Michele Woodward

Powerful Coaching. Powerful Results.

getting things done

Who’d Like A Little Homework?

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It’s that time of year. That time when we draw one year to a close and prepare for a new one.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I get to December 10th and ask myself whether I accomplished anything at all in the entire year. I’m so focused on the here and now that I’ve forgotten what, oh, February of last year was really like. (I think it was cold. And I think I got my knee replaced…?) But real accomplishments? They are all distant, fuzzy memories at best.

Have you ever noticed that we tend to discount the things that come easiest to us? As if some measure of struggle is required to make anything we’ve done “worth it”.

Last week I did a little exercise with myself and I invite you to join me in this wee bit of homework –  just 10 steps – because once I completed this process myself, I felt a lot more accomplished. And also rather awesome, in a total Ron Burgundy kinda way.

Step 1: Grab yourself some paper and a pencil. Or pen. Or colorful marker. Really, don’t get hung up on what you’re writing with. It’s a distraction. What was I saying? Oh, yeah…

Step 2: Optional beverage of your choice.

Step 3: Flip your calendar to January 1, 2018.

NOTE: “Flip” may be a euphemism for clicking on a back arrow until you get to January 2018. Access your calendar however you keep a calendar. And if you don’t keep a calendar, then you have no homework. Have a lovely day!

Step 4: Look at that first week of January, 2018. Anything interesting or unusual? Stuff you forgot? Stuff you forgot you accomplished? Write it down on your paper.

Step 5: Go through every week of the year and make notes.

Step 6: Look at your paper. You got more done than you thought you did, right? Go ahead, say it: “Wow! Look at me!”

Step 7: Replenish your beverage.

Step 8: Look again at your paper. Look at all those things you got done. Now, ask yourself a question:

“What do those accomplishments say about my goals for 2018?”

(I never said this homework was going to be an easy A, y’all.)

Step 9: If you set goals before 2018 started, compare your actual results to the goals you set out to achieve. How did you do? If you had no goals for 2018, it’s likely that some sneaked up on their own when you take a look at your accomplishments. Capture those, and be amazed at the ability of your subconscious to make things happen on your behalf.

Step 10: Now, knowing what you know about 2018, what do you want to do more of in 2019? What do you want to never do again? What do you want more than anything? What’s your dream? What would feel great to accomplish in the coming months? Write that down. Then make a promise to yourself to do one thing each week in 2019 to make that thing happen.

Easy.

Bonus Question: If you fell short or didn’t accomplish what you wanted to accomplish in 2018, what’s one small action you can do today to at least get momentum going in your favor? Even an  eensy-weensy step in the right direction still gets you headed in the right direction. And if you actually accomplished what you set out to do in 2018 (virtual pat on the back to you!), how could you amplify that thing for the coming year? Or build on it? Or solidify it?

Or maybe choose something wholly new? Think about the possibilities!

You have this one life, this one moment in time. Don’t wait. Don’t put off your hopes and dreams and fondest desires.

You have the power to make things happen. You’ve done it, and you’re going to do it.

And it’s going to be so gratifying when you get to December 10, 2019, do this exercise again, and say to yourself, “Wow! Look at me!” because you moved – maybe slowly, sure, but you moved – closer and closer to the thing you’ve always wanted to do.

Step by Step

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Q. Michele’s driveway is 45′ x 25′. It is covered with 25″ of snow. How many cubic feet of snow is that?

A. Uh. I have no idea – I always did better on the verbal part of the SAT.

snow on deck chairs

By now you’ve no doubt heard about the Blizzard of 2016, dubbed Snowzilla by The Washington Post (although Make Winter Great Again was a crowd favorite). I have lived in the Washington, DC area for most of my life and I have never seen a storm like this. The snow came so hard and so fast – at the rate of two or three inches an hour at some points of the thirty-six hour storm.whiteout

The power flickered, the wind howled and as the snow began to pile up in three to four foot drifts in front of every door, I wondered how in the world I would ever be able to shovel myself out. At one point, I decided to give it a try. I grabbed my shovel and went to clear a path to the sidewalk – just in case I had to get out (to the neighbor’s house for a glass of wine, of course).

Looking at the forty-five feet I had to clear felt impossible. The snow was so deep that every lateral twelve inches required three passes: One cut to get the top layer – move into a pile – and another cut to get the middle part – move into a pile – and a final cut to get down to the pavement. My pile got larger and larger. I kept my head down and focused on step by step, twelve inches at a time, the top, middle and bottom of every foot. I didn’t think about how far I had to go – I just thought about where I was and what I was doing.

And I did it. I cleared a path.

I felt all accomplished and whatnot.

path

I went to sleep knowing that there would be a lot of shoveling work ahead of me the next day. When the dawn broke, the sun came out and the sky was a brilliant blue. The snow lay like a beautiful, white blanket spread thickly upon the Earth. And thickly upon my driveway.

driveway

I went out to see if I could find the path I’d shoveled to the sidewalk in the height of the storm. It was sort of there, filled in by new and drifting snow and I began shoveling again – top, middle, bottom. Top, middle, bottom. Step by step until I got to the sidewalk. Then top, middle, bottom, I cleared the sidewalk. Then, top, middle, bottom, I made a wee path to the street.

