So often we are busy waiting to bloom into our full potential. We can be limited by our own thinking that says we have to be in the “perfect” place and time in our careers or in our lives for things to unfold or for shifts to happen.

Or we can be so busy searching for opportunities on distant horizons that we miss seeing, exploring or seeking out an entire field of possibilities that is waiting for us right in our own backyard.

We can make it so much harder than it really needs to be.

The truth is that many opportunities and possibilities can unfold for us when we do our part and simply be open to blooming where we are planted.

What possibilities might open up for you if you were to bloom where you are planted?

“Nothing is more exhausting than
the task that is never started.”

— Gretchen Rubin, Author of The Happiness Project

Take a moment to reflect on this:

• What task have you been putting off starting?
• What task has been on your “mental to do list” forever?
• What has been getting in the way of you starting that task?
• What impact has not doing that task been having on your personal energy?
• What would it be like to get started on that task?
• What is one small thing you could do today to get started on that task?
• How might your energy shift if you were to begin to work on that task?

The Limiting Box

This box I’ve put myself into
grows smaller every day.
With each new limit I place on myself
the quarters in which I live my life
shrink.

Every time I live my life based on others’ 
expectations for me
my box becomes more confining.

Each judgment I internatlize,
whether self-imposed or 
externally rendered,
the more my movements
become restricted.

And when I measure myself,
my life,
my purpose in this world,
by someone else’s standards,
I erase the windows
on my soul’s dwelling
that allow in the light of possibility.

This box leaves me feeling cramped,
claustrophobic and numb.
I feel entombed in a place
of my own making,
in the very place I constructed
to keep me feeling 
safe, protected and secure.
This is not living.

When I am quiet,
I hear a voice calling to me.
It is a distant yearning
buried deep within me
that longs to be heard.

When I listen,
it asks me to leave this box,
that keeps my world so small,
that limits me from 
fully living my life.

“Knock down the walls,”
the inner voice urges
“They have held you caged for too long!”
“They have held you too tightly in their grasp!”
“They have constrained your living
to a few safe, controlled paths.”
“It is time!”

I know that I must find a way
with a motivation that is birthed
from within,
to break free of this box,
this cage of my own creation.
So that I can embrace life
as intended
with limitless potential
and awash in possibilities.

So that one day I can raise my arms
stretched high above my head
and touch the open light.
Fully conscious of how that feels
and of the gift that it is
to taste freedom.

So that one day I can shout 
from the core of my being
with conviction and joy
“This is my life!”
“I am here now!”

And it will be in that moment,
that I will see beyond the horizon,
to the place
where new dreams are born,
because the limits are gone.
I have stepped outside of the box.

“Life begins
at the end
of your
comfort zone.”

Take a few minutes to contemplate your comfort zone:

When we put
a limit
on what
we will do,
we put
a limit
on what we can do.

—Charles Schwab

Food for thought: What limits are you putting on what you will do? How is that limiting what you can do? How can you begin to think in a “no limits” way? What new possibilities might that open up for you? How would your life expand?

A ship in port
is safe,
but that’s
not what
ships
are made for.

—Admiral Grace Hopper

Take a moment to contemplate your ship of dreams. Is it safely moored in port or is it out exploring the seas? What new possibilities might emerge if you were to live the life you were made for?

The minute you begin
to do
what you really
want to do,
it’s really
a different
kind of life.

—Buckminster Fuller

Take a moment to contemplate this: “What has been keeping me from doing what I really want to do?” And then ask yourself: “How would my life be different, if I were to do what I really want to do?”

More Lessons From Trees

There are more lessons to be learned by bringing our awareness to nature and in particular to trees and observing how they react to the wind.

Think about it for a moment. When trees are buffeted by the wind, they respond to the movement of the wind by moving in harmony with it. They filter and allow the wind to blow through their branches and leaves. Their movements range from a slow and graceful swaying to that of an ecstatic dance.

When The Winds of Change Blow Into Our Life and Work

When we are buffeted by the winds of change in our own life and work, we tend to do the exact opposite. Our default, automatic pilot reaction is one of resistance. We brace ourselves trying hard to resist the forces of change that are blowing through our life and our work. We try to turn away from the wind, shield ourselves from it or even try to ignore it altogether, but still the winds of change buffet us.

We tend to respond in the same manner for both the little changes (gentle breezes) and the big changes (strong winds.) Our ingrained way of responding to the winds of change can make us weary, rigid and brittle. This resistance process can zap away at our strength, energy and growth and leave us feeling ungrounded. When the winds of change blow into our lives, we do not tend to bring our conscious awareness to the winds nor do we follow the examples of the trees by filtering and allowing the wind to blow in and through.

But we can indeed learn from the trees. The next time you hear the wind blowing outside, take a moment to pause and look out the window and focus on a tree. Observe how it moves in response to the wind. Ask yourself:

• What lessons does the tree have to teach me about how I engage with the winds of change?
• Do I filter and allow the winds of change to blow through me or do I resist and grow rigid trying to fight the winds of change?
• What could I do that would allow me to more consciously dance with and engage with the winds of change?

