Reading Time: 5 minutesThe word “retreat” is not a positive word for everyone. I can evoke memories of religious retreats they were required to attend, some kind of hippy-dippy, new-age spiritual experience, or boring corporate retreats where you were forced to do a lot of group exercises but nothing changed as a result. But there’s also a more …
Reading Time: 5 minutesA task manager is designed to help you get all the things you need to do out of your head and into a system you can trust. David Allen, the writer of the seminal productivity book, Getting Things Done, wrote āYour mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.ā Weāre not good at remembering …
Reading Time: 6 minutesDuring the first week in December, my wife and I when to Disneyland to celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary (we’re not really that old — we married when we were 5 š). The event and discussions with friends about it have prompted some thoughts Iād like to share. Donāt panic, itās not all mushy stuff. …
Reading Time: 6 minutesA couple of years ago I was at a point in my retirement where the āpermanent fun vacationā (finally freed from work!) period was over, and I was feeling bored, unproductive, and unfulfilled. I fortunately encountered material written by David Sparks (aka MacSparky) on how to do a life roles inventory and evaluation. I took …
Reading Time: 5 minutesIām the kind of person that seeks to be intentional in my life. When I did my initial life roles identification and evaluation, I also wrote descriptions of my ideal behavior for each role. These descriptions are idealistic and aspirational. Iām not there yet, and likely never will completely arrive. They describe the type of …
Reading Time: 6 minutesSelf-evaluation and self-assessment have become popular in the business community, replacing the old employee evaluations process. Businesses see the value of having employees evaluate their behavior, both the negatives and the positives. Self-evaluations have also been a part of spiritual and personal growth processes for hundreds of years. Why Do Self-Evaluations? According to High Five …
Reading Time: 6 minutesLast week, I did a quarterly review & planning session. To be able to focus on my review, I rented a room at a local desert resort and planned to spend two days working on only my review. I find it helpful to leave my normal surroundings to be able to give total focus to …
Reading Time: 6 minutesAll of us acknowledge that we want to live lives that are in balance. We understand that focusing on one or two areas of our lives and excluding others will lead to problems, and isnāt healthy. I hope you donāt expect that Iām going to give you āthree easy stepsā to bring balance to your …
Reading Time: 5 minutesA new friend recently read some of my prior blog posts about using a roles-based productivity system and wrote, āI like the idea of looking at each life role separately. I’m someone who has measured myself mostly by my career/projects alone for a lot of my life but I’m giving more space and attention to …
Reading Time: 4 minutesI stumbled across a YouTube video this morning that I wish Iād seen before I retired. When I retired, I had a vague idea of how life might change, and I tried to do some planning, but I was really totally unprepared for the reality. When I watched this video, I immediately identified with it. …