

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I’m currently reading a book called How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters by Michael Bungay Stanier. It’s an excellent book/workbook about goal-setting for what he calls Worthy Goals.

I want to share a brilliant exercise in this book called Listing Mosquitoes.

“Your Worthy Goal comes with a cloud of its own Mosquitoes. These Mosquitoes are all the things you’re currently doing and not doing—secular sins of commission and of omission—that are contrary to this Worthy Goal you’ve set for yourself. You’ll find they’re numerous. Some are tiny, others more significant. No single Mosquito is fatal in and of itself, but together they irritate you, weaken you, slow you down, and distract you from your Worthy Goal.”

“Notice Your Mosquitoes: Write down the things you’re currently doing and not doing that are not leading towards your Worthy Goal. Actions and non-actions, big and small. Make them tangible and real.”

“This is you confessing, owning up to the ways you’re actively undermining your Worthy Goal, colluding against your own ambitions, scuttling your dreams.”

It especially resonated when he gave the example of his goal to “Launch a new podcast that is in the top 3 percent of all podcasts within 12 months”.

Michael shares what he is currently doing that is hindering his goal:

“Things I’m doing that are contrary to this goal include: investing in a consultant then ignoring her recommendations; setting a standard then immediately downgrading the ambition of the podcast to make it smaller; starting another, unrelated podcast that I can do in my usual small-scale way; being timid about the guests I’m inviting to the unrelated podcast; buying expensive podcast equipment then not learning how to set it up properly. Refusing to figure out the marketing.”

What he should be doing but is not:

“Things I’m not doing are even more numerous. They include: not creating a vision for the podcast; not setting a budget (time or money); not listening to other “role model” podcasts; not hiring a professional podcasting agency; not attending a podcasting conference; not learning about podcast marketing; not calling myself a podcast host; not exploring distribution partnerships.”

It made me think of my podcast as I approach its 2nd anniversary with host-on-mic only episodes. Do I want to maintain it or take it to the next level? What is this next level?

Thank you, Michael, for this rich book and enlightening concept. I am working my way through it.

Notice the Mosquitoes

RAIN ON ME

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It IS going to happen.

One minute you are in the “yes, oh my God, life is amazing” zone, the next minute you are not.

You might be able to recognize the trigger that caused you to leave that sweet zone, or you just can’t put your finger on it, not right away.

You keep asking: “Why am I not there anymore? Is it the cold/hot/windy/rainy/whatever weather, is it the not enough/too many hours I slept, a morning routine step I missed? A shift in my hormone levels? What happened? And why is their behavior irritating me again?”

Better questions I am learning from Tara Brach follow the RAIN acronym, from her book Radical Compassion:

Continue reading “RAIN ON ME” →
RAIN ON ME

Feeling better

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I loved this story from Tara Brach in her book Radical Compassion:

I like to tell students the story of a man who went to a mindfulness retreat because his therapist said he’d feel better if he learned to meditate. The retreat turned out to be a real roller coaster. Yes, there were moments of calm, but he also plunged deeply into fear, anger, and grief. The next time he saw his therapist, he told him he’d suffered horribly. “How could you have promised I’d feel better?” Nodding sagely, the therapist replied, “You are feeling better . . . you’re feeling your fear better, feeling your anger better, feeling your grief better!

Let’s keep practicing, shall we?

Feeling better

We are getting better

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My bedtime reading is usually spiritual. I’m loving my recent selection so much, it’s a book called “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers” by Anne Lamott.

I’m sharing with you a quote I read last night that perfectly aligns with the blog post I wrote in the morning.

“I pray not to be such a whiny, self-obsessed baby, and give thanks that I am not quite as bad as I used to be (talk about miracles). Then something comes up, and I overreact and blame and sulk, and it feels like I haven’t made any progress at all. But it turns out I’m less of a brat than before, and I hit the reset button much sooner, shake it off and get my sense of humor back. That we and those we love have lightened up over the years is one of the most astonishing sights we will ever witness.“

I feel the same. We are becoming more resilient, we are bouncing back faster after failure. This makes me hopeful and more committed to all my good daily habits.

Let’s keep waking up early, meditating, journaling and reading. Let’s keep praying and moving our bodies. Let’s keep reading our affirmations and visualizing our success.

We are getting better.

