Full Cup Friday: Wins & Weekly Preview!

“You can’t pour from an empty cup.” So, fill up here with my weekly dose of winning tips, and preview next week on Hybrid Consonance (this blog!). My aim is to share what I’ve learnt in the hope that can serve you in some way. If you want to get in touch, please comment, tweet, or get in touch with me.

“Rest and self-care are so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to serve others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.”

-Eleanor Brown

It’s Friday! At least here in my time zone. So, on with the first of my Full Cup Friday posts.

I’ll start with things that I hope you’ll find helpful.

1. Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner – I’ve been a subscriber since this came out in mid-2017. It’s an excellent productivity tool and one of the core tools to help me personally and proffesionally.
2. A morning routine. There are plenty of tools, books, resources, and talks on this. I’ll just say this – if you haven’t got one, I beg you to start one. Start really simple – like making sure you have at least 500mL of fresh, clean, water. Do this for at least a week and then add to it, bit by bit. Once I’ve read Atomic Habits by James Clear I’ll have more to say on this. Just go on and start, or tweak, or upgrade your morning – and I can almost guarantee you’ll upgrade your day. Do this everyday, and you’ll begin to upgrade your life. Best of all, there are no recurring charges from the app store.
3. Smile. Connect. Grow. These were my Words of the Week for the classes I teach. I teach 5 – 12 year olds. So, I have to focus on words they know and understand. Funny thing is, they’re words that are easy to remember, easy to put into action, and easy to share. I’ve even tried them myself. I’ve got to give a shout out here to coach Aaron Walker who posted about this with his video, “C’mon, Smile!” (I’m not sure it’s visible to the public, sorry).

Wins this week:

1. Starting to post more on this blog. It’s my aim to post five days a week, Monday to Friday (at least in my time zone!). I’m thinking of the following foci: Move it / Motivation Monday, Talk It / TEDTalk / Interview / Discussion Tuesday, Work It / Productivity Wednesday, Think/Thankful for It Thursday, and Full Cup Friday – starting today – where I’ll share my wins for the week, and preview the week to come. It should also have a focus on filling up your cup with the highlights of productivity, effective learning, cultural intelligence, and making music through finding your song. Can you tell I teach junior school (K – 6) children?

2. Writing songs with my students. After some wonderful conversations with some of my nearest and dearest, it’s clear I have a passion for writing music and songs. I just haven’t focused on it before.

3. Delivering a talk on ‘Effective Learning Through Song.’ Actually, that was last week on January 23rd, but since this is my first Full Cup Friday, I’ve decided to include it here. I have drafted some posts about effective learning and will be sharing them this month on the blog. Topics include: deliberate practice, spaced repetition, desirable difficulties, interleaving, as well as motivation, mindset, mentoring, and networks of support.

A preview of next week:

1. On February the 5th, Cal Newport is releasing “Digital Minimalism.” I have it on pre-order and hope it arrives soon! Once it does, I’ll devour it and create a summary for you, my readers, and tweet, blog, and share it on all things digital… and then see if I’ll take his advice about closing down all social media accounts. 🙂
2. In celebration of 1., and because I may not receive my copy at the same time as my US readers, I’ll read and post a summary of “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” – also by Cal Newport. He’s also the author of “Deep Work” which is a wonderful introduction to the focus and depth of work made possible by drawing tight boundaries on your time and energy. Highly recommended.
3. I’ll start posting on every weekday, following my schedule as outlined above: Motivation Monday, Talk It Tuesday, Working / Productivity Wednesday, Thinking / Thanksgiving Thursday, and Full Cup Friday.

Like what you’ve read? Please comment below, or find me on Twitter further below. I’d love to hear your thoughts – and your wins!