And the next time the winds of change begin to blow through your life or your work or both…take a deep breath and then take a moment to visualize a vibrant and strong tree dancing with the wind. Look at how it filters and allows the wind to blow through its branches and leaves. Repeat the following mantra as often as needed throughout the day: 

“Filter and Allow”

Overtime, you’ll begin to feel a shift in how you dance with and respond to the winds of change. Filtering and allowing is a great practice for conscious living and conscious entrepreneuring. Give it a try!

Thanks to extremely gifted, Seattle-based healer, Elisha Weinberg at Ayaffa for inspiring today’s blog post!

My Teaching Tree at The Japanese Garden

“Everytime I meet a tree,
if I am truly awake,
I stand in awe before it.
I listen to its voice,
a silent sermon
moving me to the depths,
touching my heart,
and stirring up within my soul
a yearning to give my all.”

— Macrina Wiederkehr

Consider honoring the arrival of Spring by spending time with a tree and letting it share with you the gifts of its teachings. The experience can yield profound insights and stir something within your soul.

A great reminder!

Take time this weekend 

to pause 

and enjoy yourself.

Take Your Heart to Work
And Ask The Most
And Best of Yourself
And Everybody Else.
Don’t Let Your 
Special Character
And Spirit—
The True Essence of You—
Don’t Let That
Get Beaten
Down.

— Meryl Streep

In the depth of
winter, I finally
learned that
within me lies
an invincible
summer.

—Albert Camus

Monday’s Mobilizing Opportunity

What new door could you open this week?

• Where could that opened door lead? 
• What new possibilities might emerge if you were to open that door?
• Who do you need to connect with or reconnect with in order to open that door?
• What might be the benefit of opening that new door?
• What small steps could you take to open that door this week?

Here are 10 simple, energizing things that you can do the next time you are feeling drained:

1. Breathe deeply
2. Smile 
3. Take a power nap
4. Do something nice for someone else
5. Just do one little thing that has been on your to-do list and draining your energy for quite some time
6. Make a list of the things that give you energy or create a Pinterest Board with that theme
7. Watch an inspirational clip on YouTube or Vimeo
8. Play one of your favorite songs and move to the groove or sing along
9. Make a gratitude list
10. Read, watch or listen to something will make you laugh

This week, I was introduced to short film on YouTube entitled “The Power of Words.” I found it incredibly inspiring and empowering.

Please consider taking the time (less than 2 minutes) to sit and watch this beautiful, little film.

Here’s the link to ”The Power of Words”

Contemplation…

How would your world change if you were to change your thoughts?

Even though it may still be a bit cold and gray outside, you can still do some inspiring things to evoke a feeling of Spring in your heart and your surroundings:

1. Shop online for a spring outfit or accessory. Get inspired and be creative at www.polyvore.com.
2. Paint your toenails a bright spring color that will simply make you smile every time you look at your toes. Just make sure you are using a nail polish that is free of formaldehyde, toluene and DBP (dibutyl phthalate). 
3. Make Smitten Kitchen’s Double Coconut Muffins. They are delicious!
4. Do a little early spring cleaning in your office. Tune into how it lifts your spirits and renews your energy.
5. Take a virtual tower of the Skagit Valley, WA Tulip Festival. Better yet, if you are in the area next month, go see the tulips in person.
6. Take a moment to visualize the sights, sounds, aromas and textures of your ideal spring day. Immerse yourself in the experience. Think Spring!
7. Bring your awareness to your next drive across town and see how many signs of spring you can observe. I saw my first Cherry Blossoms today and noticed that the tulips in our yard are now about 5 inches tall.
8. Start planning a springtime outing that will allow you to immerse in the beauty of nature. We are going to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to enjoy and photograph the emergence of Spring.
9. Since we are springing forward to Daylight Savings Time this weekend, make a plan for how you want to leverage your extra hour of daylight starting next week. What do you want to do that will give you a breath of fresh air? 
10. Put a tulip or your favorite spring blossom on your desk or find a talisman that reminds you of the Spring that is just around the corner.

This past week I experienced some computer “challenges” and was reminded how easy it is to let a temporary tech mess cause stress and interrupt forward movement. This experience inspired me to write and share a few tips for inner and outer work you can consider doing the next time you find yourself facing a technology challenge of your own.

When Your Tech Is a Mess and Causing You Stress…

Inner work:

1. Pause.
2. Breathe deeply. Repeat.
3. Don’t play the “shoulda, woulda, coulda game” and blame yourself for this situation. It won’t help you transform the situation if you are letting your inner critic go on the attack.
4. Avoid ruminating on the problem at hand. Going over and over your negative thoughts and feelings about the tech challenge will only fan the flames of the negativity and amp up your anxiety.
5. Try not to catastrophize or jump to impossible, fabricated worse case scenarios (e.g. “now that this has happened to my computer, I’ll never get this project done and my business will fail. And I’ll never work in this town again!”). Catastrophizing increases your cortisol and stress levels and reduces your problem solving abilities, limits your creativity, drains your energy and makes you feel worse.
6. Don’t throw a pity party. Whining extensively about your technology woes to others will only further drain your energy and make the problem seem even more insurmountable.
7. If possible, give yourself a few minutes for a time out and do something to shift your focus. Try doing something different that will give you energy.
8. Set an intention for how you want things to resolve and commit to focusing on that compelling vision.
9. Neuroscience researchers have found that it is beneficial to notice your emotions when your hot button is triggered and assign a one or two-word symbolic label to the emotions you are feeling (vs. a lengthy dialogue). Research has found that doing this reduces limbic system arousal and in turn, enhances prefrontal cortex functioning that helps us make decisions and solve problems. 
10. Do something to lighten your mood and reduce the severity of the situation. Smile, laugh, joke or make up your own lyrics to a “I’ve got the computer-technology blues” ballad and sing it out loud. 

