“You can’t pour from an empty cup.”
Fill up here with your weekly dose of winning tips while you preview next week on Hybrid Consonance.
Hybrid Consonance is the collection of practices, habits, mindsets, and more, that contribute to Holistic High Performance: productivity, focus, and intelligence.
As an educator, musician, and writer, I am here to serve you.
“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, writer on Medium.
I’ll start with things that I hope you’ll find helpful.
There are a lot of books featured this week! Even Michael Hyatt is releasing a book later this quarter and I can’t wait! Read more about it his “Free to Focus” approach here, and preview the book that will be released in April.
Here are my top three tips of the week:
Top Tips
1. Follow Up Then– Got important mail – but don’t need to see it right now? Maybe you’ll need it again in a week’s time. Simply forward it to ‘1week@followupthen.com’ and it will return to you in exactly one week. Setting up is as simple as forwarding any email to [time or date]@followupthen.com. The first time you do this you’ll get a reply explaining how it works. The coolest part? Discovering all the options: you can pick an interval such as daily, weekly, monthly; a specific date, and even a recurring interval such as daily, weekly, and monthly. I’ve been using this for over a year and once you get the hang of it, it’s a great addition to your inbox. And if you make a mistake? No problem – you’ll get an email reply with all the common email tags and a link to a help page, where you can play around with email tags to see which ones work. Pro tip: instead of typing @followupthen.com, use @fut.io – it’s just a little bit faster.
2. Start saying “How is your week going?” Instead of the generic “How are you?” – this little tweak still lets you check in with a friend or colleague, but giving them the option to pick out something – good, bad, or ugly – from their week so far. It’s like giving them a smorgasbord of options rather than just the daily special. Read more about how – and why – on the Hybrid Consonance Talk On Tuesday post “Words are powerful – so is your voice!”
3. Vision. Schedule. Act. These were my Words of the Week.
Vision: I’ve written about this before, but since Michael Hyatt mentioned it again recently I’m just so much more conscious of how important it is. What do you see in your future? What do you hope for? What are you working towards? Do you have a clear, vivid, exciting picture that calls you forward into joyful action? Or a vague hope that maybe, kinda, sorta, might work out if the chips fall the right way?
Schedule: Again, Michael Hyatt. He talks about setting SMARTER goals – where E is exciting, and than final R is Relevant. Oh, and by the way, the first R is not about realistic goals. Boring! No, it’s about setting risky, compelling, daring goals. The kind of ones you actually want to score, drive for, and work towards.
Anyway, I digress. Executing on daily actions is about scheduling them. Again, Michael Hyatt: “What gets scheduled, gets done.” But I’ve struggled alot with effective scheduling. So, this week I started scheduling SMARTER: making sure what I schedule is Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic (unlike goals, tasks need to be realistic to stay within the time allotted!), Time–bound, Excellent (is your task good for what you’re working towards?), and Relevant (does it matter or should you be doing it at all?).
Act: “Pull the trigger, ride the bullet.” That’s what my coach and mentor, Aaron Walker told me within minutes of discussing my goals. For someone who has spent way too long being indecisive, these words and the conversation that ensued was a turning point.
It’s why you’re looking at a blog that I’ve started a mere month ago, having published every weekday for the last three weeks, after first dreaming of blogging 12 – yes, twelve – years ago. (I was referred to Facebook by a friend, and you can guess the rest, right? Wrong, kinda…) Go and act – pull that trigger – take action. Another Walker quote: “Fear missing an opportunity more than you fear failure”
Which word connects with you strongest this week?
Weekly Wins
In other words, my weekly review – with thanks to Michael Hyatt for this idea.
1. Receiving “View From The Top” and “Real Artists Don’t Starve”
Business and life coach, Aaron Walker sent me two books. One is his own, the other by his friend, author and blogger Jeff Goins. I’ve read both of these, but Aaron was kind enough to send me autographed copies. I’m very much looking forward to reading these analog editions! You’ll get to read a review here and learn more about success, significance, and creating meaningful art in a new digital age.
2. Speaking about High Potential. I spoke at the Just Learning Conference 2019 on High Potential. It’s been a busy week so I’ll be uploading a summary next month. In the meantime, check out my preliminary blog posts on this important topic.
3. Recieving Digital Minimalism: It arrived! In the mail – as I was not going to be reading this on Kindle. I definitely prefer analog to digital when it comes to that ol’ fashioned tech, books. I will be writing a summary and my action points over the coming weeks.
In the meantime, read more about Ryan Holiday and Cal Newport’s discussion on the new book: digital minimalism as a constellation of positions rather than a spectrum, how we’re all like emperors and presidents, and why Cal Newport still reads books on his Kindle.
Preview Next Week On Hybrid Consonance
Again, thanks to Michael Hyatt, who combines his review and preview into a ‘Weekly (P)review.’
1. On February the 5th Cal Newport released “Digital Minimalism.” My analog copy is on its way arrived two days ago, and unlike Newport who sometimes gets impatient with waiting for the physical book, I’ve held off on buying a kindle copy for now. 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 determine how to apply his latest advice on (re)-considering my use of social media.
2. I’ll continue my ‘Chronicles of Consonance‘ posts, where I share a little bit of my story – why am I a combination of east and west? And what’s with the sound and silence?
3. You will continue to see new posts every weekday. Preview them here:
Move on Monday: How we use our bodies is crucial to moving into action and getting into the right mindset.
Talk On Tuesday: I’ll continue discussing “Digital Minimalism: Choosing A Focused Life in A Noisy World.” As a musician, I can totally relate to the idea of a noisy world, so I’ll be drawing on insights from my work as a music educator, as well as drawing on insights from having lived in Australia, India, and now north-east Asia – in other words, having developed some level of cultural intelligence.
Work On Wednesday: Continue reading more about my story, or as I’m calling it, “Chronicles of Consonance” – involving East and West, Sound and Silence, Songs and Stories, Fear and Failure, and all the tastes, sights, and sounds of international life. It’s shaped my personal and professional life, that’s for sure.
Think It Through Thursday: With all the buzz around Cal Newport’s book, “Digital Minimalism,” I thought it high time I actually read and absorbed his book on finding the right work working right: “So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trumps Passion In Finding the Work You Love.” Part three is due out on Hybrid Consonance next week.
Full Cup Friday: Like today, I’ll share three tips, three wins and highlights, and a preview of the week to come on Hybrid Consonance.
Like what you’ve read? Please comment below, on Twitter, or connect on LinkedIn.
And, if you haven’t already, get a copy of the following books mentioned today:
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- View from the Top by Aaron Walker
- Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins
- Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt
I’d love to hear your thoughts, your tips, and your wins!
Justin Hockey - Teacher & Musician 