When in doubt, Quote it out!!

I used to work in an office where the plastic drawers that held stuff, and there were many, all had an inspirational quote stuck on the front of them.

It was simply fantastic, and the designs on the drawers were professionally done. Whenever I got stuck on a thought or was trying to work out a problem, I could stand there and read a few of the thirty to forty quotes that I was surrounded with to get inspiration. We would actively change the quotes, and as a frequent exercise, we would discuss our replacement quote and why it would be something that could excite or inspire us as a team.

I miss that office very much, but the new people had to make their mark so that inspiration wall was stripped out and replaced with pretty little pictures of nothing much. Internal stuff, you know the script. Narrow-minded people with a view of the world which is gained through their naval.

But my learning, and to this day, when I need to get inspired or get stuck, I do a read through on quotes that I have gathered over time and use that process to dislodge my brain.

Today, I am stuck. 

This is what got me unstuck:

"With that said, try to leave people better off than you found them. Leaving them worse off will have repercussions for them far beyond just you, touching everyone they interact with in the future (i.e., if you're the first ex-boyfriend who broke her heart, she will be guarded around every man she meets after you. If you're that first terrible boss at work, he will be jaded for the rest of his career. Just something to think about.)

Ryan Holiday

From this, I took the realisation of the responsibility that we have to support our fellow human beings as we all journey trough life.

"Do not wait; the time will never be 'just right.' Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along."

George Herbert

This spoke to me about the need to keep going but to keep refining. Getting started is easy, maintaining the momentum way past seven is difficult. people quit because it isn't perfect or they are not as good as the others. The is not the point, the point is that you have to start and keep going but be big enough to constantly keep making the little changes that make the difference and to pick up the new skills (tools) as you make your way along the journey.

Never stop learning but keep doing as you learn because they are bot bedfellows for success.

""There is good in everything, if only we look for it."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

This quote triggered a tune in my head. It was a song from Monty Python - Always look on the bright side of life. I have to learn to look for the good more, to dig deeper sometimes... even when people let me down. look for the good.

"Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they're big, flashing signs that something needs to change."

Gretchen Rubin

Read the signs that your mind is giving you. Listen closely and distill its chatter to under stand the core of the conversation that it is having with you. Seek and you will find what might need to change. It takes moments of stillness to listen correctly so slow down and open up your inner ears and listen.

I stopped reading at this point and took a walk to ponder why I was stuck. What was my mind telling me?

"Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change."

Wayne Dyer

I changed my surroundings by going for a walk and that changed the way I was looking at the problem that I had. The things in my head felt lighter and there was a path through.

I knew what I needed to do next and my list of priorities changed and things on the list were kicked into the long grass. Time is important to me and I was wasting some of that precious resource on pointless actions. I got clarity on what was causing me to be stuck and I got unstuck.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people's thinking."

Steve Jobs

This was the last quote that was on my drawer in the office before things changed.

How very apt!!

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