My extended quirky to do list part 3 – what to continue doing
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication
Continuing the spirit of New Year’s reflection, my last 2 posts described an extended, quirky to-do list tool that I use in my corporate training (click here to download a copy for you to use). It has 5 parts:
– to do, to continue doing, to stop doing, to not do, to done (the last one’s not a typo) (here’s a description of each)
I also promised to share with you how I’m personally filling it in. For my 2010 to-do’s see this post.
Because it’s not all about trying new things although the shiny allure of what’s new keeps the shopping malls full – the things I’m going to continue doing in 2010 are:
* keep off the 30 pounds I lost about 1 1/2 year ago. I continue to feel a deep sense of satisfaction for this continued accomplishment. I love how I feel about myself and my body. It and I move through the world with more ease now. I even (gasp!) run. There was a time where if you told me I’d go for regular runs I’d ask which psychiatric institution I should return you to.
* continue my monthly dance ‘dates’. I find nothing soothes my rattled nerves and puts me into a state of wild time like dancing. I found a local pub with a live band – there’s no cover, no line up and 5 inch heels are not a requirement for entry. Once a month I’ve been hitting the dance floor with a friend. We shake it, gloriously, with abandon and glee.
Caveat: dance friend has left the building, well the country actually. In order to continue must find new person to dance with. Husband or friend Heather are you listening?
Stay tuned for my stop-doing, not to do’s, and to-done’s.
And finally because music is an integral part of the things I want to continue doing, here’s a song that fits the theme of continuing: Let’s go by the Cars
What do you want to continue doing …. again and again?
Tags: change management, dance, lady gaga, learning, new year, pounds, time, to do, weight loss, wild time
My Extended, Quirky To Do List part 2
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication
In my last post I described an extended, quirky to do list tool that I use in my corporate training (click here to download a copy for you to use). It has 5 parts:
– to do
– to continue doing
– to stop doing
– to not do
– to done
I also promised to share with you some of my own to-do’s so here they are (future posts will share examples from the other categories):
I am vowing to create space, empty space, luscious, glorious wide open wild space.
Physical space as in uncluttered, uncloying shelves, cupboards, desktops, closets and drawers.
and
Space in time and time in space. Unfilled schedules, blank pages in my daytimer, open spaced on the calendar. Unplanned, yearned for empty time. Time to float and not fill.
And because I love to listen to and dance to music, here’s a song that goes perfectly with to-do’s: Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Let’s Get Loud’. She talks about living your life, you gotta do it, mean what you say, let’s get loud….
If this doesn’t make you want to accomplish stuff all while shaking your booty I don’t know what will.
—————-
Now playing: let’s get loud
via FoxyTunes
Tags: change management, learning, space wild todo list schedule jennifer lopez loud booty, time, training & development
My Extended, Quirky To Do List
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Creativity & innovation
As a corporate trainer and one who loves seeing the bright sparks of participant’s learning, while expanding their thoughts, and making connections, I believe it’s important in any training to anchor the learning. To facilitate activities that help participants transfer the learning to their workplace.
One example of how I do that is my extended and slightly quirky to do list. It has five segments:
To Do
- things I want to start doing, being or having this month
To continue doing
- these work, so I should continue doing these
To stop doing
- I tried these but they aren’t effective, so I shouldn’t do them anymore
To not do
- I know I want to stay away from these
To done
- yep, that’s not a typo; these are my accomplishments – I am proud of these. This one is left off most lists I know of and yet it’s critical to take time to reflect on what we’ve done not just on what’s left to do.
Feel free to use the tool if it works for you. Download a pdf version here. In the next few posts I’ll give you examples of each, things that I personally am doing, not doing, ‘done-ing’ etc.
Drop me a comment and let me know what’s on your list.
Tags: change management, creativity & innovation, learning, questions, training & development
The Jungle Called ‘Teenagedom’
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Humor & comedy
How did I get to the middle without realizing I was on the edge?
How did I enter this quagmire of parenting a teen without realizing what I was headed towards? Did I miss the signs? Is it like the odd time I missed using a box of hand me down clothes because my kid had outgrown them by the time I realized it?
Will the teen years be the same? Will we be through these years before I realize it?
Some days I notice this gorgeous, lush, exotic jungle we’re living in – that of ‘teenagedom’. On those days I adore the perspective that living with and parenting a teen brings. The preening of feathers and the bright colours. The brand new awareness of self, of body, of the world, of peers.
