I was working on a teambuilding exercise for my coaching practice the other day. It occurred to me that most people who participate in team building retreats or exercises don’t really carry anything useful away from the process. Why? Because they don’t know how to relate what they’re learning into real life. Some team building exercises are fun. Some are boring and border on the ridiculous. But the bottom line is that most teambuilding facilitators neglect to explain how building a container out of popcicle sticks to protect an egg when it is dropped from a certain height relates to our jobs or to our lives for that matter. It seems obvious that if we can’t carry back what we learn and apply it then we’re effectively wasting our time. If we don’t understand where we fit in and how to recognize and promote our strengths in the group then what’s the point? And does anyone ever bother to talk about our teams in relation to our lives outside of work? What about the global team, the community team, our family team, and countless others? We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves and finding out where we fit in is critical to our success. Each of us has unique talents, skills, and abilities that we’re meant to share. There is no one else on this earth that is exactly like you. There is no one else on earth that can offer exactly what you can offer. Take some time to think about your teams and what you have to contribute. Celebrate your uniqueness. Celebrate your talents, skills and abilities and don’t be afraid to share them with your teams and with the world.

We’re all so busy these days. We run around all day long from one thing to the next and it seems there is never enough time to get everything done. But why do we feel we have to do it all? We weren’t designed to be super people who can do it all with a smile and just keep on going like the energizer bunny. Our bodies and our minds need time to rest and reflect. Most of today’s technology was designed to make our lives easier, but somehow things seem to be more complicated. We continue to get caught up in the latest and greatest and we’re afraid if we can’t keep up people will think less of us or believe us to be lazy. There is nothing wrong with working hard or playing hard, but we just can’t continue to push and push without consequences. We have to allow ourselves time to literally do nothing or risk crashing and burning. Our bodies will force us to stop if we don’t listen by manifesting illness or accidents. Most of us think down time is catching our favorite tv program or watching a movie. Maybe going out to dinner or to a bar. But that’s not really what it’s all about. While it may be fun and relaxing, we’re still activily participating. When is the last time you gave yourself permission to just sit quietly and observe what’s going on around you or daydream, just letting your mind wander not really thinking about anything in particular? I challenge you to take time every day to simply sit and enjoy. Even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. Quiet your mind. Forget about your to do list. Just sit, relax, be. It may take practice, but things worthwhile sometimes do. So give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.

My parents grew up during the great depression in this country, then had to contend with WWII right on it’s heels. What an amazing generation they were. They learned so many lessons about survival, persistance, adaptability, and creativity. We would be wise to learn from them the power of those traits. However, they also grew up with an attitude of lack and fear and for a lot of us we were taught those attitudes as well. My Mom, for instance, never threw anything away that might come in handy in the future. She had bags full of rubberbands and twisties from bread wrappers. In fact, she even kept the bread wrappers neatly rolled up in the kitchen drawer to use instead of ziplocks. She could repair anything with those rubberbands and twisties. She refinished and reupholstered furniture and made a lot of our clothes. But she did believe that somehow everything she needed would be provided. The problem of course, is that for many of us, we learned that we couldn’t have it all. We learned to be thrifty and prepared just in case. There is nothing wrong with this, but somehow we missed the part about the universe providing us with everything we need. We grew up to belive that we have to work hard for everything we have and we have to always be prepared for a rainy day. As a result, we’ve forgotten that we have everything we need already and we’re always afraid of losing what we have. This attitude of fear and lack serves no useful purpose that I can see. The laws of the universe dictate that we draw to us what we focus on the most. Therefore, if we focus on fear and lack, guess what? Instead, doesn’t it make more sense to persistently focus on adaptability, creativity, abundance and the things we do want in our lives and to show gratitude for everything we already have?