Enough is Enough

How do you know when enough is enough?

When have your boundaries been overstepped enough?

When have you worked enough?

When have you given enough chances?

We all have a point when enough is enough.

Ideally, we should not let things get there.

In practice, they do regularly.

At the point, we tend to snap.

Shouting or anger are a sure sign of this.

Depression and lethargy are too.

Partnerships the double-edged sword

How often do you engage in partnerships?

Why do you look for partnerships?

How do you choose your partners?

How have partnerships worked for you in the past?

Partnerships are a double-edged sword:

A good partnership can be an accelerator.

A bad partnership can be crushing.

Often, we decided to partner too quickly.

Deciding on a partner should be deliberate.

It needs to be a careful consideration.

Tired Conversations

How often do you have important conversations?

How often are you tired when you do?

How well do these conversations go?

How important is the timing of a conversation?

We are often confronted with vital conversations.

And at times we might be tired, too tired.

If you are tired, having the conversation is not a good idea.

But often we have pushed it and left it too late.

So the conversation needs to be had even though.

Have vital conversations early and at your discretion.

Social Batteries

How much social interaction can you muster?

How much do you like social interaction?

Who are you interacting with?

How much do you like the people?

How much do you like the type of interaction?

We all have a different social capacity.

Some can interact more and some less so.

Knowing how much you can muster is crucial.

No matter what is expected of you,

you need to find your own way of going about it.

Half-Measure?

How often do you go half-measure?

When do you decide to do so?

Are you even able to do so?

What do you think about half-measures?

Some of us have an all-or-nothing mindset.

Yet, half-measure has its moments.

Do you choose winning over having fun?

Do you choose to be right over good conversation?

The Excitement Anxiety Combo

How often are you excited?

How often are you anxious?

Is there a correlation?

What makes you excited?

What makes you anxious?

Anxiety and Excitement come in tandem.

Rarely do we feel one without the other.

This is normal and healthy, they balance each other.

If you feel one without the other, stop.

What excites you, should also be worrying.

What makes you worry, should also be exciting.

Level of reflection

How much do you reflect on things?

How much do others reflect?

What is the quality difference?

Where on the ladder are you?

Some of us reflect deeply and often.

Some of us reflect shallowly and rarely.

Some of us do not reflect at all.

It serves to imagine a ladder and who is where.

It is important to accept where you are.

It is even more important to accept where others are.

Creeping Anxiety

How often do you say yes?

How do you feel at the time?

How do you feel right before action?

How do you feel afterward?

What is the reason for the difference?

Often, something seems like a great idea.

Great till right before it materializes.

Anxiety starts to creep up the closer we get.

Day by day we worry and regret more.

Till they after and who knows how we feel.

There is a reason for this, listen and find it.

Plan ahead

How well do you prepare ahead?

How much buffer do you plan in?

How much of your year are you sick?

How often do unexpected things pop up?

When we plan, we often forget contingency time.

If we plan to tightly with no redundancy,

we will miss deadlines and opportunities.

As a rule of thumb, sick days divided by work days:

That is the minimum contingency you should plan.

Recommendation

How often do you issue recommendations?

What are they based on?

Have you worked with who you recommend?

How much do you trust someone’s recommendation?

A recommendation from a trusted source is sacred.

Yet, many make them without knowing the quality.

Often, we do the same, we trust a friend, so we recommend them.

But what is that recommendation really worth?

Can you trust your own recommendations?

Can you trust someone else’s?

Personal Rules

Do you adhere to personal rules?

Where have you set rules for yourself?

Why did you set these rules?

Where else could you set rules?

Setting rules for ourselves is a powerful tool.

We often know best, what we need and when.

And we know what we do not want.

Adhering to personal rules can recreate these scenarios.

We are in control of most of our environment.

By setting rules we cement this control down.

Situational Strategy

How often do you review your strategy?

How much does the situation influence it?

How much change in situation can it take?

Can what is important to you change?

What is important to us can change.

The situation we are in can change.

And with this, our strategy should change.

Being true to your values is important.

But a certain degree of flexibility is needed.

Industry peculiarity

How well do you know your industry?

How similar is it to others?

How peculiar are the workings of your industry?

When working in a new one, what can translate over?

Some of us stay in the same industry all our lives.

Some of us change industries frequently.

Some industries are very peculiar and some less so.

What is standard practice in one, is disruptive in another.

Don’t offhand the newbie, who questions everything.

Combine the new guy with an open-minded veteran.

Watch the magic unfold.

Information Accuracy

How accurate is the information that has been presented to you?

How do you decide if you need to counter-check it?

Where does the information come from?

Is there a hidden agenda at the presenting party?

We receive information every day.

In negotiations, from partners, from the news, from governments etc.

Yet, seldom does the information come in purity.

Most of the time it has been manipulated or is inaccurate.

It can be inaccurate due to agenda, incompetence, naivete or slopiness.

If it is important, go to the source and get it yourself.

forget: suppress vs process

How much do you forget?

How much of it actively vs passively?

When do you choose to suppress?

When do you choose to process?

Why do you make this decision?

To forget is not to suppress.

Suppressing things is a bandaid.

Processing attacks the root cause.

To actively forget and move on,

we need to process.

Otherwise, you create a trigger for future grief.

Wall incoming

How hard can you hustle?

How long can you keep it up?

Why do you leave out rest?

How does this end?

We all have our limits.

Heck, we all know them.

Yet, we tend to ignore them.

Ignore them, till the wall hits you in the face.

Don’t overwork yourself for too long.

The reckoning is not worth it.

People Energy

How many meetings do you have?

How much energy does it take?

How much do you have for this?

How useful are meetings when you are exhausted?

We all have a specific threshold.

Some have more energy for people, some less.

You get less out of tiered meetings.

And so do the people meeting you.

Don’t waste everyone’s time.

So plan accordingly.

How we age

How strong is your body?

How much energy do you have?

How has this changed over time?

How can you compensate the difference?

Ageing comes with the deterioration of our bodies.

We become weaker, have less energy and less mental capacity.

Upkeeping ourselves becomes more of an effort.

There are things you can do to compensate.

This is part of life, you will have to accept this.

Investing, betting and gambling

How often do you gamble?

How often do you make educated bets?

How much of your money do you invest?

How different are these three?

When we invest, we make a bet on future performance.

When we gamble, we make a bet on a future outcome.

So where does investing end and gambling begin?

All investments have risk, some more, some less.

Can you afford to take no risk?

Creativity & well-being

When are you most creative?

When are you least creative?

How important is your health?

How important is creativity to you?

When we feel bad, we are less innovative.

When our health is constantly an issue,

we lack energy and our mood is low.

This is not the most fertile ground.

Unless you are into depressive poetry.

So go and get that rest, so you can thrive.