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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

What Is Your Life's Work?

Every day I walk to the gym, I pass by the local convenience store with the electronic lottery numbers. Most mornings I think, "How fun would it be..." and hit the gym hard.

This morning was a little different. This morning, I asked myself, "If I won the lottery, what would I do?" Of course, I'd do the usual things like travel and spend/share some on/with family and friends.  But, after that passes, what would I do?

This, my friends, is the million dollar question. I didn't have an answer for it. It dawned on me that I am so wrapped up in my current job and life that I haven't thought about or figured out my life's work/mission/raison de ĂȘtre.

The thinking starts now.

What is your life's work? Are you actively pursuing it? If not, why? Share in the comments below.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

February "Cure" - Lessons Learned

After amazing results of participating in the Apartment Therapy January Cure I was so excited to create a February "Cure" of my own to keep up the momentum.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the same level of results in February that I did in January.

Instead of beating myself up for "failing" to complete every task, I took inspiration from the HBR (Harvard Business Review) article, "A Simple Ritual for Harried Managers (and Popes)" and reviewed what worked and what didn't work.

What worked:
  • Leveraging the project list I created during the "January Cure" saved me from coming up with something new.
  • Sharing the project list on the blog gave me a bit of accountability.
What didn't work:
  • Scheduling/planning too many projects.
  • Not scheduling enough time for projects (many items take more than 1 day)
  • Not having a "plan B" for when life shows up.
Now, the planning of my April "Cure" will be far more effective using the lessons learned above.

Do you debrief yourself after a project succeeds or fails? Share in the comments below.