Outer work:

1. Distill the essence of the problem so that you can succinctly describe it to those who can help you resolve it.
2. Make a plan for mobilizing so you can get the problem resolved. Start by identifying some of the initial steps you’ll take.
3. If you can, take a screen shot or photograph (using your smartphone) of the problem you are experiencing, especially if there is an error message on the screen.
4. Check out user forums for advice, suggestions, troubleshooting tips, workarounds and solutions. It can be very helpful to read about similar problems that other users have experienced and solutions that community experts have suggested.
5. Contact technical support for your product. If you have an Apple product and an AppleCare plan, you can go to the Apple Support section on www.apple.com, call AppleCare, and/or make an appointment at a Genius Bar at your local Apple Store.
6. Call a Geek. Reach out to your most tech-savvy friend or colleague and seek out their advice. 
7. Take notes on the steps taken to solve the problem and then save your notes somewhere (e.g. Evernote). This way the next time something like this happens, you’ll know how to resolve it. That can be empowering.
8. Proactive Step: backup your system daily (e.g. on the Mac, Time Machine can be set up to automatically backup throughout the day to an external hard drive.) Ideally, you’ll also want to sync and backup your devices to the Cloud. Taking these proactive steps can help to reduce the severity of many computer disasters.
9. Proactive Step: Keep your software, apps and operating system up-to-date with the latest updates and security patches. 
10. Proactive Step: Organize your technology, devices, cable, software and purchase/license/warranty information so that the next time you need something in a pinch you can easily find it. 

It’s Time to Hit The Pause Button

Consciously hitting the Pause Button is a great energizing practice and one that can be used in a variety of situations. This week, I recommend hitting the Pause Button so you can take a few moments to simply slow down and reflect.

Pausing gives us the opportunity to renew our spirits and revitalize our inner dreamer and visionary. Pausing offers us the chance to take a brief time out from the constant activity of mobilization and to reflect on our possibilities and dreams. This is a key restorative practice for conscious entrepreneuring.

The Practice of Pausing

Find a peaceful spot to take a few moments for stillness. Untether from your technology, it will still be there waiting for you in a few minutes. Put away the to do list for a little bit.

Get comfortable. Feel what it is like to slow down and be still.

Tune into to the sound of your breathing. Take a few deep breaths. Feel your breath flow in with each inhale and gradually flow out with each exhale. Try to calm the chatter of the day, the busyness of the week. Let go of the tension you feel in your body.

Keep focusing on your breath and relaxing into your body.

When you feel relaxed, consider reflecting on this single question:

What new dream or possibility is trying to emerge?

This isn’t meant to be an ideastorming session. You are simply pausing so you can spend a few moments sitting still and listening to your own inner wisdom. Trust your ability to tune into your intuition and your ways of knowing.

Keep breathing into the moment and see what new insights, clarity or affirming thoughts rise to the surface.

Enjoy the gifts that a moment of pause and reflection can bring.

Mindmapping Your Possibilities

Mindmapping is a fantastic technique for envisioning your possibilities and ideas. The process of mindmapping involves creating a visual map that represents your free flow association of ideas around a central theme. Your ideas branch off of a central topic and can be further expanded to additional levels by branching off again to related ideas, subtopics, or other pertinent thoughts.

Mindmapping is a great way for the conscious entrepreneur to get clear on possibilities and to explore the associated ideas and topics as part of an ideastorming process. It is an incredibly creative process that allows you to freeflow associate several ideas.

There are a number of outstanding mindmapping tools available for the Mac, iPad, iPhone and Windows, including iThoughtsHD, MindManager and NovaMind to name a few. I also frequently use an app called Adobe Ideas on the iPad for more free form mindmapping that lets me use my own handwriting, color themes and freehand design. (I will write more about Adobe Ideas in an upcoming Techmobilize Post.)

iThoughtsHD for the iPad

For this post, I want to focus on one of my favorite, go to mindmapping apps for the iPad called iThoughts HD. It is a simple and fast tool that I rely upon to quickly map out and explore a number of ideastormed possibilities. 

It is fairly easy to create a basic mindmap using iThoughtsHD. You start with a core topic and then add subtopics as ideas come to you. You can adjust colors, shapes and text. You can easily swap the order of your ideas. You can add images (included clip art images or your own photos), callouts and links. You can rearrange your mindmap by pressing and dragging items until you have them moved into the desired position.

I typically find that I can create a basic mindmap within a few minutes using iThoughtsHD. Mindmaps with greater complexity generally take more time as I am ideastorming the various levels of detail as I progress through the mindmapping exercise. (See two examples below.)

