One Day or Day One?

There is a platitude that says: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” By definition, a platitude is so over worn, banal, trite or stale that the saying has lost meaning. But today, there may be some new life in this particular platitude. Today is the first day of 2021. I doubt anyone is expecting an instant and miraculous change in their lives, but this is the first step to putting 2020 behind us. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is tightening my seatbelt and putting the pedal to the medal to help 2020 recede quickly in the rearview mirror.

Brian and I are skipping the New Year’s Resolution. Instead, we are focusing on creating a New Year’s Intention. If you want help or ideas in creating a New Year’s Intention, feel free to join is for a free, online workshop on Monday January 25th. For me, the Year of 2021 will be the year of optimism. I’m intentionally focusing on upping my ability to be optimistic in many ways. I’ve already written several posts on life hacks that set the foundation for optimism (setting intent, breaking a perfect streak on purpose, arguing with yourself, etc) and there will be more posts in 2021. But where do I want my focus to be now? How do I focus on being more?

Last year (aka a month ago) I decided a good path was to study the neurobiology of human brains. But I do not have the bandwidth to finish another master’s degree. Instead, I needed a trusted source that is easily accessible. While doing research on neuroscience, Dr. Robert Sapolsky’s name kept appearing. Two of his best selling books are: Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst  and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping (Third Edition). I bought the audible version of Behave and listened to 30 minutes of it one night. Then I stopped. I was thinking, “One day, maybe tomorrow, I’ll put an hour or two to listen to the book.” Then tomorrow came and went. Tomorrow came and went for about a month. Each night I had plenty of excuses for not listening to the book. “I’m too tired, I won’t remember any of the content” or “I’ll just fall asleep” or “I have to listen to my meditation app instead.” Even in the midst of having 90% more time at home, I still didn’t carve out space to do something that was important to me. I kept telling myself “One day, I’ll make time to read that book.” Then I came across this quote:

“I could have easily sat back and continued to say, ‘One day.’ I could have kept dreaming, hoping and wishing. But instead, I started doing, and one day became day one, 20 years ago. And that’s what made all the difference.”

Sara Blakely, Spanx Founder

I’m not talking about founding a multi-million dollar company. I’m just using some good advice and an inspiring, memorably quote to focus on ONE thing I want to do that I have been pushing aside. One thing that is important to me. 2020 was a year where I stretched the limit of my Amazon Prime Video and Netflix account. Yes, I organized most of my house. Yes, I set up a treadmill desk and got an average of 15,000 steps into an average workday. Yes, I watched over 100 TED talks. Yes, I read more books. Yes, I learned how to cook delicious, chef-designed vegan meals. Yes, I got to interact with friends all over the world via Zoom meetups. But I did not get to spend days inspirational, exhausting days at conferences with my like-hearted community where new ideas abound.

Agile Best Self Principle #12: At regular intervals, reflect on how to become your best self, then tune and adjust.

My intellectual curiosity needs a bit more care and feeding this year, the year of 2021. January 1, 2021 is Day One of me reading Behave, which is part of my research on optimism and a nod to turning a “one day…” wishful thought into a “day one” action.

Is this phrase helps you motivate yourself, please use it. If not, I’d love to hear what worked for you to create some momentum.

Copyright © 2018 – 2024 Michaele Gardner and Brian Hackerson

Ducks on the Pond

Ducks on the Pond

In the game of baseball, the phrase “Ducks on the Pond” means that the bases are loaded. The hitter coming up next has a great opportunity to drive in up to four runs with a hit — a grand-slam home run would be awesome! It also conveys a sense of optimism – when teammates call out this phrase, it’s really anticipating something good happening, even if it doesn’t always work out.

So, here I am on New Year’s Eve and I feel like I am about to come to bat with Ducks on the Pond. I have made it through the most challenging year of my life for reasons we all share. At the same time, it was full of inspiration and innovation as so many people found ways to connect and serve others differently. My observation is that these changes happened so quickly out of sheer necessity — we had to find a way to pull through. This is a great demonstration of resilience. Resilience and optimism are key ingredients for awesomeness ahead!

There are a lot of reasons why I feel like my 2021 is going to be epic. I will share here the three top reasons, and it is not really a surprise that the Agile Best Self principles were used to shape this list!

Reason #1 – A New Foundation

Agile Best Self Principle #5: Create a best self environment of motivation, trust, and support for yourself and others.

I spent a lot of time and effort rebuilding my foundation in 2020. When the pandemic hit, like for a lot of us, the floor under me got a little shaky. The world and workplace had changed radically, and suddenly what I had in the toolkit needed to change. I talk about this in a previous post in more detail. This involved not just skill development, but intentionally accessing networks and my trusted circle. It also required me to better manage my inner narrative. The Inner Critic was definitely working hard at the beginning of the pandemic, often sending messages that provided excuses for delaying or avoiding things because of the pandemic. But there were still big opportunities to help others, so I pushed through. Some great outcomes resulted that helped many people improve both at work, and beyond.

I am happy to report that I end the year with a new, expanded toolkit, so now I am better equipped to handle whatever new wrinkle 2021 might throw at me, plus the experience and confidence to know that I can fill the gaps.

Reason #2 – A New Intention

Agile Best Self Principle #6: The most effective way to be your best self is to be mindful and intentional.

I have been building up to forming my New Year’s Intention (versus a New Year’s Resolution) in the past several posts, after proposing the idea several days ago. After doing the work, I finally landed on my intention for 2021.

“2021 is the year of boldness.”

Me

This really feels good — one simple word. Something to focus my intention every day before my feet even hit the floor. One of the things I really like about the word boldness is that it has two different meanings when you look up the word in the dictionary. Michaele pointed this out to me, since we were using my example to work through our upcoming Intention Workshop. Check it out:

Notice the first definition — it’s what I first think of with the word boldness. The second definition is interesting, and definitely applicable. It’s aligning well with my North Star — to be a light.

Reason #3 – A New World

Agile Best Self Principle #2: Welcome change with curiosity.

There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about 2021. Probably the reason we all share, is that have vaccinations on the horizon, which are the beginning of the end of the pandemic. Science, for the win!

I am looking forward to getting to enjoy the things I enjoy – connecting with others, the ability to travel, enjoy a baseball game, and generally just being able to move about without fear of infecting someone unknowingly. As I wrote in this post, getting to do these things will be like homecomings — moments of sheer joy following months of anticipation. I can’t wait.

However, I am not expecting a full return to normal. I think the new norms and innovations will shape the post-pandemic world for the better. But, what will that look like. This is what I am curious about. What will this look like for all of us, in general? And, what will my world look like. I don’t know, yet. But that’s OK. I am ready.

I’m ready to jump in the batter’s box that is 2021. The ducks are on the pond, I am ready, and I expect many home run trots ahead.

Happy New Year!

Copyright © 2018 – 2024 Michaele Gardner and Brian Hackerson