In the heart of winter, when the Northeast just got hit with piles of snow and another Nor’easter is on the way, JetBlue capitalized on the weather to tempt its audience into fleeing the cold.
A timely ad offered 15% off if the temperature dropped to 15 degrees or below (almost guaranteed) and then showed pictures of luxurious beaches and sun-filled destinations. Who wouldn’t want to trade shoveling for snorkeling?
It was designed to look spontaneous, but they anticipated snow and perfectly timed it to appeal to people when the weather was at its worst. Think about what message you need to have prepared to use just at the right moment.
My friend has always found solace in the fact that everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It sounds obvious, but few people really internalize what that means. We often feel sadness or angst when something ends, rather than acknowledging it as a natural consequence of each cycle.
Rather than lamenting the need to sell your house and move into independent living, recognize it as a natural step toward the end of life
Instead of expecting to work at one place for a career, be comfortable knowing your service there has a term
Rather than foregoing social vulnerability, accept that friendships and relationships may fade as life and circumstances evolve
Instead of being sad about someone leaving a position, moving, or going off to school, consider it an expected and even joyful outcome
Rather than missing out on all the love of a pet, acknowledge upfront that if you purchase or adopt one, you will likely outlive it and need to say goodbye
Instead of fretting about the cold weather, remember that each season naturally concludes
Expecting the end can go a long way toward helping you accept it.
I have a friend who is in the process of downsizing his home and moving into an independent living facility. I think about when it’s my time to do that, and how hard it must be to part with the majority of your lifetime possessions. I’m reluctant to even get rid of my enrollment materials that I haven’t needed in a decade. How do you say goodbye to sentimental treasures?
I read a passage in A Gentleman in Moscow that resonated:
“From the earliest age, we must learn to say good-bye to friends and family…But experience is less likely to teach us how to bid our dearest possessions adieu…For eventually, we come to hold our dearest possessions more closely than we hold our friends. We carry them from place to place, often at considerable expense and inconvenience; we dust and polish their surfaces and reprimand children for playing too roughly in their vicinity — all the while, allowing memories to invest them with greater and greater importance.”
I look around my house and see treasures that have meaning only to me; things that could easily be tossed by someone cleaning out my home, but that I value. How do we get so attached to physical objects?
I was reminded of a passage from Gift from the Sea where the author spends a week at the ocean and collects shells on each of her walks. As she prepares to leave, she notes:
“One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can only collect a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few…For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms.”
Whether they be sentimental, valuable, or practical, in the end, things are just things. Create some space in your life to enjoy relationships, nature, and the intangible pleasures, rather than accumulating more “stuff.”
Source: A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles, 2016, p. 14 and Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindburgh, 1955, p. 114.
My brother wanted to see the Eagles (and his wife didn’t care to see them again), and I wanted to see the Sphere, so the two of us are going to Las Vegas to see the concert there.
He is a big music fan, and I am not. When these plans were made, I doubt I could have named one Eagles song for you. So, in preparation, I downloaded their Greatest Hits album, and what do you know? I know all the songs. I could sing along with every one of them. The concert is going to be great fun.
Without explicitly realizing it, I have been enjoying the band for decades. Do your work so that you are like the Eagles, where what you create makes a difference for people, regardless of whether they know you were behind it.
I hear my students and clients talk about imposter syndrome all the time. These are accomplished women, yet they still harbor feelings of doubt and inadequacy. They are unable to fully embrace their gifts because they don’t know everything, and feel as if they should.
I was asked recently if I ever felt like an imposter. I reframed that to say there were many times when I felt like a learner. I have openly shared when I was a beginner in my field, or when I was new to a project, but I always believed in my abilities to figure it out. It was this inner confidence that kept me from the imposter trap.
Brené Brown beautifully describes this in her book Strong Ground:
“I define grounded confidence as a brand of confidence that is built not on arrogance or posturing, but rather on the solid ground of self-awareness, courage, and practice. Grounded confidence is accepting and embracing learning and unlearning, practicing and failing, and, at its core, is driven by discipline and the joy of mastery.”
I think grounded confidence is the antidote to imposter syndrome. Instead of focusing on what you don’t know (yet), trust in your ability to learn it.
Source: Strong Ground by Brené Brown, 2025, page 229
I’ve always been struck by how little of our bodies we can actually see ourselves. We rely on mirrors to see reflections of our heads and faces; our backside can only be seen by others, and imaging is required to see internal components. We require someone else to provide assessments for much of our physical being.