We are getting better

How to Take Book Notes

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“When reading a paper book, I just underline or circle the bits I find surprising or useful. Then when I’m done reading the book, I type those bits into a text file.“
-Derek Sivers

“The Blank Sheet Method:
–Before you start reading a new book, take out a blank sheet of paper.Write down what you know about the book / subject you’re about to read — a mind map if you will.
–After you finish a reading session, spend a few minutes adding to the map with a different color.
–Before you start your next reading session, review the page.
–When you’re done reading, put these ‘blank sheets’ into a binder that you periodically review.“
-Shane Parrish

These days I’m thinking about a question I receive a lot which is how to retain information we read. I don’t retain information enough, yet, especially that 80% of books I consume are in audio format. I don’t take notes about audiobooks or paper books I finish, I just highlight a lot in paper books. When I read on kindle I highlight what I like and thanks to the magical Readwise app, which imports my highlights and shares a few of them with me every day, I am remembering more of what I read recently.

I have also been using Blinkist app (this link gives you a one-month free trial) to review summaries of books I already read or new books to see if they are worth buying. I use Blinkist every single day. It’ brilliant and I love that I have the option to read or listen to very well executed summaries.

To better be able to retain and use what I learn from books I started reading How To Take Smart Notes. When I write here I want to start from somewhere and not stare at a blank page and this book will teach me how. I am learning a lot and will share with you as I go. I definitely need to start taking notes of books I read and tag them properly so I find them when I need them, that’s a confirmed piece of information you can use right away.

I have always known how Ryan Holiday and Gretchen Rubin take notes, I just need to start a sustainable way that works for me.

Another sources that would help you take book notes are these posts by Derek Sivers about his process for taking book notes and how to read a book.  

How to Take Book Notes

Book Interviews Playlists

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I recently started a habit of collecting podcast interviews for books I love in Spotify playlists. It’s so amazing to listen to a favorite author talk about the book after or even while you are reading it.

I will keep updating this list and pin it soon to the website.

Book 1: Seth Godin- The Practice:

Book 2: James Clear-Atomic Habits: and in Arabic

Book 3: Cal Newport-Digital Minimalism

Book 4: Greg McKeown-Effortless (brand new)

Book Interviews Playlists

Delightful Encounters

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It feels like stumbling on a treasure to me whenever I find interviews where my most favorite authors talk to each other, it’s like: “I knew it! They DO know and like each other and life makes sense and my interests are so cohesive”. I actually squealed with excitement when I first saw the recording of the LIVE interview of Seth Godin with Martha Beck for her new book (The Way of Integrity). I always wondered if Seth and Martha knew each other and they did (imagine my excitement if I watched it in real time).

Another collaboration I enjoyed listening to and learning from last week, although done in 2019, is between my heroes Cal Newport and James Clear who continue to inspire me every single day including my latest podcast content.

One more brand new collaboration I highly recommend you go check out is the virtual book launch with the fantastic authors Jon Acuff and Greg McKeown about their just released books (Soundtracks and Effortless). As I mentioned in previous posts, I am reading them both and finding them beautifully complementing each other. Yesterday’s post was actually how they started this conversation and I had no idea they did until I listened to it this morning.

I also smiled when Greg said that going past episode 20 in your podcast is a huge success that only about 10% of podcasts achieve, others quit before.

I am about to launch my 25th episode.

So cool.

Delightful Encounters

Decluttering Help

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The books that really helped me change my relationship to stuff and homemaking are the ones by the author Dana K. White.

Dana’s approach is what resonated with me the most during my big decluttering project that took place in the 7-week lockdown this time last year.

Today, I started listening to her amazing podcast as I went about my spring-cleaning because I felt so much overwhelm as I looked at the clutter that accumulated over time at my kids’ rooms and remembered how much better I felt listening to her guidance.

Lucky for me, Dana happened to make a recent episode summarizing her unique decluttering approach. For example, she emphasizes the point of never creating piles of stuff when you declutter, because if you ever get distracted or interrupted for any reason you would have made the place look worse than when you started. We also first tackle trash to feel visible progress, like throwing away broken stuff, empty packages, old paperwork and so on, and that instantly reduces the amount of stuff we have in the room and improves how it looks.

Dana knows what she is talking about ; I highly recommend you read her 2 books: How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind and Decluttering At The Speed of Life. They were dear companions to me last year and I will go back to them as I clear up more space in my house this season.

Decluttering Help

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