The Positive Energy Workplace

I LOVE Thanksgiving... it may very well be my favorite holiday. To me, this week is one of the happiest of the year, regardless of what's happening in the economy, in the world, in our own personal lives. Truly. One of the happiest of the year. Why?

Because we get to walk around expressing gratitude, more than usual, not that we can't everyday (because I personally believe we absolutely can and should). But because it gives us an extra container and nudge to create space for gratitude. LOVE IT!

Finding the things your grateful for and writing them down, is becoming old school for creating joy and happiness in your life. There are gratitude journals, gratitude rocks, gratitude clubs... Gratefully so.

It's so easy to let life and our days happen "to" us. With the best of quiet intentions we say we want to have a good day, create a great meeting, take care of our bodies, be an awesome partner in relationship (or parent, spouse, friend, etc.), show up as a solid leader, and rock our results. And then life happens. 

We get "busy," we start our day answering emails (getting sucked into other peoples' intentions), our schedule slips, we run late, we spend big cycles trying to catch up and recover from each meeting, we have multiple demands, and we forget to be present. Before you know it, we're overwhelmed, the day is gone, it's 8 p.m. and all we can wonder is "What were my original plans?" and "Where did the day go?" and "Hand me the remote."

Quick and timely announcement! First, HI! Lots of magic going on over here. And all of it rippling to YOU, education, military, men, women, boys, girls, design, health-care, wellness, and more. You’ll be seeing some good stuff from us coming around the bend, and in the meantime, heads up! Today we are officially TWO MONTHS out from our next IEP Live! Leadership & Influence Intensive in Ann Arbor, MI (yes, of course, at Zingerman’s!) May 9th and 10th. You, me, and a bunch of fine people all together in service of leadership, impact, and Showing Up. 

Quick and timely announcement! First, HI! Lots of magic going on over here. And all of it rippling to YOU, education, military, men, women, boys, girls, design, health-care, wellness, and more. You’ll be seeing some good stuff from us coming around the bend, and in the meantime, heads up! Today we are officially TWO MONTHS out from our next IEP Live! Leadership & Influence Intensive in Ann Arbor, MI (yes, of course, at Zingerman’s!) May 9th and 10th. You, me, and a bunch of fine people all together in service of leadership, impact, and Showing Up.

The whole event is designed to help you rock it in your life (personally and professionally), create a stronger and more inspiring culture (at work and at home), create more intentional and life-giving impact (everywhere), communicate more powerfully (who doesn't want that?), ditch “busy/burnout/overwhelm” (please, now), and lead well (let’s go).

My boy just got his permit. I’ve aged about 5 years in the last week. It’s a magical time. It’s brought out the best and the worst in me. This a.m. after he set my nervous system on fire driving to school, and I’d had time to drop back into my body and reflect… I realized how much I’m impacting his performance and experience with, YEP, my very own presence and being. For your viewing (and perhaps giggling and/or empathic) pleasure, here’s a bit of a window into that experience. OF COURSE, I’ve looped this right back into how this is a leadership lesson.