Will You Be Doing What You Love At 99?

Fifteen years ago, my high school photography teacher Mr. Stamoulis -- a man of many witty quips -- put a saying in my head that I've remembered ever since:  "Love what you do, and you'll never work a day in your life." Mr. Stamoulis was talking about himself of course, explaining to a room of teenagers why anyone would want to be in his shoes, teaching first-period photography at 7:25 AM to a bunch of teens.

Mr. Stamoulis taught because he loved it.  He retired last year after decades at the school. His perspective on work left a lasting impression on me, and it was on my mind when I saw an article about another long career fueled by enjoyment.

On the cusp of 99, Anthony Mancinelli is the world's oldest barber.  He was profiled in yesterday's New York Times and expressed an outlook on work similar to Mr. Stamoulis'.  Mr. Mancinelli, who began cutting hair when Calvin Coolidge was president, told a reporter, "I'm not even considering retirement, because coming to work is what keeps me going."

What started as a way to make a few extra dollars became a nine-decade career.  What does Mr. Mancinelli like about what he does?  "I enjoy talking to people, it's the best part of the job."

How many of us are lucky enough to be doing work that will make us feel young at 99?

What Mr. Mancinelli and Mr. Stamoulis are both expressing is the power of purpose.  Purpose answers the questions:

• What am I meant to be doing with my time here on Earth?
• What contribution is uniquely mine to make?

Finding work that allows you to live out your answers those questions every day is an incredibly fulfilling way to earn a paycheck.

Have you found work that reflects your purpose?  How did you get there?

8 Great Uses of a Snow Day (Or Other "Found Time")

My former boss used to talk about the wonderful feeling brought about by "found time."  Found time is when you unexpectedly gain free time -- because of a cancelled meeting or a postponed lunch date -- and get to decide how to use it.   As over-scheduled as most of us are, a few hours of found time can feel pretty luxurious.

Much of the East Coast is getting some found time this week in the form of a snow day (or three).  Why not make the most of it? While I wouldn't suggest doing ALL of these things in one day -- after all, you should relax -- I guarantee that taking on two or three of these activities will make you feel more energetic and accomplished than, say, a whole day spent watching HGTV (ahem).

1. Do one task you've been putting off. Crossing something off your list will feel so good, you might even be inspired to do something else. For me, this will be finding out how to change the address on my driver's license.  I moved two years ago, so I expect that finally doing this will feel pretty good!
2. Plan your charitable giving for the coming year. Many of us only make donations at the end of the calendar year or when disaster motivates us to give.  But nonprofits need our generosity year-round for the work they do day in and day out.  Think about how much you are able to donate this year, and consider donating now or in installments over the course of the year.
3. Pick a small area to declutter. What space in your environment aggravates you, embarrasses you, or slows you down? It could be your desk drawer or your sock drawer, the pile on the kitchen table or that black hole where you toss instruction manuals.    Pick a manageable area that you can declutter in an hour or less, and get it done.
4. Check in with your New Year's resolutions. It's February: how are those resolutions going?  It's okay to refine your resolutions or  drop one altogether.  Just be intentional about it!  If you did any end-of-year reflection, revisit your notes from that process.  What's changed already since 2010 began?
5. Do a brain dump. When was the last time you got everything off your mind?  Sit down for 15 minutes and write down everything that is taking up your attention right now - from upcoming birthdays to grocery lists to the broken dining room chair.  Then, identify the next action needed on each item, and put it in your trusted system (a sure-fire process brought to you by David Allen).
6. Create something. Make soup from scratch, build a shelf, assemble homemade Valentines, crochet a scarf for your dog.  There is little as satisfying as creating something from start to finish in one sitting.  Short projects provide instant gratification and don't hang over your head like that sweater you started knitting two years ago.
7. Set a date.  Not to get married (though a blizzard engagement would make a nice story) but to get together with that person you've been meaning to see.  Look at your calendar, find three dates that would work for lunch or for coffee, and suggest to that long-neglected colleague/cousin/college buddy that you finally get some face-time.
8. Write down ideas for how you'd like to use your next block of found time and put your list in a find-able place.

Bonus activity: Subscribe to my blog, via the email box on the top right, or by pasting www.studentofchange.com in your feed reader of choice (I use Google Reader).

What are your favorite uses for found time?  If you have a snow day today, how will you use it?

Could You Be Happier If You Tried?

How happy are you?  Could you be happier if you tried?

Is it selfish to want to try?

While on vacation in the happiest country on earth, I read Gretchen Rubin's thoroughly absorbing (and now bestselling) meditation on these questions, The Happiness Project. Armed with research that about about 30-40% of our happiness is actually within our control (50% of happiness is pre-determined by genetics, another 10 - 20% by life circumstance) Rubin takes us along, month-by-month, on her one year quest to maximize her own sense of well-being.

The book is fun to read; it's also a treasure chest of useful tips, ideas, and frameworks for thinking about one's own happiness.  Rubin's articulation of the four stages of happiness - anticipate, savor, express, reflect - resonated as spot-on as I happily splashed about in the Pacific Ocean.  Her experiment with enacting a "week of extreme nice" is particularly amusing, if daunting.  Throughout, as she tries on the advice of philosophers, parenting experts, and self-help gurus (often to comic effect), Rubin's cardinal rule, "Be Gretchen," ensures that she remains grounded in what she knows to be true about herself.