There is a parallel in organizations, where leaders must rely on others to see the whole. Truth-tellers serve as mirrors, helping those in charge see what is happening and alerting them to blind spots or festering issues they might otherwise miss. There are tools to help organizations uncover internal issues, and outside consultants can see things that those within cannot.
Just as it is unwise to rely solely on the visible parts of your body to assess your well-being, it is foolish for leaders to determine their organization’s health only by what they see. Value the many types of inputs to help diagnose the whole picture.
It seems one of the new fads is puzzle competitions. A local bar just held one where teams were given the same puzzle to solve within two hours — after only having one minute to look at the picture on the box. There are now year-round leagues with teams and wait lists. Multiple libraries have also done puzzle competitions as fundraisers, allowing people of all ages to participate.
I think of puzzling as a slow, casual activity to be done without stress as a way to pass long winter days. For me, it’s certainly not a race, and I frequently look at the box to help in completing my task.
I wonder if puzzle competitions are an outgrowth of youth sports, where it was a competition instead of “play for play’s sake.” Or, maybe gamification has taken over leisure as well, where people are not interested if there is no trophy at the conclusion.
One thing is clear: almost everything can be made into a competition. Perhaps your organization should compete to see how you can turn your service into a contest to engage your audience. The dot-liking challenge, maybe?
In 2016, I wrote about how our new Five Guys restaurant heavily promoted testimonials about its food (dot #1660). When I recently visited, I was struck by how they are using the exact same quotes a decade later. It may be cost-prohibitive to change the signs lining their walls, but even the cups are using old reviews, dating back to 2008. The most recent quote is from 2019, seven years ago. I am no longer impressed.
I know from my own website that it’s easy to post a testimonial and forget about it, but comments that are not refreshed become stale. It makes me wonder whether no one has provided positive feedback in the intervening years.
The adage “what have you done for me lately” can be modified to “what have you said about me lately.” Keep that in mind before utilizing testimonials so prominently.
Today is National Handwriting Day, one of those arbitrary holidays created to focus attention on an issue. The date was selected because it is John Hancock’s birthday — in honor of the first and most prominent signature on the Declaration of Independence.
I have always been a big fan of handwriting, whether that be letters, meeting notes, lists, or journals. I agree with the neurologists who believe that writing by hand remains the most powerful way to learn and retain information. It combines the tactile act of physically crafting the letters with the visual aspect of seeing them on the page. The engagement of motor, cognitive, and emotional functions helps (me at least) with the thinking process and recall. It’s in part why writing on Post-it notes works as reminders.
This “holiday” was established in 1977 by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association to promote the use of pens, pencils, and paper. In addition to being an occasion to be more deliberate about the words we write, it also allows our personality to come through more fully. I have saved letters and recipes from my mom, and just seeing her handwriting allows me to feel closer to her.
Create your own mini-celebration of National Handwriting Day by putting pen to paper today. Write a thank you or note of appreciation to someone. Take notes by hand in your next meeting. Draft a proposal on a legal pad instead of a computer. Write your list on paper instead of using an app.
The power of the pen comes from merely using it, not just from the words you write.
Stephen Covey wrote about the essential Quadrant 2, where activities live that are Important, but not Urgent. It is so easy to neglect work that falls in this category, principally because it doesn’t make its way onto your calendar.
I find myself with an empty-ish schedule, tricking my brain into thinking I am “free,” but if I look at the projects I could/should be completing, they are all important tasks, just ones without a deadline. This includes things like updating the syllabus from my last class, completing a final report for a project, and categorizing past dots. There is no due date, so it’s up to me to find the motivation to work on them.
Quadrant 2 activities also include personal enhancements such as fitness and relationships. Unless (and until) I make them a priority or put them on the calendar, those, too, often get pushed aside for less important but compelling time-fillers.
It’s a curse of formal education that we are trained to live by the deadline. Assignments are due. Class periods are structured. Our many years of schooling are externally driven, and we don’t always learn how to prioritize and do the Q2 tasks.
Take a moment today to break that pattern. Translate something important into a deadline. Commit to calling a friend by Sunday. Identify a specific time to do some reflection. Add time to your calendar to start a Q2 project. Schedule time to go for a walk.
It’s the important that urgently needs our attention.
