The newest installment (v16) of the “What’s Interesting?” feature is here with my latest discoveries that inform, educate, and relate to organizing and life balance. I’ve included unique and inspiring motivation-related finds, which reflect this month’s blog theme. You are an extraordinary and engaged group. I look forward to your participation and additions to the collection I’ve sourced for you. What do you find interesting?

What’s Interesting? . . .

1. Interesting Read – Motivating Choices

Wait, What? by James E. Ryan

Finding the answers we seek are in the quality of the questions we ask. Asking the right questions can motivate us to start or stop doing something, move us forward when we’re stuck, or help us understand something more deeply. One of the books I recently read was Wait, What? And Life’s Other Essential Questionsby James E. Ryan, author and dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Ryan says, “Posing irresistible questions…is an art worth cultivating.”  He shares five essential questions like “Wait, what?” which is effective for getting clarification or avoiding quick judgments, and “I wonder…?” which fosters curiosity. Specifically for getting unstuck and motivating movement, Ryan suggests, “Couldn’t we at least…?”  This book is a wonderful resource that will add quality questions to your motivation toolbox.

2. Interesting Perspective – Motivating Action

What do you do when your To Do listoverwhelms you? I came across this pin, which adds some lightness to the serious list-makers among us. To tame those long lists, make a “Today” list. Keep it short … really short as in two to three items. Your list’s brevity will boost your motivation, increase your action, and make you feel good about your accomplishments. I can see your success.

3. Interesting Tech – Motivating Mindfulness

Even the busiest among us can make time for mindfulness moments with the Buddhify app. It provides both solo or guided meditations that help even during the most hectic times. If you need a mindfulness work break, are experiencing difficult emotions, are feeling stressed, or can’t sleep, Buddhify has a unique meditation designed just for you. Your pocket mindfulness coach will motivate you to embrace some much-needed Zen.

4. Interesting Product – Motivating Preparedness

It’s challenging to find the motivation to think or talk about death preparedness. It’s a topic that many of us avoid. We know it will happen, but not yet, not now. So we delay preparing. We delay discussing. We delay until it’s too late and we put that burden on our family. Fortunately, Amy Pickard, CEO of Good To Go created the Departure File, which “eliminates stress, guilt, doubt and provides those you leave behind with the certainty of knowing they are carrying out your wishes.” She was motivated to create this product, along with support to go with it, when her mother died unexpectedly leaving no paperwork and hundreds of details to handle. Maybe the Departure File is just the motivation you need to get your affairs in order for your loved ones.

5. Interesting Thought – Motivating Positivity

Sometimes we need a positive reminder to recognize that we can move forward, we can get unstuck, and we can accomplish the goals we desire. To reignite your motivation, use a positivity mantra like “I can” or something else that feels right for you.

What are your interesting finds? Which of these resonate with you? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

Motivation is a funny thing. Sometimes it's just there with enough force and energy to help us easily activate and accomplish "x." When that happens, the doing almost seems effortless because we aren't fighting or negotiating with ourselves. The flip side is when we seem devoid of motivation. Making a decision, let alone actually doing something, seems out of reach and maybe even impossible. What have you noticed lately? Are you poised and ready or are you stuck and overwhelmed? Perhaps the specific type of action, project, or task influences your motivation level.

We are different and behave differently according to the circumstances. There are certain conditions that can nurture or sabotage our motivation. Are you familiar with these?

Sabotages Motivation

Distracted Mind

Distractions are part of human existence. Yet in today's world of being constantly connected and interrupted by our digital devices, those distractions have intensified. It's hard to complete a thought or task without interruptions. This can negatively affect motivation because it makes it that much harder to focus and complete what we're doing. We're only partially present. Taking some intentional digital blackout breaks, doing some deep breathing, or taking a walk in nature can shift the cycle and allow your mind and body to reconnect and release all the distractions.

Overcommitting

Is your calendar so full that every waking minute is scheduled? Do you find yourself overcommitting and under-delivering? There's nothing wrong with having a full plate. Yet if you are finding that you're missing deadlines, not getting enough sleep, or are procrastinating, all of these things can sabotage your motivation. Take a step back. What can you release from the "yes" pile? Test it out and observe what happens with motivation.

Lacking Sleep

Are you burning the candle at both ends? Exhaustion is a motivation killer. When we're operating from an exhausted state, everything takes longer, we make poor decisions, and our motivation is sluggish or even non-existent. Take a look at your sleep habits. Figure out how much sleep you need to best function. Experiment with some new sleep routines and find what works for you. As your mind and body get more sleep, notice the positive effect on your motivation.

