Author Archives: Kit Prendergast

A Road Trip is Good for Your Spirit

As I get ready to head out tomorrow morning to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I’m reminded how good it is for us to take a road trip every now and then.  You may be driving, flying or even taking a train.  It doesn’t matter because it’s all  good for your body, mind and spirit.  And it is critical to helping stay balanced in this somewhat unbalanced world.

Getting Out the Door

Yes, it’s always a bit of a rush to clean off the desk at work, answer those emails, pay some last-minute bills and get that boarding pass before racing to the airport at “o-dark hundred” to catch your flight to anywhere. And sometimes I’ve felt like it’s not even worth it especially in past years when as a psychotherapist I had so many patients to care for before and after any trip.  But I always knew that it’s all worth it as the plane lifts off and you slip into that delicious space of being “in-between” the here and the there.

I like flying and I like airports.  It must come from the years of living overseas and going in and out of many European airports.  I usually had two small children at my heels or on my hip but it all seemed doable since we were are another “road trip”.  And after the darkness and steady rain of Norway any road trip seemed great to me!

Celebrating 11 – 11 – 11

So off I go in the early am to meet my twin sister, Diane, to celebrate our birthday 11-11-11 in this wonderful community of Santa Fe and Taos.  Why are we going there?  We’ve never been – it’s that simple.  We’ll make some fun memories (as we always do) and I think it will remind us of Carmel, California (where we grew up) and Italy/Portugal where we have traveled often.  Delicious food, a little wine and some shopping will be just perfect and when I return to the office next week my body, mind and spirit will be renewed and refreshed.  I recommend it highly for all of us!

 

Posted in And a Bit More, Career Tips & Strategies, Your Time & Energy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Rocks, Sand & Your Time

I’m delighted that Les Murray from the New England Chocolate Company, Salisbury, MA sent me the following time management tip this week.  Les is a regular reader of my blog “Conversations with Kit” and along with his wife, Jayne Murray, are chocolate extraordinaire entrepreneurs at www.newenglandchocolatecompany.com.

I’ve used this time management visual in my past training classes and totally agree with Les that this is a wonderful way to think about prioritizing your time and energy.  You may have even seen it done in a time management class – it’s been around for awhile.  I like visuals like this because we remember them better over the years and this truly is one of the best.

Here’s how it goes . . . the class instructor starts with asking you to think about what “Big Roles” you fulfill at this time in your personal and professional life.  These may be as a mother/father; spouse; son/daughter; business owner; employee; student; community volunteer etc.  Next, list for yourself several smaller things that also fill up your daily life but are not considered “big”.  Examples may be time you spend paying bills, doing household chores, doing errands, sorting paper clips etc.

The class instructor then takes out a big jar, some sand and some rocks.  He explains that the small things are represented by the sand and he then pours the sand in the jar.  It fills up quickly.  Now he asks the class participants to assign their big roles to each one of the rocks.  After that is done, he tries to put the rocks in the jar.  But there is no room – the sand has taken up all the space.  What to do?  The class discusses this and quickly decides to take the sand out and then put the rocks in to the now empty jar.  The rocks go in first – the big roles that each class participant identified that they most cared about.  Now the instructor pours in the sand and you guessed it, the sand fits quite  easily around the rocks.

And in Les’ words . . . “the moral to the story is that each one of us only has 24 hours/day, 7 days per week.  We sleep 8, we work 8 and there are 8 hours that we have for ourselves.  If we allow the “sand”  to fill our lives then we never have any time for our larger roles, those that we care most about.” Les goes on to remind us again to plan our time and energy carefully so that we are doing what is really important to us in this chapter of our lives – like  eating wonderful Belgium chocolates from the New England Chocolate Company!

 

Posted in And a Bit More, Inspirational Leadership, Navigating Change, Personal Development, Your Time & Energy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Overcome “Recession Fatigue”

Here’s the best strategy I’ve found to push through that “Recession Fatigue”. It is simply shifting your energy to those areas that you do have some control over and concentrating on being successful in those areas over the next few months.

Here’s a way to do that . . .

