How do you set goals?

And what magical tricks do you have for achieving them?

What if we each had an ideal pace for our lives?

A tempo or a beat that reflected the best possible speed for our life to unfold at any moment.

Would your essence pace be faster or slower than the way your life typically unfolds now?

We sometimes get confused about this. We commit to change or transform...and then we find ourselves doing the opposite of what we said we would do.

What are we to make of this?

I'm fascinated by how much my life is improved - my clients lives are improved - by small adjustments in habits and behaviors. Doing these these things consistently has a significant impact on my health, productivity, happiness, and well-being.

Time & productivity are always hot topics.

I sometimes hesitate to write too much about them because as I’ve told you before…I think we tend to overestimate how more time or productivity will solve bigger challenges - like a lack of purpose, engagement or vitality.

Science tells me it's true. Completing tasks activates the same short-term feel good dopamine circuitry that underpins other forms of addiction.

But, as I’ve mentioned before - all that doing is not necessary.

It’s February, which means that about 80% of our new year's resolutions have failed.

This could be a depressing statistic - hey, you might even be feeling a little down about some “failed” intentions right now - but I actually think resolution “failure” is a total gold mine for anyone really interested in change.

For the next meeting or conversation you have: What would you need to add or take away to make it 10x better?

What check-in would support you in moving toward that change?

We are habit collecting machines.

At a young age we start to develop little patterns that help us feel safe, make sense of the world, be liked and accepted, get what we want, etc..

Not a problem. This is what it is to be human.

If you've been curious about a new way to think about productivity and time... you may have started to bump into other, related beliefs.

This post is for any of you that totally want to geek out on the joys of planning for the new year.

You'll also get a few of my favorite questions for reflection, envisioning, and mapping out the year ahead.

Having tested the upper limits of efficiency as a strategy many times - academically, professionally, and personally - I can promise you that productivity is not the golden ticket.