Other days all I can see is the quicksand that is sucking me down and threatening to engulf me. On these days the Attitude (with a capital ‘A’) and the sense that this teen (though he’s technically 12) knows more than his parents, leaves me gasping. I get whiplash from watching him veer from one extreme emotion to the next.
Some days I vaguely recognize the jungle path we’re traveling, having been here some time ago. Other days, as a bird of a different gender, nothing is familiar and little makes sense.
Mostly though it’s the overall jungle, with all its lushness, full of promise and verdant growth and surprises that keeps life interesting and keeps me on my toes.
I’m in the middle of that jungle now, with no clear recollection of how I got here.
What have you arrived in the middle of without realizing how you got there?
Tags: change management, edge, jungle, learning, parenting, questions, teen, teenage, time, youth
Dancing with Dichotomy
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Conflict resolution
How do we live with the ying and the yang that lives inside all of us? The disparate parts of ourselves. The parts that conflict. The puzzle pieces that don’t fit together because they’re from different puzzles.
I like boxes. Little ones. Wooden ones. Carved ones. The ones that fancy jewelry used to come in.
YET
I don’t like putting things out of sight because then I forget about them.
And
I am a list-maker extraordinaire. I like the sensation (albeit false) that my lists give me, that of being in control of my world. I like to check things off my list. Correction, I’m a check and cross-off not once but twice kind of gal. Ahhh the feeling of satisfaction.
YET
I don’t like having my time prescribed, it feels constricted like a too tight sweater. I like to have what I call ‘floating time’ where my attention isn’t pre-programmed and it and I wander as we like.
And
I am an introvert. I get restored by spending time on my own or in small, intimate groups.
YET
I love nothing more than getting up in front of a crowd and teaching a workshop. It gets the blood in my veins singing and my energy crackling.
And
I love clear, uncluttered space. Clean lines. Beautiful things artfully arranged.
YET
I have invisible super glue sticking me to my possessions. I might not have used something for 5 or more years, yet deep within the recesses of my brain I’m absolutely convinced that I might need it one day.
All of these juxtapositions. Contrary contradictions. Yet they’re all me.
I’ve decided that 2010 will be the year to dance with dichotomy, to make friends with these differences. To accept them. To see them as complementary opposites within a greater whole.
What dichotomies do you dance with?
Tags: change management, dancing, dichotomy, floating time, learning, training & development, ying yang
Destination passion
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication, Conflict resolution, Diversity & culture, Social Responsibility
On this first day of 2010 I’m thinking about destinations.
Specifically where we’re headed with hard work. Where our passion’s home port is. Where the fuel that fires us up leads us towards.
With a bit of luck, a lot of hard work we get to find our passion, our element as Sir Ken Robinson calls it. What fuels us. What makes work feel like play. What makes for wild time, when time ebbs and flows as easily as the ocean tide, with no thought to clock time, to-do lists, shoulds or ought to’s.
Much is happening in our chaotic world that’s fueled by passion. People get killed in the name of passion. Wars are fought in the name of passion. One person, one country is passionate about a particular ideology, a value, a religion, or a piece of land steeped in history and for those who hold different views this can become a recipe for bloody warfare. For terrorism. For stealing lives and vaporizing dreams.
I’m thinking about where passion can lead us when it’s misplaced.
I’m thinking about the young man whose passion fueled him to try to blow up a plane on Christmas day. What a difference it would make if that energy, that hard work, that passion and commitment were channeled towards peace.
Imagine if we all used our power for good not evil. And yes, I know that defining good is elusive and may be over-simplistic …. but maybe not.
Imagine a world where passion was channelled. Where good deeds were the norm, where decisions were made with an ear to listening to the needs of future generations (human, plant and animal).
My sincere wish for 2010 is for destination passion – for people to find the fuel that fires them up and in doing so, bundle up the hard work, the sweat, the tears, the strategizing, and the tough choices and put them toward a destination that fuels all of humanity.
May 2010 see our efforts be directed towards projects, ideals, organizations and institutions that add beauty, that sow ideals of peace and justice, that promote creativity, that uncover differences that make a difference and similarities that are significant. Instead of working to promote hatred, intolerance and violence. I wish.
Tags: change management, choices, creativity & innovation, element, evil, good, ken robinson, learning, passion, privilege, questions, terrorism, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, wild time, wonder woman
Perspective & the Problems of Privilege part 2
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict resolution, Travel
Never doubt that there are spirits alternately laughing at and with you, supporting you, egging you on, helping you walk on eggs and sometimes throwing egg in your face.
