From a Podcast – 1st Amendment, Work about Work and Menopause
The podcasts of this blog are the hardest for me as this is what I listen to the most of. And this week I had so many great podcasts to choose from I feel it is important to give each a shout out.
First choice – The Armchair Expert interview with Floyd Abrams on the 1st Amendment right. I learned the origin of the 1st Amendment in that it was primarily around protecting citizens’ rights to protest against the government. I, like many others, have often assumed it has different meaning to what this is meant to be protecting us from – the right to say anything about anything or anyone. It also made me think more how important it is to make sure this right exists and the complexities that exist as soon as you start to try to limit the right in some way.
Second choice – Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat. Interview with Professor Nick Bloom and COO of Asana Anne Raimondi on the hybrid workplace, their recent survey results and predictions for the future. This one data point alone was worth it and not at all surprising. Managers are spending about 62% of their workday on work about work.
Third choice – We Can Do Hard Things interview with Dr. Jen Gunter on menopause. For any person out there, whether you were born with ovaries or not, this is worth listening to challenge some of the myths that prevail in our society around this process. Such as the myth that older women would not be good workers because of the “symptoms” of menopause. Lots in this to learn from both biologically and culturally.
From a Book/Article – Self-Care & Burnout
Super great article shared Justin D. Henderson, PhD, on many of the systemic and culture issues that exist around burnout.
Direct Quote – “We have increasingly become a burnout culture and it is salt on the wounds of so many people who are struggling to suggest that the problem is that they are not doing enough yoga.”
If you are a leader that is repeatedly telling your people “self-care” as the answer to burnout then you are missing the point. And you are also missing the rolling eyeballs that are inevitably hidden behind those faceless zoom boxes in your video calls.
I have empathy that you might not know what else to do. That’s OK. You don’t have to have all the answers. That would be much better to share with your people as it can create some connection with your people which can help with symptoms of burnout.
Now is the time to ask for help. Before they all leave. And this too is another great example for coping with burnout. Asking for help. Too often we are experiencing burnout because we avoid dealing with the obvious facts in front of us and continue to trudge along getting deeper into quicksand.
From Social Media – Fun Party Ideas
I cannot wait to do this eccentric dress up game I learned on TikTok my birthday this year. Take a few friends, in the video they showed 5. Not sure how they matched up but assume that is up to you to decide. One person would buy an “outfit” from Value Village or your favorite thrift store for the person they were assigned. Obviously, some size information and consideration would be needed for ensuring things fit reasonably well and possibly spending limits. Then you get the group together letting each person give their “outfit” to their assigned person to put on their outfit. Each person puts on their outfit one at a time. They come out and do the glamour walk. Continue with the rest of your guests. Then go out to your favorite fun restaurant and let the staring begin.
I am imagining all sorts of laughter that starts from the shopping experience, anticipating how the outfit will be received, the joy of watching each person pull out their individual pieces to put on, the reveal and then the collective experience for the rest of the evening. I absolutely cannot wait.
From Others – Intiution and Subsconscious
I recently have been researching intuition to better understand what is understood or theorized by this often mis-understood topic. Once a month I get together with a mixed group of leaders in an open forum with little to no agenda other than what they bring to the conversation. This month we dived into this topic of intuition as it seemed to spark a lot of interest for us all.
One theory of intuition is that it is your sub-conscious that is speaking to you when you have a new thought. Not everyone agrees with this theory mind you, but it is certainly one that might be the easiest for those less drawn to the mystical to relate to. A couple of suggestions provided from this group, to help connect better with your sub-conscious, involved the following just before you go to bed:
- Do a replay of your day before you go to sleep. Start going backwards talking through each major event that you can recall. Then when you get to the first thing you recall from your day proceed going forward until you get to that point in time. The theory behind this is that you are freeing up your brain from some of the work it does during sleep to organize what has happened in your day into memory.
- Asking a question to be answered during your sleep or dreams. Think of any question you want to have answered which possibly you are struggling with. Maybe it involves creativity or maybe it simply involves figuring out something you think you are missing or is confusing to you. Ask the question and then when you wake up remember the question you asked and see what answer comes to mind.
I did manage to try this out a few times this week and found it quite interesting. Both in the recalculation process and in the question experience. I noticed that I always remembered something I forgot when I went forward which probably is not that unusual. I found at least once the answer to my question seemed obvious and other times there were still lots of generalists or archetypes used to answer my question over a clear “aha” moment of insight. I did find it helpful to put a piece of paper by my bed to remind me of this exercise both as I went to sleep and as I woke up. More experimentation needed.
From Myself – Let Them Be Pissed
How much I want everyone to be “happy” and sometimes I just need to let them stew. No one needs fixing. And sometimes they need to be pissed off at me. Take my dog Zola. We’ve had Zola almost a year now. She was a rescue from Mexico and has been the lottery dog. Within a month I had her recalling to me almost perfectly. She can do the basic commands. She’s great with other dogs. Is very food motivated but she learned how to wait or leave it easily. Overall, she is super, super, easy and super loving.
We were taking care of our friends’ dog who happens to like to sleep on the foot of the bed. Zola has always slept in her own dog bed right beside me on the floor. She comes in one night after I am already in bed and the other dog is lying on the bed as well. She gives him the stink eye. Gives me the stink eye. And then gets in her bed. I feel terrible and slide over to make room for her, pat the bed a few times and encourage her to come up. She looks at me with these daggers and then tucks herself in a ball with her nose turned away from me and tucked into her side.
I’m sure a dog trainer would tell me that this means something different but fairly certain it meant I HATE YOU RIGHT NOW.
Sometimes we just need to let others feel what they feel. It’s not everyone’s goal to be content all the time. And it’s not my job to make everyone happy.