MaXIMIze - Overall Well-Being

This year we started by asking the question, "How Are You Walking in the World?" This touched on three things - why are you where you are now; where do you want to be in the future; and, how do your peers currently view you. Finally, we are reminded that we need to "…walk in the world as you want it to be."

In February, we started by discussing practicing extreme self-care and focusing on the "Yes, And" thoughts. We moved on to optimism versus action, touching on the full toolbox of positive thinking, which includes planning and identifying potential roadblocks, both internal and external. We then discussed the power of words and the energy they conduct into and through our lives, which flowed right into the discussion we had on abundance versus lack.

In March, we discussed motivation, the law of unintended consequences, the seeds we sow, moving toward your vision, and planning for success.

From April through August, much like last year, we focused on five of the six segments of the Circle of Perception - financial, physical health, spiritual health, careers, and relationships.

Now we come to the last segment of the circle - overall well-being.

For me, it all falls back to abundance versus lack and how I view the other five segments of my life. If one of those segments is filled with lack instead of abundance, it brings the whole circle down.

When this happens, I go back to what motivates me, what I see as lacking in my life, what I truly want and/or need in my life to be happy, healthy, and responsible.

I journal about all these things and, if need be, go through the Circle of Perception exercise again as deeply as possible.

I also take advantage of those doldrums we discussed last month to discover which segment of the circle needs attention and come up with a plan to provide that needed attention to get back in sync with living my best life now.

Taking stock of things on a periodic and regular basis and doing tune-ups and fine tuning helps keep our overall well being score at an 8 or above, and helps keep us living our best lives now.

Next week's topic has not shown itself to me as yet, so until next time, Namaste!

As always, I welcome your feedback. You can contact me here.

MaXIMIze - Optimism vs. Action

I recently read an interview of Gabrielle Oettingen, author of Rethinking Positive Thinking, by Magdalena Puniewska in The Atlantic magazine.

In this interview, Ms. Oettingen talks about a process she calls "mental contrasting" - visualizing the goal one wants to reach and then going through all the potential roadblocks to reaching that goal.

This outlook or concept is actually right in line with my coaching training and practice, as noted in the posts from this time last year on identifying roadblocks and assessing them.

Optimism and the power of positive thinking are wonderful tools, however they are only one set of tools, one piece of the puzzle as it were. While we need the belief we can attain our goals, no matter how lofty, we also need the realism to identify potential roadblocks and obstacles in our path to those goals.

This is called planning, and planning is the first step in taking goals from daydreams to reality.

Moving from dreaming to doing means being able not only to visualize where you want to be but also to be able to plan out the "how" - plan out the route to get from where you are now to where you want to be. And that means being able to identify potential roadblocks, obstacles, and issues. When you plan for a trip, you take into account traffic flow during certain parts of the day and weather conditions during certain parts of the year, right? Plotting the course from where you are now to where you want to be in life takes the same tools and skills as planning a trip.

Now to get to the title of this post - Optimism vs. Action. I know I said we'd talk about optimism versus pessimism, however when I read that article my focus shifted.

Yes, we need the optimism to dream and aim high much more than we need the pessimism of potential failure. We also need the action of planning and moving forward down our path rather than staying in the dream state of simply visualizing our rosy future.

Remember having to answer the five questions - WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW - in English class during writing assignments?

Well, you are the WHO. That vision of your rosy future is the WHAT and the WHERE.  The planning is the HOW, and moving forward down the path toward your future is the WHEN.

Now write your story; live your best life now!

Until next time, Namaste!