So I had the chance to present at the 60/6o session at the Annual Convention for the California Association of Directors of Activities. Here is a more fleshed out version of my 10 ideas (the format is 6 presenters each sharing 10 ideas for a total of 60 ideas in 60 minutes):
Design your own Soundtrack
I really believe music can be a big played in our emotional state. Life on the road can be tough at times, so I’ll regularly use music to psych me up for a morning keynote (especially if I’m on the east coast, my flight was delayed, and I only got 2 hours of sleep the night before).
My favorite “get pysched” songs:
Vox Populi by 30 Seconds to Mars
Lose Yourself by Eminem
At the same time, life can have ups and downs. My favorite “I’m sad, but things will get better, so I better persevere” songs are:
Fix You by Coldplay
Carry On by Fun.
Swim by Jack’s Mannequin
After the Storm by Mumford and Sons
My best “thinking” music comes from two great “ambient rock” groups
This Will Destroy You
Explosions in the Sky
Be Grateful
Our focus dramatically affects our mood. When we look at deficiencies, we will often feel deficient. When we look at frustrations, we will often feel frustrated.
But when we look at the positive things in our life, we will generally have a more positive disposition.
Begin each day by finding 3-5 things you for which you are grateful and write those down in a small book you keep by your bedside. At the end of the day, reread those 3-5, and write down 3-5 more things. Do this for a month and your whole world will feel different. Really.
Read
We need to read more. There are currently a million and a half excuses as to why we don’t read–so many stresses in our life, but reading will dramatically assist us in the long run. It can provide escape from stress and also stimulate new thoughts, ideas, and interests, all of which make us feel more alive as people. Just ten minutes a day would be about 10 pages a night, which would mean about 300 pages a month or about 1 book. That’s 12 books a year!
I highly recommend these 3 nonfiction books for anyone working in education and student leadership:
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America by Paul Tough
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
Follow Thought Leaders
Our technology today allows us the chance to easily follow some of the best thought leaders out there. By subscribing to their post, we can find regular intriguing ideas and/or inspiration that can make us better leaders in turn.
I’d highly recommend adding the following 3 thought leaders to your Twitter Feed:
Seth Godin @ThisIsSethsBlog
Matthew Soeth @CADALeaders
Mashable (Pete Cashmore) @mashable
Connect with a Compatriot
We’re meant to be in community with one another and not meant to go through life alone. Set up a regular meeting (bi-weekly tends to be good) with a friend in the same field as you. It could be someone from your school or someone from somewhere else in the state or nation. Check-in with one another regularly. You’ll find the time to help each other through the struggles and to also celebrate your successes. I’m a big fan of meeting outside of campus or having fun rules (get a bowl of ice cream before the Skype meeting) to make these check-ins a fun and rewarding part of your schedule.
Celebrate the Struggle
We all go through periods of incredible frustration, especially in our professional lives. So often we look at that adversity and struggle as such a burden. It’s true that it is incredibly difficult, but it is such a necessary part of our existence.
Donald Miller has designed a whole Storyline method behind this thought process. Every great novel, film, television show contains a character who took on a conflict. If the conflict was too easy, or didn’t have worth, we don’t like the story, but when it is Harry Potter taking on Voldemort, the underdog Rocky Balboa taking on Apollo Creed, or even former outcast Josie Geller searching for that first kiss, we find ourselves engaged in the narrative.
We need the struggle to truly savor the success. It’s a difficult shift to make, but look at your own adolescents. How many huge setbacks and struggles were there? How have those events now been redeemed to shape your own life now and ability to connect and serve others?
15 Minute Blocks of Time
My good speaker friend and productivity expert, Neen James, taught me this great tip a few years ago. Whenever I use it, I have incredible success. Break up major tasks into 15 minute blocks of time. Commit to that 15 minutes. I actually have a few playlists on my computer for this very reason. 15 minutes doesn’t seem like long, and I can often pair many chunks together to form a nice round of productivity. The 15 minute timer (or in my case–pause in music) reminds me to quickly stand and stretch which prevents me from getting to fatigued at a desk.
Escape and Enjoy
I have a few friends that are doctors. Every day that they leave the hospital, they are leaving a patient who still needs care. It’s tough to do, but they’ve also reached the point in their careers where they know that if they can’t ever leave the hospital–not only physically, but mentally as well, they will quickly burnout, and that will hurt patient care even more.
We need rest. We need times to shut out the mountain of responsibility and to just play. Go watch a movie. Go grab coffee with a good friend. Go for a hike. Take a weekend trip. Do something that doesn’t remind you of work. Return refreshed and ready to take on the challenge again.
Exercise
Yeah, I know. Another person telling you to exercise. I’m not out right now for some weight loss fitness guru goal, but rather activity. There are soooooo many studies that show that regular exercise will reduce stress, improve energy, improve brain function, improve mood, etc. etc. etc.
You don’t need to power lift, but get active. Sitting at your desk for hours on end or decompressing on the couch at home isn’t benefiting you.
Try this: take a meeting by walking around campus and discussing ideas. This alone will help you out. Watch that TV show on an elliptical at the gym or do that 10 minutes of reading while riding a stationary bike. You don’t need to be able to run a half marathon tomorrow, but you do want to take care of yourself, so that you can enjoy the great parts of life for a LONG time.
Celebrate Progress
I love that tagline for this CADA Convention is from Thought to Sketch to Masterpiece. We often get frustrated because we want instant masterpiece, but we need to celebrate getting to that sketch phase. So often we’re striving to hit that next level. While we want to have high standards, it’s still okay to recognize and celebrate when we don’t quite reach those standards as long as we’ve made progress in our approach and execution. Look how far we’ve come. Look what we now have the capability to do. It’s a long road, and we’re a few steps farther on the incredible journey.