01-11-2011 - [OTL] Start Your 2011 On The Right Foot

IN THIS ISSUE...

My First Great Work Project for 2011

Start Off on the Right Foot

What? 2011 Already?

Clearly this is one of those "We're getting old" things. You stand in stunned amazement that another year has come and gone and that somehow you're looking at the start of 2011. In fact, already running flat out, the holidays all but forgotten.

It's hard to believe that when you were four, you used to say you were four and three-quarters, because that final 3/4 mattered.

May it be an edgy year

I had "awesome year" there initially, but crossed it out for two reasons:

1. I'm definitely over-using the word "awesome". And I'm not alone. So let's all calm down on the "awesome" front.

2. "Awesome" to me seems focused on results, and outcomes can be beyond your control. Last October, my best friend - a young, fit man - died overnight and completely unexpectedly of a heart attack leaving his wife and a two-year old son, my godson. Another friend went through the most miserable of divorces. Things like that just stop years "Being Awesome" no matter what you're doing.

But edgy ... now that feels like something to think about, something to strive for. Because it's about how you get there, not what's at the end. And you get to control the extent to which you step out beyond the comfortable middle - Good Work let's call that - and move towards the Great Work edge.

Two Ingredients To Get Edgy

Ingredient #1. Inspiration (in 48 seconds + 11 words)

My very lovely and brilliant designer Robert Kabwe and I came up with a short movie to help you pick a theme (or three) for the year.

Just click on the poster above to see the movie.

If you like it, you can download this free poster here as a memento.

(And please pass the movie along to another person or two who might enjoy it or put it on your own blog.)

Why these 11 words? Well, they felt juicy and interesting to me.

Savour
Slow down and enjoy what's most precious about your life.

Laugh
Why so serious?

Explore
Step to the edges and hang out there a little.

Rest
You, me, we're all sleep-deprived. Grab an extra hour.

Proclaim
Stand for something. Draw a line in the sand.

Discard
You've got clutter online, offline, mentally, emotionally. Purge.

Embrace
Who you are. Reality. Opportunities. Your shadow. Friends.

Partner
Build something with someone else.

Provoke
Poke the status quo and see what wobbles.

Love
Spread the net a little wider.

Flow
Find grace and ease.

Something to do right now
You can borrow these words, or find one or two or three words of your own. Use them as the springboard into something fabulous.

And if you want, share your own words for 2011 here by adding a comment below the movie.

Ingredient #2: A little time

But inspiration isn't enough. And before it's suddenly July and you're freaking out about where the first half of the year went, give yourself some time and space to think about 2011.

Here are five big questions that will help:

1. What do you want?

2. What needs to change?

3. What are you committed to?

4. Where will you focus?

5. What will you stop/eliminate/remove?

I don't really mind what planning or strategizing tools] you might use, but I do mind if you don't give yourself some time off to actually think about this.

And make no mistake, it takes time. Give that to yourself. Get away from distractions and emails and the annoying mosquitos of everyday life.

Something to do right now
Book 30 minutes away from your desk and your usual routine to dream a little about 2011.

Don't Take My Word For It

Our beloved quotes section is back!

But now you can get our Great Work quotes delivered to your Inbox weekly. For free! We've also provided a handy link with each quote so you can download and print them to tack up on your wall. Just sign up here and you'll have free access to those 'smart people thinking out loud about Great Work."

Don't Take My Word For It (bumper edition)

Smart people thinking out loud about the future.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.
C. S. Lewis, writer

Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.
Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher

The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
Albert Einstein, scientist

A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future.
Coco Chanel, designer

The future ain't what it used to be.
Yogi Berra, sportsman

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.
E. B. White, writer

The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.
Gloria Steinem, activist

Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.
Horace, poet

The present was an egg laid by the past that had the future inside its shell.
Zora Neale Hurston, writer

I was a peripheral visionary. I could see the future, but only way off to the side.
Steven Wright, comedian

I'm working on bringing the instant film camera back as part of the future.
Lady Gaga, musician

My First Great Work Project of 2011

I started off 2011 by jumping in a lake. A really, really, really cold lake.

It was all in an effort to support Habitat for Humanity - and I'd love your support.

Watch the video, and if you're so moved, pledge $10 or $20 or $50 or whatever you'd like to give.

Thank you.
and Happy New Year!