Are You in the Driver Seat or Hanging on by the Bumper?
Happy New Year!!
Yes, you might say, that was over a month ago. Yes. You are correct. And it is also true that today is day two of Chinese New Year. The best way I've found to keep the binary (potentially toxic) at bay is by reminding myself that many things can be true at the same time. It can get complicated. But it's helpful with empathy, listening, presence and deepening. It allows for another point of view.
I'm sorry this note is late and it is showing up midweek. Re-entry has been a bit of a bitch. It's easy to walk away, to break the habit and let it all go. Getting back into it all has been extremely difficult this time. I feel like the year took off without me and I'm hanging on the bumper like a bad action flick.
Oh boy, did J and I let it all go in those weeks! Down in Patagonia, the troubles of the world seem so far away, just stories you hear. We emptied our minds and filled it with fiction (good and not so good), endless sky, 100km/h wind, ancient granite peaks, delicious crab goodness cooked in butter and more butter, glacier lakes the color of gemstones and new vocabulary for our private language.
Now. Three weeks after our return and well into the calendar year, all the pieces we left behind are shouting for attention with the eager insistence of resolutions and goals chiming in, building towards a loud ruckus.
So Hi! Here I am; here we are. There is nothing to do but do. And into this year we go.
Let's go!
Charlie
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IDEAS YOU CAN STEAL
Some obsess over inbox zero. Personally, I'm happy with inbox 100.
Hack 1:Start a new email account! This comes from Kashmir Hill on her series,"Blocking the Tech Giants." TCutting out Google was week three and she had to start a new email account. So brilliant and simple. Not practical. But can we all just admire the solution for a moment before we dive back in?
Hack 2:Multiply your time by asking 4 questions about the stuff on your to-do list.
Hack 3:Don't reply to your emails.
WORTH A READ
Universal Basic Income (UBI) and 70% income tax are ideas that have been around for a long while and newly revived for public debate. Here are two compelling reads on the subject.
Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World by Annie Lowrey
(I'm in the middle of this book and I'm a fan!)
Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman. This is next on the docket for me. If you don't have time for another 300-page book, he's got a great TED talk.
I FULLY ENDORSE
Shoshanna Hecht, executive coach. I just had the pleasure of working with Shoshanna and I cannot recommend her more! What is an executive coach and what does she do? In her own words, "I work with successful, high-achieving women to break through the glass ceiling in their own mind." Shoshanna is highly qualified (see her credentials here) first of all, and during our time together, she suggested concrete tactics that I can implement to help me overcome a particular challenge. It is up to me to practice and implement course but unlike psychotherapy, working with Shoshanna is about what's next.
DON'T MISS
The Jungle. I've seen my fair share of plays (I studied theater in undergrad) and this is by far one of the best plays I have ever seen. It's run in NYC has closed but it is coming to San Francisco The Curran. SEE IT.
What the Constitution Means to Me returns to NYC March 14th. It's a fantastic one act and an Obie Award winner.
I'll leave you with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's sarcasm-laden clap for Trump's State of the Union speech....it so good!
