It’s Friday – Time to be Amazing
While it is easy to celebrate that the end of our work week in near, bring focus to today’s work and strive to be your best as the weekend draws closer.
Page 23 of 23
Walt Whitman Wednesday
This week’s wisdom Wednesday comes courtesy of Walt Whitman. Carpe Diem, choose to be happy and choose to live a life full of love, laughter and happiness.
Commit or Quit
I wrote last night about how a single blog post has completely upended Uber’s rocket like trajectory to the top of the business world. Uber and Lyft provided a much needed alternative to current modes of transportation available in our cities. Uber was a head of the game, but a lack of discipline and an abysmal, abusive corporate culture has derailed their ascent to the top.
When you look at the core values of Uber, at least from what can be pieced together through various media and former employees’ reports, are built around winning and only winning. Some of these are toe stepping, make magic, super pumped, and always be hustling. While these are levels of motivation you’d want to see in your employees on the daily, they’re not the only traits or values that you’re looking for them to uphold. Most companies’ core values reflect their goal of making a profit, but they also reflect their goal of making a profit in concert with integrity, great work environment, and responsibility. The core values serve as a guide for all of their employees to make sure the business is run both within the letter of the law and with the utmost integrity.
The establishment of core values for a corporation is important as it signals to employees, customers, and shareholders who you are and wants important to you as a business. When establishing the core values, it is essential that all levels of the organization commit to living within that value set or else you’re operating within a house of cards much like Uber.
Much like any habit, if you say you’re going to commit to running 25-30 miles a week to achieve a PR at our next race, but you only run 10-15 miles a week your PR will likely not materialize. Likewise, if you as a business commit to core values, but do not adhere to all of them, your business practices will not align with your core values. Moreover, as a leader you’ll have little to no credibility with your folks. The lesson is don’t be half pregnant. Don’t preach one things and live another; commit to your goals, your values and stick to them.
Guess What Day It Is
Thought I’d bring some much needed levity the internet this morning. Happy Hump Day!
Finding Balance
We all have an Achilles heel that can trip us up as we pursue our fitness and health goals. Sometimes, it is only a minor slip up that causes our healthy habits to start to taper off. If you’re like me, a cheat meal can easily converts into a cheat week.
So how do we stay the course without driving ourselves nutty?
- Allow yourself latitude to miss a workout or eat a treat. It’s okay to not be perfect.
- Don’t cut out whole food groups completely. Ditching carbs is certainly effective, but not practical long term.
- Don’t give up everything you like. I can give up almost everything, but don’t make me give up or change my coffee!
- Have a battle buddy. Together you can keep each other on track and disciplined.
- Sign up for a race or event, so you have a milestone to work towards.
- Practice yoga, it will reduce stress (and stress hormones) and help you avoid injury by keeping you flexible.
These are just a few tips you can use to taper off your unhealthy habits and convert them into healthy habits and on your way to a healthier lifestyle.
Establishing a Writing Habit
After a decade long break from writing, I picked it up again when I started this blog in late April. Rusty and out of practice, it felt both good and terrifying all at once. Inspired to write by the circumstances of my life, I felt compelled to create this blog. Writing provides me with a creative outlet and a platform to help others. Many people start writing, painting or another creative outlet because they’re inspired by their life’s circumstances, but they don’t continue pursuing their art as their inspiration wanes.
The thing with inspiration is that it is not constant. It is fickle and ever changing. If we rely only on inspiration to drive our craft, than we are likely lose interest as our inspiration wanes. Rather than relying on inspiration, rely on habit. Make your craft a part of your daily routine. This will make it a way of life and not reliant upon the fickle nature of inspiration.
The draw in participating the daily prompt for me was exactly that. It has been to establish writing as an important part of my daily routine. This will help me polish my writing skills and ensure my blog doesn’t become just a flash in the pan.