What’s NOW! September 2017

Hello. I’ve gone to moving this space and post to my main timeline now. It used to have it’s own page and frankly I wasn’t able to keep up with updating it as frequently as I liked. So I moved it to same timeline as the others and plan on updating it once a month.

The idea of What’s NOW! was born partly from a work strategy and a strategy I picked up from a post a while back that Seth Godin had put up. The main idea here is my focus on the things that are most important and impact me the most. Then posting those ideas/goals publicly so you all can keep me in check or accountable to them.

Let’s get to it. Here’s what I am focused and up to this month:

• Work related, there is some big news hitting this month I am pretty excited about. We’ve done a lot work evolving as a team to be ready for this very moment and beyond. The best work of our lives is in front of us and I am helping my leaders guide the team to it. Incredibly hard work, but extremely rewarding and life changing everyday. Along with that continuous work and practice we are setting the stage for our fiscal 2018 goals. Which is really exciting coming off the best year we’ve had in 7 years. We’re going to top it and then some. Another “moon shot” year ahead.
• New reads. I am into the Aftermath trilogy pretty hard core in the Star Wars mythos. I’m just half way into the second book, Life Debt by Chuck Wendig. Chuck is an amazing Sci-Fi creator and writing talent if you’re into that kind of thing. I highly recommend the series as it really bridges the gap left after Return of the Jedi to The Force Awakens. With the new film coming in December, it’s good food for your Star Wars soul while you wait out the long months ahead. From an educational angle last month I knocked out A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink, Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday, Get Momentum by Jason W. Womack & Jodi Womack, and The Happiness Equation by Neil Pasricha. On deck this month I have Focus by Daniel Goleman, Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg, and The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama. Don’t be surprised if you see some of those reads pop into my posts over this next month.
• Speaking of this month’s posts, I am really focused right now the first half of the month on sharing my learns and those of others in regards to building resilience in our work/life. The second half I’m leaning pretty heavy on talking about happiness. I need it with everything going on in my life and I feel I am the one that is completely in control of my happiness quotient. I choose to be unhappy, because I choose to be unhappy. I want to learn more about that and how I can continue to improve my happiness versus let others or situations steal it away from me. You will have to let me know in the comments what your thoughts are with the upcoming posts. I really enjoy feedback and input a lot.
• From a activity aspect I’m beginning a pretty hardcore immediate marathon training program I found in Runner’s World that I am really excited about. It’s 15 weeks long and it will prepare me to PR my last marathon pace. Eventually I want to set the stage for an ultra. People think I am out of mind when I say I want to do an ultra and ask why. Simply, I want to see what my potential truly is and what I am capable of. To date, I haven’t hit that wall yet so, I’ll keep going.
• Keeping all this stuff lined up and focused has been a challenge. I’ve started using a Panda Planner system which pretty much takes the Five Minute Journal, Productivity Planner by Intelligent Company, and a mix of some other best practices into one space. So far, I’ve really come to enjoy it and will be using it for the time being. I’ll keep you posted and you will see my productivity go up or down with these What’s NOW! posts.

WHEW…not bad for the month. One of my favorite times of the year, fall is ahead. In my area, that’s craft beer festivals and leaves changing colors. Nothing beats a run through trails of incredible color with leaves changing over. I’ll catch you with an update towards the last week of the month. Stay tuned to the posts and thanks for being a viewer.

Shawn