“There are certain conditions that can nurture or sabotage our motivation.”

— Linda Samuels, CPO-CD®, CVOP™

Nurtures Motivation

Lightening Load

When we find the right personal balance of commitments, we have the energy and motivation to handle them. When we focus on saying "yes" to the projects, people, and causes that are most meaningful, motivation just flows.

Creating White Space

Free time doesn't just happen. To create that white space in our days, we need to carve it out intentionally. It can be used for doing or not doing. Having some uninterrupted, unscheduled time without any commitments other than to you is an essential motivation booster. How much white space you need or want on a given day will vary. My needs have shifted at different points in my life. These days I crave a daily dose that allows me the quiet and space to exercise, walk and practice mindfulness meditation. I wake early to begin my day with some calm and nurturing. Caring for myself gives me the energy and motivation to care for others.

Connecting With Loved Ones

Spending time with family and friends, whether that's in small doses (like taking a walk) or for an extended time (like vacationing), helps us to relax, play, and unwind. We share stories, challenges, and successes. We talk about the small and big things in life. Those connections make us part of something so that we're not alone in this world. They ground, inspire, and motivate us.

If you are motivationally challenged or know someone who is, do any of these concepts resonate with you?  Are you a motivation nurturer or a sabotager? What else have you observed? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!

How we use our time each day and the behaviors we choose to adopt can produce positive or negative outcomes. In Dan Harris’ book, 10% Happier, I came across a few ideas that highlighted being more intentional with how we spend our time and where we focus our attention.

Almost two decades ago, Linda Stone, a former Apple and Microsoft executive, identified a specific phenomenon and coined the term, continuous partial attention. She describes this as paying partial attention, continuously. Stone says we’re motivated to do this because we don’t want to miss anything.  When we’re always on, constantly scanning, and on high alert, it produces an “artificial sense of constant crisis.”This phenomenon has escalated because of our increased use and availability of technology.

According to Stone, some of the outcomes that can result from regularly engaging in continuous partial attention include:

• Having a stressful lifestyle

• Operating in crisis management mode

• Compromising ability to reflect, make decisions or think creatively

• Being overwhelmed or over-stimulated

• Feeling unfulfilled

• Feeling a sense of powerlessness

Stone makes a distinction between continuous partial attention and multi-tasking because of the different impulse that motivates them. She believes that multi-tasking is productivity and efficiency driven, while continuous partial attention is motivated by the desire to be connected and alert to the best opportunities.

“We have focused on managing our time. Our opportunity is to focus how we manage our attention.”

— Linda Stone

If you find that your time is being spent in the always-on mode or that your attention is continually pulled between digital devices, tasks and interactions with people, here are some strategies suggested by Linda Stone and Janice Marturano, who is founder of Institute for Mindful Leadership:

• Establish some tech free time

• Give your full attention to others during interactions (as in put away your phones, no typing on the computer keyboard while having conversations)

• Designate part of your day as “interruption-free” time

• Take a breathing break

• Do one thing at a time

• Take mindfulness breaks or “purposeful pauses”

Have you experienced continuous partial attention? Have you felt any of the symptoms associated with it? I’d love to hear your thoughts and your strategies. I invite you to join the conversation!

The pause. Suspending time ever so briefly to notice, to feel, and to sense what surrounds you.  On this recent beautiful, light-filled morning, I took my breakfast outside to eat. As I sat at the "Samuels Cafe," I noticed the percussive sounds of the birds and insects. Their chorus was loud and varied. The foliage waved as the breeze gently moved the air. Patterns of soft light shifted and glistened as the sun danced in between the leaves. In the distance I noticed the occasional featherweight plant floating slowly from the sky to rest on the fern-covered ground.

Like my changing attention to the various sounds, my visual focus shifted too. The pattern of the light through the moving leaves highlighted different patches of the woods. It pulled my gaze to a particular tree stump or row of ferns or patch of grass. It was nature's way of showing me the beauty that exists.

The time is here to notice. The time is here to just be. It's there for you if you embrace the pause. Your moments of mindfulness are available to you.

In this corner of our world that is fixated on doing more, getting more, and being more, the pause is essential. Taking time to appreciate the present, to be in the present, to notice the present can shift your perspective to include gratitude, peace and calm.

Do you make time for the pause? What have you noticed? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Come join the conversation!