First. Take a piece of paper and draw out the five Olympic Circles. You will remember that there are five intersecting circles – three on the top and two on the bottom. Next, take a moment to think of the five areas of your current life that you value spending your time and energy on. Often these are areas that in the past you regretted not having the time to spend doing.

Areas such as: your own health (exercise, eating well etc.); learning by taking a class; picking up a new hobby or volunteer commitment; having more time with your children; mini-vacations with old friends or maybe more quality involvement with your elderly parents.

Pick what’s important to you in this chapter of your life. Now, label each circle with one of those areas.

Second. Identify priority short-term benchmarks in each of these areas. Be concrete – is there a weight goal? A sports fitness goal? A passion you want to nurture? Do you want to be more available to your parents, your own kids or your friends? Keep the short-term benchmarks easy to remember and to track.

Third. Now identify when you will know that you have hit those benchmarks – when you’ve made your first short-term goal on exercising; learning; volunteering or extra time with your own kids and parents. What will success look like? And don’t forget to celebrate when you’ve reached those successes each and every time!

It’s great (and critical) to feel productive, appreciated and successful in these additional areas of your life. So even if this recession is beating you up on the job more than you expected, you can take control of other areas, and enjoy a wonderful boost of self-confidence from these other equally important areas of your life.

Posted in Kit's Tips | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Accelerating Out of the Great Recession

Accelerating Out of the Great Recession: How to Win in a Slow-Growth Economy, 2010, by David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter, The Boston Consulting Group

This is an excellent book for all of us that want to understand what has happened in our global economy and what we, as small business owners, can do to ensure that our businesses grow in the new year.

It’s not a quick read but rather one that requires your full attention. I enjoyed the historical perspective, particularly learning why certain companies thrived in the Great Depression. The authors go on to provide a clear assessment of what our new economic realities are and what this means for business overall.

There is a great section on “Leadership During a Crisis” with six very practical, concrete actions leaders, managers, business owners etc. should take each day during this turbulent time to ensure that the company and the employees are thriving in our new work world.

Posted in Kit's Resources & Book Reviews | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Be “Interested” & “Interesting”

Bruce McGregor, age 93, is true Irishman and a delight!  Bruce is one of those people that is both “interested and interesting”.  Bruce, and his twin brother Bob, have been close friends with my Dad (also 93) for years and years.  Bob is now deceased but Bruce continues to live here in Reno and to work part-time as a calendar salesman for a local company.

So what makes Bruce special?  One always feels that you have Bruce’s undivided attention – that he is genuinely interested in you.  Even as kids, my twin sister and I always enjoyed Bruce.  He always was there with a laugh, interested questions and a secret stash of trinkets in the trunk of his car to pass out. We felt special because he made us feel special.

So years later, and even though he wears hearing aids now, Bruce can definitely keep up with any conversation over a glass of wine.  For example, Bruce joined me last week at a wonderful Northern Nevada Red Cross Wine Tasting fund raiser www.nevada.red.cross.org.  As I watched him meet and greet the significantly younger crowd I was impressed with how Bruce can engage others through his genuine interest in them.  He truly is “interested” in what others have to say.

Be Interesting as Well!

But the other side is just as important.  Bruce is “interesting” as well.  He and his twin brother traveled extensively throughout the world.  There is not a country, city, town, train, cruise etc. that Bruce can’t remember and tell you which road to take; a great restaurant to eat at and the best hotel to book.  Before any trip I make sure to consult with Bruce.  And being Irish, Bruce always knows the best deals as well!

What a treat to know Bruce and what great lessons he can teach all of us.  This is what I continue to learn from Bruce . . . to always strive to not only be genuinely “interested” in others but also to be “interesting” as well.  I need to take every opportunity to go and do – to learn and to grow.  And I encourage you to do the same.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised that others will gravitate to you and you both will enjoy the richness of each other’s experiences and lives.  That’s great for your personal life and your professional career as well.

Posted in And a Bit More, Career Tips & Strategies, Communication Tips, Inspirational Leadership, Personal Development | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment