Sarah From’s Blog
If you've worked with me, you know that I am a big fan of the Rockwood Leadership Institute's leadership trainings, approaches, and tools (POP and DARCI, anyone?). That's why I am so thrilled to announce that as of earlier this year, I am a Rockwood Affiliate Coach.
If you're planning a team retreat, you may be weighing whether or not it is worth the trouble and expense of holding it offsite. But after facilitating countless team retreats over the last decade, I can tell you that it is pretty much always worth the extra cost (financial and otherwise) to take the team out of the office. At its best, the effect of being on retreat is almost magical.
Have you caught your breath yet?
I know this week's election knocked the wind right out of me.
You may still be reeling, or maybe you have already begun to resist. Or maybe you are reeling and resisting at the same time.
The first thing that I want to say to you is that you matter to me and I see you. You may be scared, despondent or angry, but you are not alone.
The second thing that I want to say to you is to take care of yourself. Self-care is not a luxury at a time like this. As Audre Lorde said,
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation,
and that is an act of political warfare.”
So in the coming days, I encourage you to:
This is the list of self care strategies that I am working from - and wow is it hard to prioritize these things right now. But I feel we must try.
Thank you for all that you do. Your work is more important than ever.
Our attention may be the most valuable currency we have - and the one we give away most freely.
As Merlin Mann says, "Although your time and attention are finite, the demands on your time and attention are infinite."
If you feel that you can't manage this finite / infinite balance, you're not alone and you're not a defective human being. You are also not powerless. I came across two recent pieces in the media that helped expand my thinking about attention management and wanted to share them:
You've probably known for some time that your phone and all its apps are made to capture your time and attention (and thus your money) -- but this piece in The Atlantic explains exactly how. It focuses on a renegade in the field who is trying to get tech companies to reckon with the effects of the ongoing war for our limited attention, and offer more humane alternatives.
And in this interview, author Cal Newport talks about the difference between "deep work" and "shallow work" and how to allocate our time between the two. This is a framework that I think will resonate with a lot of my clients.
How do you manage relentless demands on your attention?
This week I'm packing up my belongings and preparing to leave the city where I’ve lived for the last 13 years for a new home in NY’s Hudson Valley. Not surprisingly, this has me reflecting a lot on transitions and change.
One of my favorite writers on this topic is William Bridges. His contribution is to recognize that while we would love to think that transitions are all about fresh starts, in fact the fresh start is the last part of the process.
The first stage of transition is an ending — a letting go of what is past & will never be the same again. The second stage is an uncomfortable neutral zone, when we are adjusting to our new reality. Only after we’ve experienced the endings and the neutral zone do we truly get our new beginning.
Who are the writers, teachers, and thinkers who help you navigate change and transition? I’d love to know.