Example of a very basic mindmap that I created for a fictitious flower arranger who is exploring different entrepreneurial possibilities.

Mindmaps can be designed with far greater complexity as depicted in the above image. This is done by adding more related branches (parents and siblings) as you expand upon your ideas and concepts. 

Example of a more complex mindmap from the iThoughtsHD website.

iThoughtsHD Basics

iThoughtsHD allows you to save and export your mindmaps in a number of formats including PDF, jpg, png, MindManager, Novamind, etc. You can easily email any of your mindmaps directly from the iThoughtsHD app or you can transfer them via wifi or send to/from cloud. I find the easiest and fastest approach is to send via email. 

Being able to save iThoughtsHD mindmaps in MindManager format is extremely helpful for me as I have been using MindJet’s comprehensive MindManager software for the past decade to manage my more complex mindmapping explorations. While MindManager is significantly more expensive, it is extremely powerful. (I will focus more on MindManager in a future Techmobilizing blog post.)

The price for iThoughtsHD is $9.99 for the iPad version. There is also a separate iPhone app (which actually predated the iPad version) which is simply called iThoughts. It is available via the App Store for $7.99. It has a different interface and approach but allows you to mindmap on a smaller screen while on the go or if you don’t have access to an iPad.

Example of an iThoughts mindmap on the iPhone

My only criticism of iThoughtsHD is that some features, such as increasing the size of text and shapes, could be a bit more intuitive and could leverage more of the multitouch gestures inherent in the iOS. For example, I’d like to be able to pinch a shape open to increase its size or pinch it closed to reduce its size. I am sure Craig Scott at iThoughtsHD will continue to do a great job of enhancing the functionality of this app for both the iPhone and the iPad.

Overall, I find iThoughtsHD to be an indispensable business and personal tool on my iPad. While I have more powerful mindmapping software on my Mac, I find that iThoughtsHD is extremely helpful when I want to sit with a client and quickly map out their possibilities during an ideastorming session. I also use it to map out my own ideas and business vision. iThoughtsHD is a good app for the conscious entrepreneuring toolbox.

To learn more about iThoughtsHD, you can find it in the AppStore on your iPad, iPhone or via iTunes. You can also visit the iThoughts website. There is a good getting started video on the iThoughts website that is worth a few minutes of your time to watch.

Have fun mindmapping your possibilities, dreams and ideas!

What new possibilities might emerge
if you were to turn off the autopilot…
and try consciously entrepreneuring instead?

When the Universe has invited you to slow down and consciously reexamine your possibilities, consider asking yourself these 10 insight-seeking questions:

1. What gifts and blessings might emerge as a result of this detour?
2. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
3. What role has the voice of “shoulds” been playing in your possibilities exploration?
4. What possibility have you been ignoring and why?
5. What possibility has your inner voice been asking you to explore? 
6. What possibility have your closest allies and biggest champions suggested you might want to consider?
7. What possibilities exist for combining two or more possibilities and what new hybrid opportunity might emerge as a result of doing so?
8. What has been holding you back from claiming this possibility?
9. What would you have to let go of in order to claim this possibility?
10. What would it feel like to whole-heartedly claim this possibility?

~ From Entrepreneur, Lisa Hammond

Too often on the journey to manifesting a dream/vision, we pressure ourselves, or feel pressured by outside forces, to make a decision and take action too soon. We believe we “should” be well on our way to making that dream/vision a reality. We feel that we are done exploring our options and simply need to get on with things. We’ve fully engaged the autopilot controls, given ourselves a deadline, outlined a plan and have been driving to get this done on time.

And then…

We Get Lost

On the path toward our dream/vision, the Universe unexpectedly shakes up our well-laid, autopilot plans and asks us to pause and rethink things. It steers us slightly off course and makes us feel a bit lost like we have taken one step forward, ten steps back. We get frustrated at the unplanned detour and don our crabby pants in response.

But the Universe has given us a generous invitation. It is inviting us to reengage with and percolate some more in the field of possibilities. It is asking us to find a new way forward by bringing our conscious awareness to the unexplored, ignored, avoided and/or nuanced possibilities. 

There is indeed beauty in getting lost while on the path to a dream/vision. Getting lost affords us the opportunity to find a new and perhaps more rewarding way forward. A detour like this can be time worth taking and it is truly an opportunity for conscious entrepreneuring. 

A New Path Forward Emerges

When you take the time to sit with the possibilities once more and look at them through different lenses, new opportunities may emerge that you hadn’t seen before. There is often a new, even better possibility and direction that has been waiting to be discovered and claimed. This is a gift worth consciously mining as the return on investment can be extraordinary. 

When given this chance to consciously reexamine, you may find that perhaps your vision in the past had been clouded by your inner critic or limiting thinking. Or perhaps, your desire to sprint to the finish line got in the way of a more conscious examination of the possibilities. Or perhaps you had only been listening only to the voices of “shoulds” around you instead of listening to your own inner wisdom. 

Or perhaps your closest allies, mentors and biggest champions had seen a different, more authentically-aligned possibility for you and even shared their heart-felt observations with you. But until now, you couldn’t really hear what they were saying or see it for yourself. Or perhaps you simply weren’t ready to claim your genius and the right-aligned opportunity at hand.

The Gift of The Detour

So the next time the Universe sends you on a bit of a detour while you are on your way toward your dream/vision, consider it a gift and an invitation to slow down and take another look. Perhaps there is a glorious new possibility just waiting for you to claim it. The emergence of a new and clear path forward will make all the time spent waiting and consciously exploring the possibilities well worth it. 

And then, with a new road map and compass in hand, you can truly begin to mobilize and to consciously navigate this new and more authentic and enriching path forward.

Unplugging: A Key Component of Setting Time Boundaries

As we’ve been discussing this week, conscious entrepreneuring invites us to set time boundaries that clearly delineate between the time we spend in our professional and our personal roles. An essential part of a time boundary practice involves consciously setting aside regular times to unplug.

Unplugging means that for a set period of time that you get to define, you won’t: focus on work related activities, or use the phone, check or send email, text, check Facebook, Pin on Pinterest, Tweet on Twitter, read an e-book on your tablet, listen to music or watch tv. You can unplug for a few minutes, for an afternoon, a day or even an entire weekend. 

Unplugging Isn’t Easy But it Helps Us Sustain Mobilization

Unplugging isn’t necessarily easy because our culture is digitally connected 24/7 and we’ve come to rely on technology for almost everything we do. Mix into this formula our entrepreneurial spirit and it is highly likely that we are also spending our weekends and off hours thinking about or doing something related to work. 

Autopilot connection to work and technology, day-in and day-out and for months on end, does nothing to replenish our energy and revitalize our spirits. This kind of pace and constant connectivity is not sustainable. 

On the other hand, conscious entrepreneuring is a sustainable path. It encourages us to build in an ebb and flow to our work just like the rhythms of the sea. It invites us to unplug from our work and our technological devices from time to time in order to recharge our personal energy. An unplugging practice allows us to unwind, shift gears, clear our thinking and renew. 

When was the last time you unplugged?

So, when was the last time you took even a few minutes to unplug from technology and work? This will be the eighth weekend of 2012. Have you unplugged at all from work and technology on any of the prior weekends? Chances are most of you have not. And you are not alone.

Take The Unplug Challenge this Weekend

So I invite you to take the Unplug Challenge this weekend! To begin, simply set aside about 10 to 15 minutes this weekend during which time you will commit to consciously unplugging from work and technology. The focus is on human being time and not human doing time. So find some ways to just be, relax and unwind. 

During your unplugging period, you’ll have an opportunity to tune into your thoughts, feelings and sensations and observ, without judgment, what shows up for you. For example:

• What do you notice in your body?
• What do you notice in your mind?
• What is the experience like for you?
• How do you feel before you’ve unplugged?
• How do you feel after you’ve unplugged?
• Did you notice anything shift?  
• What impact did unplugging have on your energy?

I’ll be taking the challenge as well this weekend. I am looking forward to doing so, as it is one of my favorite energy giving practices. I hope you’ll join me by taking the Unplug Challenge! And if you do, let me know what the experience was like for you!

Happy Unplugging!

Apps That Help Us Set & Protect Our Time Boundaries

Conscious Entrepreneuring asks us to bring our awareness to the time we spend in our professional and personal roles. We benefit from intentionally developing a plan that clearly delineates the time we spend in both capacities. (My other blog posts this week focus on this empowering practice.) As you begin to implement a more conscious vision for your time boundaries, consider how you can leverage technology to support your efforts. 

There are two main categories of apps that can help you set and protect your time boundaries: Calendar apps and To-Do List Organizer apps. I’ll highlight my favorites in this post and provide a few tips and best practices.

Use Calendar Apps To Schedule & Protect Time Boundaries

iCal Calendar app from Apple (Part of OSX)

You can begin to consciously schedule your time boundaries and protect them by utilizing a cloud-based calendar app that runs on and syncs across all of your devices. My go-to Calendar app is from Apple and it is called iCal. The iCal app is integrated into the Mac OSX and the iPhone and iPad Mobile iOS (OS=operating system).

I rely on the powerful combination of Apple iCloud (and formerly Apple MobileMe) and Apple iCal to automatically sync my appointments and schedule across all three of my Apple devices (Mac, iPhone and iPad.) 

When setting up time boundaries, you can leverage a calendar app to schedule:

• your sacred times 
• work-free zones
• unplugging times
• focus days (times when you want to concentrate on a key project)
• client days and time slots
• start times, quitting times and lunch times
• regular meetings with key stakeholders
• flex days that provide the fluidity to shift focus from one project to another
• errand and personal appointment days
• holidays you plan to observe
• vacation time in advance

Best Practice: Create Different Color-Coded Calendars

One best practice you can consider adopting is to create a number of different calendars within iCal (or your favorite calendar app) so that you can more effectively categorize and organize your different workstreams and roles. I use 10 different calendars within iCal to organize and schedule my professional and personal activities, appointments and events as well as to set up and protect my sacred times and unplugging times.

Color-coding calendars allows you to visually assess the balance that exists or doesn’t exist between your professional and personal roles. If you see too much of one color (e.g. green for work related tasks) and none of another color (e.g. orange for self care), it might be an indication that it is time to consciously rebalance and reprioritize your roles and priorities.

Having separate calendars for your different workstreams or categories will also provide you with the option of flexible calendar views. You can choose to view a calendar for only one responsibility area at a time or you can view all your calendars in a fully integrated fashion. 

Best Practice: The Art of The Focus Day

One strategy that I have used for years involves consciously scheduling “Focus Days” on my calendar. Focus Days are ideal for when you have a big project that you really want to spend time focusing on. Focus Days can be dedicated to a specific client consulting project, completing a key work deliverable or a business development project such creating an annual business plan, updating a website or developing a new service offering.

As an entrepreneur, I book clients well in advance, so if I want time to dive deep and focus on a specific project, I’ve got to make sure that I carve out the time necessary to focus on it in advance. So I typically set up Focus Days approximately 2 to 3 months in advance. As the time gets closer, I can make a conscious choice as to whether or not I actually need the Focus Day. It is much easier to delete a Focus Day that isn’t necessary than to try to fit one into an already fully booked scheduled.

On Focus Days, you want to make sure that you clear the decks and don’t schedule appointments, errands, or client sessions. It also helps to unplug by limiting how often you answer the phone or check your emails, voicemails and text messages. The goal of a focus day is to create the right environment for contemplation, creativity and productivity while eliminating as many distractions and time sinks as possible. Focus Days are a great practice for conscious entrepreneuring.

To learn more about Apple iCal, visit the Apple website.

Leverage To-Do Apps to Prioritize & Organize Workstreams

Getting clear on your various workstreams and responsibilities and setting priorities for what you want to accomplish is another key step toward maintaining and honoring your time boundaries. 

There are many great apps for the iPhone, iPad and Mac that let you set, organize and monitor your personal and professional priorities, projects and tasks. 

Things app for Mac, iPhone & iPad

Over the past few years I have been a fan and dedicated user of “Things” from Cultured Code. This app is a sophisticated task manager that is available for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. I recommend Things as an effective app for organizing comprehensive, multi-faceted projects and for accessing your to-do list across multiple devices. For example, I’ve used Things to launch my consultancy, plan our wedding and organize our house purchase and move. 

To learn more about Things, click here to go to their website. You can also find them on the App Store.

Clear App: A Beautiful To Do List Organizer

My New Favorite To-Do App for the iPhone is CLEAR

I do have a favorite new app for organizing and managing to-do’s and it is called Clear! The beauty of Clear lies in its simplicity. This intuitive app is designed for every day mobilization. It is a great way to map out and honor your commitments, priorities and time boundaries.

Identifying the action steps you want to take shouldn’t have to be a boring and bland exercise. Nor should it be so detail intensive that you are overwhelmed before you get started. Using Clear makes entering and managing your to-do’s fun and engaging.

Clear has an innovative interface, which harnesses the power of the iPhone’s/iOS gestures so you can easily and visually organize your workstreams and action items into priority order. The gestures allow you to: pinch to open a category and to reveal associated action items; pinch to close a category and its list and return to the main category listing. Once you have completed an action item, you can swipe to the right and the item is shown as completed. To delete an item completely, you can swipe to the left. Adding a new item is just as easy and intuitive. 

In Clear, you can quickly reorder your lists and categories placing items in priority order. The resulting action item lists are easy to read, clean and colorful. The visually compelling heat map color system (color gradations) allows you to quickly see which items are the most important. Each entry is limited to 30 characters which keeps your to-do lists simple and focused vs. complex and overwhelming. That is empowering!

I simply love the Clear app! It is my new, go-to, app for managing my to-do’s. I’ve already encouraged many of my clients, colleagues, friends and family members to adopt this empowering app and they are loving it, as well. Clear is a great app to add to your conscious entrepreneuring toolbox and it is definitely a techmobilizing must-have app.

This new iPhone app debuted in the iTunes store last week and was developed by the folks at Realmac Software. It is priced at only 99-cents. Clear immediately sky-rocketed to the top of the charts and has quickly garnered a large following. To learn more about Clear go to the App Store on the iPhone or visit the Clear app website where you can view a video demo.

Here is an example of some of the categories I’ve set up in Clear:

Example of My Categories in Clear

Here is an example of a heat map of this week’s Social Media actions:

Example of This Week’s Social Media Action ItemsHere is another approach that creates a work day priority map:

Example of a Work Day Priority Map

Added Bonus: The Clear App Doubles as an inspirational app

I’ve also found that the Clear app can be used as a source of inspiration. It is easy to create a visually appealing display of a favorite quotation, haiku, or empowering reminder. When I use Clear to check off or add a to-do item, I also take a moment to pause and read one of the inspiring and empowering reminders that I have created. Below are examples of some of the inspirational reminders that I’ve created using Clear. 

Feel free to repin!

One of my favorite quotes from Haiku Poet Masahide displayed in Clear

Inspiring words using a different Clear theme called “Lucky Clover”

An Empowering Reminder for Conscious Entrepreneuring 

The Autopilot approach to setting time boundaries

Our fast-paced 24/7, adrenaline addicted culture puts a tremendous pressure on us to live in a constant state of doing, multitasking and being reachable around the clock. What is valued in the American culture is high-performance and high-achievement. As a result, we are frequently overcommitted with responsibilities, overscheduled and overworked and we have little or no “downtime.” 

To top it off, most entrepreneurial women, whether working as an entrepreneur or in an entrepreneurial role, default to an autopilot approach when it comes to setting boundaries on their time.

What does autopilot time boundary setting look like?

• Not setting any time boundaries
• Operating with an “on demand” or “on call” approach
• Saying “yes” to commitments when you want to say “no”
• Consistently putting in long hours in a predictable pattern
• Not unplugging from technology
• Remaining constantly tethered to communication devices
• Letting the work role overshadow other life roles (e.g. self, family, relationship, friends, community, etc.)
• Letting work be “all-consuming”
• Running consistently on empty
• Applying the same boundary-less approach to caregiving roles (for our children and/or our aging parents)
• Being sleep deprived
• Being stressed, overwhelmed and overloaded
• Developing health problems

This autopilot approach is a non-sustainable work pattern. It consistently drains our energy and depletes our finite energetic resources. It can lead to workaholism. It results in little or no time left for self-care and nurturing of the soul. And it can cause an imbalance among our various life roles. 

An Alternative: Consciously Setting Time Boundaries

Conscious entrepreneuring asks us to develop an intentional practice of setting boundaries on our time. It is a critical practice that promotes sustainable mobilization.

This practice involves bringing one’s attention and full awareness to the hours, times and days we want to work. Simultaneously, we identify the times that we want to honor as sacred and that we want to protect.

This means getting clear about whether or not we want to work:

• in the early morning hours and if so, on what days
• through lunchtimes
• evening hours and if so, on what days
• weekends and how many per year
• on our birthdays and/or those of our significant other or other key family members
• on holidays and if so, which ones
• when we are sick
• when we are on vacation

The Benefits of Consciously Setting Time Boundaries

Conscious entrepreneuring asks us to find ways to unplug throughout the year as well as on vacations. Conscious entrepreneurs know that unplugging from time to time and taking vacations are critical revitalization practices that renew the body, mind and spirit. 

Consciously setting time boundaries between our professional and personal role offers us more opportunities to bring harmony between our various roles. It helps to ensure that we are not myopically focused on one role or sacrificing other roles that are, in fact, a priority for us.  

A conscious approach to setting time boundaries is an energy-giving practice that allows for sustainable mobilization. It is how we create the space for what we want to accomplish in all of our roles. It is also how we honor and set aside the time necessary for our energy renewal and self-care.

Communicating Time Boundaries to Key Stakeholders

Another critical step in the conscious time boundary setting process involves communicating your time boundary intentions to your key stakeholders (e.g. colleagues, clients, team, boss, family and friends.)

Other people in our lives, be it on the work front or on the home front, will do a better job of respecting our time boundaries when they know that they exist. They’ll also do a better job of honoring our boundaries when they see us respecting our own time boundaries. 

So consider putting a stake in the sand and committing to getting clear on the boundaries you want to set between your professional and personal roles. It’s an empowering practice and a key cornerstone of conscious entrepreneuring. 

Insight-Seeking Questions To Contemplate

• What’s holding you back from setting boundaries on your time?
• What is suffering as a result of not having time boundaries in place?
• What would be the benefits of establishing time boundaries?
• What is to be gained from adopting a process of conscious time boundary setting?
• What would ideal time boundaries look like for you?
• What could you do as a first step toward setting boundaries on your time?
• Who would you want to communicate your time boundaries with?

What Do The Boundaries Look Like Between Your Roles?

A cornerstone of conscious entrepreneuring is the art of operational awareness. Operational awareness involves taking stock of things as they are at a moment in time and applying self-compassion instead of judgements to your assessment. You are simply the observing who is observing what is.

One area that invites us to increase our awareness relates to the boundaries that exist (or don’t exist) between our professional role/work and our personal role/life. 

Consider taking this visual tour of the images below to identify the type of boundaries you have in place in place between the two domains of work and life. Remember to apply gentle self-compassion and to release your inner critic as you take stock of your boundaries.

Do the boundaries between your roles look like…

…they are all over the place?

…they are being walked over by others?

…one role is clear, vibrant and well-contained while the other is bare?

…there is one role eclipsing another?

…they are frozen in place in a loose arrangement that blurrs the edges?

…they are completely compartmentalized?

…they are interwoven with no space between the roles?

…there are gaps in between the boundary fence posts?

…they are bounded on all sides by tall walls?

…they are delineated for you but not clear to others?

…they are clearly defined and transparent to others?

Reflection

Take another moment to reflect on these questions:

• Which image best represents how the boundaries between your professional role and your personal role are currently structured?
• Which image best symbolizes the boundaries you’d like to consciously design between your roles?
• What would harmony between your roles look like visually?
• How do you want to consciously design your boundaries?
• How do you want to communicate those boundaries to your key stakeholders and to your family and friends?

Consider taking a moment to post a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts and read a description of the visuals that resonate with you or that come to mind with regards to your current boundaries and the consciously designed boundaries in your future. 

