Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as saying that small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas. Perhaps the first step in making my mind great, then, is politely stopping a less-than-helpful conversation.
Here are some of the ways that I’m embracing the supposedly less-desirable aspects of life, and why I think this is a worthwhile effort.
I enjoy a good scam story as much as the next person, so when the Netflix series “Inventing Anna” — which chronicles a fictionalized version of one reporter’s deep dive into the life of entrepreneur/con artist (who can tell?) Anna Delvey — aired this past February, I ate it up like the last Oreo in a crinkly plastic sheath.
Because summer as an adult doesn’t present as drastic of a change from the everyday reality of fall, winter, and spring, it can be easy to let the months pass us by without fully relishing all that the season has to offer. Since I don’t want to miss out on summer by simply failing to notice it, I’m taking three particular steps to set myself up for a restorative, fun, and energetic summer.
Making mistakes will probably never feel good, but that doesn’t mean that good can’t come from our errors. What happens after we mess up depends in part on how we respond to the moments that we wish we could run away from. Here’s to saying sorry, making things right, and learning from our mistakes!
Here are the three nicest things anyone has ever said to me, and how they are teaching me to level up my affirmations.
Becoming better versions of ourselves — learning more, growing kinder and stronger, expanding our perspectives — is hard work that takes introspection, honesty and discipline. Pie charts are a fun way to guide yourself on the journey…and to make it a little more colorful along the way!
I had the thought a year or two ago to ask a mentor of mine, who works in a position that involves frequent interviewing and hiring for various level positions, about the number-one quality that she looks for in applicants.
Her answer was quick and clear: a tolerance for ambiguity. She went on to explain how rare it is that answers are straightforward, next steps are clear, and making decisions is easy. Instead, the people with whom she works need to be not only comfortable with grey areas, but able to flourish within them.
As she described this quality, I found myself both agreeing with its value for all sorts of jobs and circumstances, and determining that it was a quality I wanted to prioritize cultivating.
Often, my approach to challenging phases of life is to grit my teeth and shoulder through the difficulties while repeating the mantra “there’s no way out but through.” But this year, I found that a different aphorism — one that just popped into my head one day, like a missive from the universe — helped me deal with my pandemic-related struggles: “It was never going to be easy.”
Time-management is a valuable skill, and I doubt that I’ll ever stop being drawn to books with titles like “Getting Things Done,” “Deep Work” and “The Checklist Manifesto.” But priority management — or paying attention to why we are working and what we’re working towards — is equally important. Organizing my weeks in a way that maximizes productivity, presence and pleasure is helping me do both.
Teresa Coda 