PersonalCompass101

1. There’s IN time; that’s important and urgent. You are in the task, up against the clock. We all get regularly sucked into IN time. E.g. the client is chasing you. The book writing has a deadline. Your daughter has tooth-ache. You are up against the clock.
2. Then there’s ON time; that’s important and non-urgent or more helpfully important and investing. You are working on something, choosing which way to go. Planning strategy, reading to your children. Preparing the garden. You are setting or following your Personal Compass.
3. Personal Compass is a term I use for deciding priorities at the definitive, highest level.
4. Don’t choose (not solely, anyway) by urgency, by who is shouting loudest or by what is simply the easiest. Although all of these potential criteria may make a component of the decision, they do tend to only encourage a short time perspective, with short-term results and the consequence of neglecting the long-term. Make regular reference to your Personal Compass.
5. Let’s review the concepts behind the Compass.
6. He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast. Leonardo da Vinci.
7. Compass Point 1 is Career
8. A good leader needs to have a compass in his head and a bar of steel in his heart. Robert Townsend.
9. Most of spend a lot of time trying to head in the direction of a ‘good career’; it’s a great place to start, therefore.
10. What do you want to be doing in three year’s time? Write it down!
11. Write down three bullets for three actions that you can take over the next six months to be on target for that overall goal.
12. Do you know? Are you unsure? Stick with us!
13. Decide to regularly consider and manage your career; nobody else will and we live in a world where few careers will last a lifetime.
14. Stay alert; keep investing in yourself. Ask yourself: what is my knowledge half-life? How long before my value is degrading?
15. Think Dharma, a Sanskrit word with a range of meanings, but in this context it is Life Purpose.
16. You are a complex mix of nature + nurture, genes + up-bringing which make you who you are. You will be at your best, you will fulfil your dharma when you are able to use that mix.
17. So: follow your passion.
18. Or: Follow your Bliss. Joseph Campbell.
19. Be wary of the good advice of others: parents, career advisers and others are well-meaning. They have good ideas. So often they are trying to offer you security (What about, law, medicine or IT?, they say). But ultimately you must decide..
20. And the best security is not necessarily a ‘secure’ job but a ‘secure’, fully-released passion. So: We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell.
21. We know that money isn’t everything, but actual money is nothing if we are not getting fulfilment from what we are doing.
22. How do find your dharma? By doing stuff, exploring and noticing when you feel ‘at one’ with what you do. Sure, there are bad days and weeks in any, but generally speaking this is so good, it’s amazing you’re paid to do it. That’s the feeling you are seeking.
23. The way to find out about happiness is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you really are happy — not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy. This requires a little bit of self-analysis. What is it that makes you happy? Stay with it, no matter what people tell you. This is what I call "following your bliss". Joseph Campbell.
24. So: do it with passion or pack it in.
25. See also Productivity101
26. And TTD101
27. And Writing101. Writing is a tremendous route to self-discovery.
28. And BTW, the Beatles101 followed their dharma.
29. Compass Point 2 is Mind/Body.
30. He who has health has hope. And he who has hope has everything. Arabic proverb.
31. It’s all we’ve got. Our health, that is.
32. Choose wellness, not just fitness.
33. Wellness come from simple balance. Physical and Psychological.
34. Try MEDS implemented via Pareto.
35. It’s holistic, it’s balanced, it’s carefree. It’s realistic.
36. Address a little (the Pareto 20%) of each element, each day. And get the pareto return (80%).
37. M is mediation. Take time out, every day.
38. E is exercise. The CV kind. Walk, every day.
39. D is diet. Eat for health, not just for calories. Eat only when eating! Then over-eating is difficult. Over-eating in front of the TV is easy.
40. S is sleep. Return the bed-room to a sanctuary not a home cinema nor home study. Return to good practices such as no business e-mail before bed.
41. It’s in the balance: M-E-D-S
42. There are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry. Mark Twain.
43. See also Wellness101 for more thinking.
44. Also How To Think Like for serious, silly and downright surreal elements of thinking.
45. And boost your creativity with Creativity101.
46. Compass Point 3 Personal Finance
47. The Basics:
48. Save then spend.
49. Wealth is not salary.
50. Wealth is firstly the intangibles such health and relationships.
51. Wealth is secondly our personal balance sheet. I.e. our assets less our liabilities.
52. There is a difference between standard of living and quality of life
53. Standard of Living is stuff. All well and good.
54. ‘keeping up with the Jones’, too.
55. But funnily enough one bit of stuff seems to encourage more stuff.
56. Maybe chase a state, a way of being.
57. Quality of life is exactly that.
58. It’s time to be, to be our best.
59. Realising our potential,
60. Feeling fulfilled.
61. Oh and get a handle on the number.
62. The number is what you need for financial independence. It is dependent upon (1) dharma. The more you enjoy your job, the more it is you, the less you will wish to ‘retire’ (2) how much money you need to live upon if you have no further income (3) increasing longevity. It’s tricky to assess but it’s worth (1) thinking about (2) sooner, rather than later.
63. Money can’t make you friends, but you get a better class of enemy. Spike Milligan.
64. Sex is like money, only too much is enough. John Updike.
65. Compass Point 4 Relationships
66. You cannot be efficient with people.
67. Use the Five A’s to be effective with them.
68. Attention. Spend time understanding them.
69. The deepest human desire is to be understood.
70. Be aware of difference. We’re all different. And that’s OK. It doesn’t excuse poor behaviours such as being late to your meeting nor contributing to the meal preparation. But different perspectives are vital to the team.
71. Appreciate difference and contribution brought,
72. And have affection for those closest to us.
73. Act first, when a relationship isn’t working.
74. Compass Point 5 Fun.
75. Stop and think: what is the point if you are not having fun?
76. And how much fun can you have without spending money?
77. What is fun for you?
78. Get back to cooking, playing the guitar, clubbing - whatever is fun for you.
79. Compass Point 6 is Contribution
80. Life is a field of unlimited possibilities. Deepak Chopra.
81. Contribution is giving back without necessary expectation.
82. Why? Why not! Make the world a better place in a small way. And in the end, your effort does tend to be returned. Whether it is Newton’s Third Principle of Mechanics kicking in or karma.
83. People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-centered we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to...rather than detracts from...our lives. Stephen Covey.
84. Emotional Intelligence or the ability to relate to people and allow our self-development is highly accelerated though practising abundance.
85. Abundance thinking: help, support, encourage, withhold unhelpful overly critical judgement.
86. Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life. Wayne Dyer
87. When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears. Tony Robbins.
88. What is work/life balance? When your Personal Compass is in balance. Your compass is unique.
89. So: what’s the Personal Compass strategy?
90. Once a month: review the six compass points, just as we have done above. Do this in a quiet place, with a reflective frame of mind.
91. This process will generate adjustments or actions. Capture these on your Master List.
92. Your Master List is your definitive list of actions, not just have to do but also very, very importantly want to do.
93. Notice how the compass and master list get you out of pure IN time into ON time, too.
94. Each day, review your Master List and work the actions.
95. Remember: if a compass action is big or daunting e.g. write book, develop strategic plan with team, then break it down and break it down and break it down.
96. Follow your compass.
97. Manage your Master List.
98. You’ll face new terrain. New country. But you’ll be OK: you have your compass with you at all times.
99. You’ll have new horizons. That’s OK, too. Your compass can be re-calibrated.
100. Travel more. Travel101. It’s good for the mind and good for the soul.
101. Have Personal Compass, will travel. Physically sure. But mentally, too.