296 : What has Dropped Off your Calendar?
Everyone knows they should invest more in themselves.
Exercise. Learning. Meditation.
The creative project that has nothing to do with work and everything to do with who they actually are.
Everyone also knows exactly what happened to those things. They slid off the calendar one week at a time, replaced by things that felt more urgent and less personal. Not dramatically. Gradually. Until you struggle to answer the question "what do you do for fun?"
The cost is a gradual flattening. A narrowing of who you are into who you are at work. It creates a specific vulnerability that most people don't see until it's too late: when the work stops going well, there's nothing else to stand on.
There is something hiding inside the things you do for yourself. They often turn out to be more valuable than anything on your development plan.
The connections aren't obvious, but they are real. I've seen them play out in the most successful operators who give themselves permission to spend time on their hobbies.
The permission problem isn't about time, it's about protection.
Read : Showing Up for Yourself
Stuff I'm Reading
- Leadership Skills for every level. I'm a firm believer that everyone needs to know how to lead, wherever they are in their career.
- Take a step towards less 'overwhelm'. Complete a brain dump this week and get a handle on your priorities.
- Powerful Asymmetries. Sahil Bloom shows us where a little effort, can get an outsized return.
- How to manage multiple goals and competing priorities (YouTube). Excellent short video from Leo Babauta
- Your brain wasn't designed for this much bad news. A scientific reason to manage your news intake carefully.
- Is AI profitable yet? The short answer is no, but it doesn't look like many companies (apart from one) are making much money from the 'boom' yet.
Finally. VocabOwl. Take this simple 10-minute test to see how many words you know.
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