No excuses. Do these 5 things on Thursday, June 28th:
- Delete 5 emails or action items or “save for laters” you MEANT to respond to but haven’t yet.
- Take a 20 minute unplugged walk. No phone. No ipod. No whatever.
- Do just one thing you’ve WANTED to do for months but have been putting off.
- Buy someone else near you a cup of coffee or a soda pop or a beer, and ask them about their future plans.
- Believe in yourself. Close your eyes for a moment, and just BELIEVE that you matter, that you’re something special.
That’s it. Do that. I mean it.
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Your on… added to my to-dos for tomorrow.
Yes.I can do this.
great ideas and a superb *mix* of ideas.Looking forward to Thursday.
*BUT* looking forward to the beach on Saturday even more!
Let’s do it.
Great idea. I have a new media playdate tmmw with someone I’ve been dying to meet in person, so it promises to be a fantastic day already.
Doing it! (Though my new ipod will be whining at me from my pocket. I know - I’ll leave it in the office - in a darkened drawer. It’ll be fine for 20 minutes, won’t it?)
Ok.
Great advice Chris, thanks, I’ll start on it now - except I’ll make it a winter project as I’m pretty far south of the equator.
Cheers,
J
OK, I have four out of the five done by noon! Need to talk to someone about their plans…
damn, I read this early today and meant to come back to it, but the day is over and I’m not going to make it to one item on the list.
No reason why I can’t revisit it tomorrow, though right?
i cleaned my office and rearranged furniture after 7 years. does that count for more than one of these?
Gosh I didn’t get to pay for the coffee. I’ll have to start all over today. :)
I had an awesone Thursday, doing these things, and broadening my thinking about what’s happening in the new media space. I had my first ichat with a friend; I met someone I had been dying to meet in person for at least 2 years; we wnt out for lunch and spoke more; Walk turned into a silent drive through DC and Baltimore Traffic, but it was great!
Getting out of the comfort zone is important. It’s the only way to find that information that’s going to become your inspiration for new ideas.
Emails were easy. I just realized why I wasn’t responding and why it wasn’t worth the time. Doesn’t end the communication, took some conversations to IM.
Does a 20 minute unplugged drive count? I didn’t even have my cell phone on during that time. Also sat on the porch for a while after it rained, breathing.
I spent yesterday setting up my domain and hosting and getting some stuff in line for that new design launch. I’ve been wanting to to this for years but needed a brand, a reason. I’ve finally found it.
I didn’t buy anyone a cup of coffee, because it was entirely too irritating working out of the house yesterday. I came back to the house instead to maintain my focus.
Yesterday was a great day for me to believe in the abilities that I have and remind myself that I do have something to give. It’s been a frustrating week and yesterday just brightened everything up.
BTW,
Done
Done
Done
Missed
Done
1) I went through nearly my whole @Action folder. All but 2 emails. It felt really awesome. Not exactly deleting, but only because I was really able to whip through ‘em.
2) Done. I walked to get lunch, without anything. I actually only had a deck of cards, in case I saw an opportunity to perform for someone at random. (Everyone around me seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere.)
3) Yay! I finally setup bryanvillarin.com!
4) I gave a homeless person $2.00 - does that count?
5) People don’t do this too often. This felt really powerful.
In addition to these five, I got a bunch of other stuff done because this list jarred me a bit.
It’s been so exciting seeing people’s responses to this. It makes me proud and very happy. You’re all rockstars to me.
Okay, so that link got broken. Sorry, Chris. Why would that happen?
Not sure. Let me try: http://bryanvillarin.com/
BryanVillarin.com
Did these work?
How about trying it all again today? And Monday? Perhaps Tuesday as well? Actually I recommend doing this…every day.
More valuable than buying someone a soda or beer: sitting down and giving them your complete attention for 5 minutes. Your complete undivided attention. No phone…not even on vibrate.
5. simple. minutes. To some people it’s worth 10 beers. To most other people it’s priceless.
Okay, I’m reading this on Friday. But I can probably do most of these things. Will report back via twitter…
So, today is Friday, missed the post on Thursday, BUT, get this! I did all 5 things! Without reading the post ahead of time….well, 4.5. I asked someone about their future plans but didn’t buy that same person a beer or coffee, I bought someone else beer. Cool! Thanks for putting this up Chris :)