Conscious entrepreneurs know when to take the day off…even when they are in the middle of a busy mobilizing phase.

Effective and sustainable mobilization involves setting boundaries that provide for some separation between one’s work life and professional life. It is about knowing when to take time off, slow down and relax. 

One of my conscious entrepreneuring practices is to make sure that I take off the holidays that my husband has off from his job. For example, today is President’s Day. He’s off work and I’ve made sure to schedule the day off as well, so that we can spend time together. I look at these days off as my “Gone Relaxing” Days. 

What is your day off strategy? What days or times are you going to make sure that you set aside for yourself?

As you head into the weekend, identify one thing that you love doing that you would like to spend some time doing over the next few days.

Perhaps there is something calling you that you used to do but that you haven’t done for a long time. Or maybe there is something new and different that you’ve always wanted to try.

So maybe this weekend, you’ll:

Cook a delicious meal. Paint a picture. Go for a long walk. Hunt for early signs of spring. Knit. Take photos. Spend time with a loved one who truly gives you energy. Get together with good, energy-giving friends. Cuddle on the couch. Go see a movie. Fly a kite. Make a snow angel. Sip a cup of tea. Read a good book. Flip through a magazine from cover-to-cover. Go to a concert. Go snowshoeing. Enjoy a good meal and a great glass of wine at a favorite bistro. Spend some time in quiet meditation. Or….

The conscious choice is yours. Whatever it is that you choose to do…I hope that you thoroughly enjoy it and that it gives you energy. Remember to add it to your list of things that you love to do!

Create Inspiring Reminders of The Things You Love To Do

It can be empowering to be visually reminded of the things that you love to do. This is a great way to turn off the autopilot and be more consciously aware of what really matters to you and to make sure you are striving to do more of those things.  

On Tuesday, I posted a list of 10 inspiring things you can do to remind yourself of the things that you love to do. Well, there is one more idea that I’d like to add to the list and that idea involves creating visual reminders of your passions using an app called Bloom* (from Seattle’s Mindbloom). 

Bloom*: Compelling Visual Reminders of Your Passions

Bloom* is a “digital inspiration app.” Bloom* offers a fun, simple and quick way to create personalized mini-movies that feature a compelling blend of images and music that will inspire you. 

You can create a bloom to remind you to:

• shed the things that are draining your energy
• take on more of those things that you love doing
• express your creativity
• reach a personal or professional goal
• manifest an intention
• make empowering choices
• practice conscious entrepreneuring
• breathe

Once you’ve created a bloom you get to choose how you want to be reminded. You can setup daily, weekly or random reminders. Or you can simply tap on your Bloom* app when you want to be inspired.

One of My Personal Blooms

An image from my creative expression bloom

The first bloom I created was designed to inspire my own creativity. It features 15 of my favorite photos that I have recently taken. Taking pictures and enhancing them is something that I love doing and that I am committed to doing more of. I’ve mixed my images with a song from Susan Osburn called “She Speaks” that I find relevant and inspirational.

My first bloom took just a few minutes to create and the process was fun and definitely creative in and of itself. 

The Bloom* App guides you through a simple process for creating a bloom that includes:

• finishing the statement “Inspire me to…”
• choosing up to 15 images from your camera roll or downloading a free Bloom* Inspirational Reminder Pack (images only) from the Bloom* Store 
• captioning any of the images (optional)
• selecting an inspiring song from the music in your own iTunes Library or purchasing and downloading a recommended song via a direct link to iTunes
• setting up a reminder schedule (optional)
• sharing with other Bloom* users (must have a Mindbloom account) or via Twitter or Facebook (optional)

Consider adding the free Bloom* App to your iPhone. It is a fun little app for creatively reminding yourself to take the time to do more of the things you love to do!

So What Things Are You Doing That You Don’t Love To Do?

When we navigate our lives and our entrepreneurial work on autopilot, we will easily and repeatedly load up our plates with a lot of things that we don’t really love doing. This happens when we:

• focus all our energy and time on tasks that drain our energy
• offer services not because we are passionate about them but because we are “cursed by competency”
• are motivated by our own “scarcity mentality” to take on projects we don’t want to do 
• feel we “should” go to events and gatherings that we really don’t want to be at
• repeatedly spend time with people who drain our energy
• don’t set authentically aligned priorities for our work and life
• repeatedly “should” on ourselves

These disempowering patterns lead to our feeling overwhelmed, overloaded and overcommitted. Doing things that we don’t love to do is also a major contributor to our stress.

As we continue operating on autopilot, we get out of alignment with the very things we once loved to do. And in some cases, we may have been running on autopilot for so long that we can become completely disengaged from our authentic passions. 

Consciously Choosing to Shed

One of the most empowering things we can do is to identify the things that we don’t love doing in both our professional and personal roles. The next step is to commit to begin to let go of or to shed the things that you no longer love or have never loved doing.

This conscious act of turning off the autopilot and shedding makes space in our lives, literally and energetically. That space frees us up to take on the things we are most passionate about and that we love doing. 

The shedding process is a key transformative practice for conscious entrepreneuring and conscious living.