Snowplows had cleared a single lane down my street and kicked up a barrier that was icy and tall. Again, step by step, top, middle, bottom, I went through it.

Then I cleared the snow away from my house on the deck. Step by step. Top, middle, bottom.

I am sure you see where I’m going with this.

Maybe you got snow. Maybe you didn’t.

Maybe you live some place where it’s currently summer. If so, I will be coming to visit you immediately.

The lesson is: If there’s something that needs doing in your life and it feels too big, too impossible, too much – so big, perhaps, that you can’t even get started…think “step by step”. Think “top, middle, bottom”.

Think less about how much there is to do and more about what you can get done.

Focus on that, and before you know it you’ll be finished.

And, when the next literal or figurative storm comes – because there will always be another storm – you’ll know exactly what to do.

You’ll take it step by step. Top, middle, bottom. One foot at a time.

And you’ll feel really great about yourself and whatnot.

 

It Starts With Your Energy

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Energy

 

So, how do you “work smart with heart”?

Well, one sure way is to stop worrying.

I know, easy for me to say.

But you know what? In many ways, it is very easy for me to say. See, I was born worried.

Even when I was a kid, I fretted:

Was I doing it right?

Maybe I was doing something wrong without even knowing it.

What were people thinking?

What if there was an accident?

What if the conversation went the wrong way?

Perhaps I’m clueless and nobody really likes me.

I could be broke.

Something bad could happen.

And you know what? With that mindset, it often did.

My worries birthed reality. Which made things more difficult.

Much more. Difficult.

Finally, I came to the place where I realized that I had 100 units of energy to spend every day, and if I could stop slicing and dicing them up with worry, then I might actually be able to get more done.

[Some days, to be honest with you, it was “get something done at all.”]

My 100 Units of Energy Theory is this: If you have 100 units of energy to spend each day – and you can’t save up from yesterday because those are spent, and you can’t borrow from tomorrow because those belong to tomorrow – then using what you’ve got to get where you want to go is critical.

And spending twenty or thirty units on worry is totally misplaced energy.

Worry gets in the way of honoring your priorities. Of growing. Of insight.

Of everything, come to think of it.

Worry tries to insure a future outcome. But who among us truly knows what the future holds? I sure don’t. Sure, be reasonably prepared and take care of yourself – I sure do. But why not also be reasonably open to whatever comes?

You’re resilient, and you’ve weathered challenges before – and you’re still here, right? You must be doing something right.

I imagine you’re doing a lot right.

So, working smart – with heart – means candidly looking at how you’re using your energy today and asking yourself, “How much am I putting into worry? How can I re-program these units into something better for me?”

Because you can worry about all the bad stuff that might possibly happen…or you can actively make good stuff happen.

Your choice.

 

Really Can’t Wait

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There’s often a very rational, reasonable cycle people like me suggest to people like you:

Dream it ->Vision it -> Feel it -> Break it down into doable chunks ->Start doing those chunks, one by one by one -> Steadily, slowly, carefully, collect data along the way and adjust your actions or your dreams accordingly.

Jeez, that sounds deathly boring when I write it out like that. And time-consuming. And dull.

Watching-paint-dry slow, even.

When I see people who are stuck or struggling, even though they’re doing everything they should and following the “process” to a T, there’s something vital missing: they don’t really know why they’re doing it.

Motivation is the “why” you want to do a thing – like get a job, or get a contract, or get a client. Why write a book, or make a film? Why create something? Why do it?

You say: “Because I paid all this money for the degree, so I guess I should…” Or, “What would people say if I wasn’t a doctor/lawyer/Indian Chief after all this time?” Or maybe your answer is more like: “Everyone’s doing it – maybe that’s my ticket to Easy Street at last.”

[And you wonder why you’re stuck and nothing’s happening.]

You’re stuck because those things aren’t truly motivating – they’re all about fear. And fear will stop you in your tracks.

Most of the time, fear whispers “Wait. Slow down. Stop.” while motivation shouts, “Go. Do. Don’t wait. Can’t wait.”

That’s it, right there. The thing I’ve seen in the most successful people I’ve ever known:

The spirit of can’t wait.

In many forms, can’t wait is extremely motivating. There’s the excited, toes-curled-up kind of “can’t wait!” or the seize-the-moment, the-time-is-now “can’t wait.” And there’s also the compelling, creative, “this idea cannot wait inside me – it must come out.”

If you’re dawdling, and can’t seem to make anything happen even though you’ve dreamed and visioned and felt it in your body and broken it down into manageable steps, maybe… maybe take a step back, and ask yourself “where’s my can’t wait on this thing?”

If you answer, “can’t find it”, then stop banging your head against the wall and look for something else that feels exciting, timely and compelling.

And if your answer is, “It can wait” then take a break and focus on other things that cannot wait. It’s likely that you have something else going on in your life which needs your full attention.

But if you answer, “Yep. I cannot wait to get this going! The time is now! I have to!” – guess what?

You will. And nothing – nothing, not even fear – will hold you back.

Stop waiting. Know your why. Start your doing.

It really can’t wait.