After my last post about feeling the angsty-post-Christmas blues I simply had to laugh at this over the top take on privilege in the form of an invitation to a bbq (that I received from a friend in Uganda no less).
Click on the link to download the powerpoint. Make sure you watch it until the end.
Perspective is a good thing. So is chasing after things that can’t be caught.
Tags: bbq, blues, change management, Christmas, invitation, perspective, privilege, problems, uganda
Perspective & the Problems of Privilege
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Communication
The house is a mess. The kids have been watching too much TV. I’ve been eating too much Christmas chocolate. The effects of Christmas (a.k.a. gift wrap, decorations, gifts, extra food) are strewn around the house like land bound flotsam and jetsam.
I’m feeling argumentative and frustrated and out of sorts. I’m feeling stressed because it’s the holidays and I want to be feeling as relaxed as a Calgon commercial.
I’m trying to remember that these are problem of privilege…… things that seem problematic to me but are based on a whole lotta privilege and choice.
What I’m not worrying about is where to find a safe, dry place to rest my head tonight.
Or how I’ll feed my kids.
Or if I can afford medicine should they fall sick.
Or how to ward off the cold or rain or heat or bugs or malaria carrying mosquitoes.
I’m trying to put my problems in perspective.
Perspective is such a tricky beast.
Tags: africa, calgon, Christmas, commercial, perspective, privilege, problems
Thanks for the gifts: grace under grit and reducing baggage
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness, Communication, Travel
‘Tis the season to sweat about gifts. What to buy for who. Bumping elbows in sardine packed malls is the norm.
For many, later today recycling bins will be overflowing with torn gift wrap. Piles of gifts will have been opened. Stuffed stomachs will vie for space on couches equally stuffed with visiting family members.
As I take a break now, from last minute preparations, I’m thinking about gifts of another kind. Gifts you won’t find wrapped under the tree or elsewhere. Rather they’re the gifts that people in my life have given me, simply by being able to watch how they deal with life, in all its roller coaster ups and downs.
They are intangible gifts, given by the actions of others. These gifts nest in my brain and have merged with how I think and act. These gifts have influenced my actions and quality of life.
Dolly Hopkins, one of my closest friends and colleagues is a treasure. She sparkles with creativity and vibrates with energy. When she arrived on this earth you just know the angels had something special planned for her.
To you, dear one, I say thank you for the gift of grace under grit. I’ve watched you face some mighty big challenges this year, including caring for a dying friend and helping your 91 year old mother recover from surgery. You’ve faced all of these difficult experiences with a calming, quietness has been something to behold. If we all had such equanimity under pressure this world would hold a lot less conflict.
Thank you for the gift of stillness and silence, especially while everything else is madly swirling about, like some crazy Rorschach painting.
To Doug Ragan, my partner in life, thank you for lessons in reducing baggage. While we all carry it, some baggage is heavier than others and some, while not actually heavy, can still feel monumental.
Recently when you were headed for yet another international flight, this time to Marrakesh, and you realized you weren’t going to make your flight if it meant having to check your luggage, you simply took out the bare minimum and sent the luggage home. What freedom, to head to the other side of the world with a light, manageable load.
In the words of the infamous Dr. Seuss, from ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go’: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”
Sometimes all the best laid contingency plans and planning for what could go wrong simply results in a lot of excessive baggage. Heavy baggage. Baggage that takes up a lot of room and displaces other things.
So thanks for the gift of realizing what’s important and leaving behind the rest. To lightened loads. To smart and strategic choices about what’s essential and leaving the rest.
Thanks Dolly and Doug for the gifts, of grace under grit and reducing baggage. Merry Christmas.
Tags: baggage, change management, Christmas, Dolly Hopkins, Doug Ragan, Dr. Seuss, gifts, Marrakech, Oh the places you'll go
What’s your biological age? And does it match your passport?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Change management & wellness
It’s my birthday today.
I’m 44 according to my passport.
Biologically though I’m 39 or so realage.com says. Real age is all about “living life to the youngest” and has the backing of Dr. Oz who sits on their advisory board.
Harness a bit of patience, go the website, answer all sorts of questions about your health and it will then calculate your biological age (e.g. your age based on your lifestyle, health, dailing living practices etc.).
Note: this is not about looking young. Stage exit left Botox. It’s about being healthy, feeling great and being kind to your body.
What could be a better birthday gift?
Tags: age, aging, birthday, change management, Dr. Oz, passport, real age, time, youth