But isn't all this focus on personal happiness kind of... selfish? Rubin addresses this question at length, and points to research that indicates that happier people are more likely to engage with the world and help others.  In Rubin's words,

"One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself."

I would go further and say that personal happiness is key to our ability to make change in the world.  For folks who feel called to create a more happy, sustainable, and balanced world, ignoring your own personal happiness, sustainability, and balance will limit your ability to act as effectively as you could.

Happy, self-aware change leaders create healthier organizations and more thoughtful social change movements. When we fail to pay attention to our own happiness -- an all too common phenomenon in the social justice field -- the results are burnout, frustration, and  organizational dysfunction.

Gretchen Rubin's book is a great reminder that in order to change the world, we must change ourselves first. How many unhappy leaders do you know, and how much more powerfully could they lead if they were leading from a happier place?

Three Questions for Better Team Meetings

Few aspects of organizational life are the source of as many complaints as meetings: too many meetings, pointless and unproductive meetings, meetings that take time away from "real" work.  But the reality is that much organizational work is done in teams, and teams need to meet.  So why not try to meet better? Team members need to understand why they are meeting, know that their valuable and limited time will be well utilized, and feel that everyone will be held accountable for taking action on the issues discussed.  Here are three questions that I've used to whip team meetings into better shape. Question #1:  What is the purpose of our meeting today? For a meeting to be successful, the team must be able to fill in the blank: "The purpose of today's meeting is to..."  In fact, it is probably a good idea to start meetings with an explicit statement of purpose.

"The purpose of today's meeting is to brainstorm elements of an ideal diversity policy" is different from "The purpose of today's meeting is to finalize the organization's new diversity policy."  Make sure everyone is clear on why they are in the room today.

Question #2  How will we use our limited time together today? After all, we don't have all day. How many meetings have you attended where the group decides to get the small items "out of the way" before moving on to weightier matters -- only to find that there are ten minutes left to discuss the most important issue on the list?

Question #2 speaks to the need for a well-designed agenda.  Agendas should be planned ahead of time, ideally with group input, and should have time limits attached to each topic.

Create an agenda that suggests realistic time frames for each item ("Planning Staff Development Day - 20 minutes") and in my experience, the group will police itself into compliance.  Since everyone wants to get out of the meeting on time, most people will keep one eye on the clock and another on the agenda.  Agendas can be flexible but to avoid time creep, deviations must be acknowledged, not ignored.   Adjustments to the agenda should be verbally agreed upon if the group's time is to be used differently than originally planned.

Question #3 What's the next action here, and who is responsible? There is nothing more frustrating than discussing an issue at length at a meeting, only to have the same conversation again at the next meeting because nothing was ever done.  It is not enough to meet and discuss -- group members must be accountable to one another for outcomes.

So you've just spent twenty minutes talking about a new ordering procedure for toilet paper.  Great!  What is the next action, and who is responsible?  Ditto the intense brainstorming conversation about a new mission statement.  What is the next action and who is responsible?

I suggest asking the next action question repeatedly throughout the course of the meeting. You will sound like a broken record, but that's okay.  Keep track of the next action list and read it aloud at the end of the meeting.  Afterwards, email the next action list to the participants; send it out again the day before the group's next meeting.  Then, start the next meeting with a quick run-through of the next action list, crossing off or carrying over each action.  It usually only takes one round of this ritual for participants to learn that they don't want to show up at the meeting without completing the next actions to which they have committed.

I've used each of these questions to positive effect in teams I've worked with. What questions have you used to make meetings more productive?

MLK's Three Dimensions of a Complete Life

Almost exactly a year before he was killed in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a stirring sermon at the New Covenant Baptist Church in Chicago.  King preached that day about The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life. King began, "you know, they used to tell us in Hollywood that in order for a movie to be complete, it had to be three-dimensional. Well, this morning I want to seek to get over to each of us that if life itself is to be complete, it must be three-dimensional." A complete life, King explained, requires attention to three levels - length (self-care), breadth (concern for others) and height (spirituality).

Here is one of my favorite passages, about finding what you are meant to do and doing it with all your heart:

After accepting ourselves and our tools, we must discover what we are called to do. (Oh yeah) And once we discover it we should set out to do it with all of the strength and all of the power that we have in our systems. (Yeah) And after we’ve discovered what God called us to do, after we’ve discovered our life’s work, we should set out to do that work so well that the living, the dead, or the unborn couldn’t do it any better. (Oh yeah)

Now this does not mean that everybody will do the so-called big, recognized things of life. Very few people will rise to the heights of genius in the arts and the sciences; very few collectively will rise to certain professions. Most of us will have to be content to work in the fields and in the factories and on the streets. But we must see the dignity of all labor. (That’s right)

When I was in Montgomery, Alabama, I went to a shoe shop quite often, known as the Gordon Shoe Shop. And there was a fellow in there that used to shine my shoes, and it was just an experience to witness this fellow shining my shoes. He would get that rag, you know, and he could bring music out of it. And I said to myself, "This fellow has a Ph.D. in shoe shining." (That’s right)

What I’m saying to you this morning, my friends, even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven composed music; sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry; (Go ahead) sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, "Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well."

You can read the entire sermon here.

Looking to strengthen your own leadership?  To live a more multi-dimensional life?  Learn more about working with me.