Bouldering – Master Stroke Workshop

I’m doing a to-do list workshop on Facebook, and the first in-depth lesson I’m going to take  up here!

In this short video I laid out the idea behind choosing the big three accomplishments you want to have in life.

In essence, a day can be filled with little tasks that are urgent…but not leading to your real goals. If you know what your big goals are, and then figure out how to break those big goals into daily steps, you can make sure you’re working on those bigger tasks.

Then the margins of the day be filled with those minor ones.

So how do you discover your Boulders?

Maybe take a moment to think about what you’re pursuing right now. What is the dream for you, that you’re going for? It could be a higher level of responsibility in a career move. If you’re a visual artist, maybe having a gallery show.

You can also have goals in your personal life (get fit enough for a 5K, throw an amazing retirement party) or off a bucket list (See Paris!)

These are all things you probably can’t run out and do tomorrow–unless you’ve already been doing groundwork.

You may have way more than three. What are the three you want to accomplish in the next 5 years? 10?

How do you break down your Boulders?

If you look at these big tasks, you may already have a good idea what the next step is.

If not, you may need to Google and read a few blogs on How To Travel To Europe or How To Yarnbomb A Whole Bridge.

(I hope no one comes to this blogpost as the only place offering advice on that second one. GET LOTS OF FRIENDS.)

But you don’t want to get too lost in the details.

For instance, I want to publish a novel. I know I should write every day. But if I write every day and never move on to revising and getting feedback on my novel, I can’t move forward.

If I get all that feedback and then never finish revising, I won’t get it out to agents. (Alternatively, I won’t get around to creating a promotion plan for self-publishing!)

Sometimes you need to figure out each new step as you push forward. I had to go to workshops to learn how to revise my work effectively, and I’ve done other learning in the field, so I know better how to create marketable material.

But you can’t get stuck on any one of those steps. You have to remember the Boulder.

START NOW.

What’s the next step you know to do for your handiest boulder? Put that first on your list of things to do tomorrow.

Need help figuring out your boulders? That’s what I’ve started this Master Stroke group on Facebook for!

I’m also holding free coaching sessions, so get in touch here to brainstorm about your goals in life and in 2017! It would be my pleasure to talk big dreams with you.

The Magical Time-Warp of Gardening

Today, I wanted to get stuff done, but was not feeling very motivated.

So I went outside. I puttered a little in the garden–it felt like hours had passed in a sort of fresh-air and dirty-nails idyll.

When I got back inside I was surprised, yet again, by the fact that only 45 minutes had passed. I’m pretty sure that gardening is the fountain of youth partly because your life FEELS longer.

It’s felt a lot like spring in Oklahoma for several months now. I have a shipment of starts arriving tomorrow (CHRISTMAS IN APRIL) and need to do some prep. That was a great excuse, but really I needed to get some earthing in.

from the photobucket of kr279 who has a perfect android name

I used to be very concerned when I saw horses lying down in fields. As a child, I had been taught that horses didn’t lie down to sleep–therefore I thought horses never laid down unless they were dead. I mentally know now this is not true–but still.

Then I noticed that it happened around certain times of year–like early spring. I eventually put it together that these horses (and sometimes donkeys, even cuter) were getting their earthing-time in.

That helps remind me that we need to get in contact with the earth, too.

Sometimes the ways we recharge feel counterintuitive. We’ve been taught things about energy that may not be right for us, or right for anybody.

Once I spent that lovely long 45 minutes outside I felt like I had a whole day’s worth of energy in me, even though I’d been shovelling, moving rocks, and prying roots out of the dirt.

I definitely recommend the time-warp gardening experience to all. Or maybe just lying down on the ground every once in a while.