What I've learned since moving to D.C. (some of which should be obvious): 0122

6051.  You come into this life with nothing and you leave with nothing.  The only thing you can do with your life is give it away;

6052.  You experience joy when you attempt to bring it to others;

6053.  For some women, looks really don’t matter;

6054.  Justin Trawick kind of sounds like (Eric) Cartman (from “South Park”) singing bluegrass;

6055.  Your thoughts, not the world, cause your stress.  Your thoughts activate stressful reactions in your body.  Stressful thoughts create resistance to the joy, happiness and abundance that you desire to create in your life.  These thoughts include: I can’t; I’m too overworked; I worry; I’m afraid; I’m unworthy; It will never happen; I’m not smart enough; I’m too old/young; and so on.  These thoughts are like a program to resist being tranquil and stress free and they keep you from manifesting your desires;

6056.  You can change your thoughts of stress in any given moment and eliminate the anxiety for the next few moments or even hours and days;

6057.  You’ve left behind your capacity to manifest your desires when you don’t choose in the moment to eliminate a stressful thought;

6058.  Monitor your stressful thoughts by checking on your emotional state right in the moment.  Ask yourself the key question: Do I feel good right now?  If the answer is “no,” then repeat these five magic words: I want to feel good then shift to: I intend to feel good;

6059.  You don’t need a reason to be happy.  Your desire to be so is sufficient;

6060.  If you are still alive then you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do;

6061.  If the most important part of your life is ahead of you, then, even during the worst times, one can be assured that there is more laughter ahead, more success to look forward to, more children to teach and help, more friends to touch and influence, etc.  There is proof of hope for more;

6062.  You may be old.  You may be sick.  You may be divorced.  Your kids may not be speaking to you.  You may be out of work.  You may be broke.  You may be discouraged.  But you’re not dead yet.  And that’s proof that you still have not completed what you were put on earth to do;

6063.  Our brains aren’t designed to go nonstop.  When we drop into neutral, ideas flow on their own, memories sort themselves out and we give ourselves a chance to rejuvenate;

6064.  Tell others about their genius.  Be as complimentary and authentic as you can.  In doing so, you’ll radiate loving, kind, abundant and creative energy.  In a universe that operates on energy and attraction, you’ll find these same qualities returning to you;

6065.  Advice is one thing that is freely given away, but watch that you take only what is worth having;

6066.  Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry a task you set for yourself to fulfillment;

6067.  Where the determination is, the way can be found;

6068.  Apparently, you’ll need a license to lend “hard money” for most states in the U.S.;

6069.  The best version of ourselves is on the other side of our fears;

6070.  “Quinn’s On the Corner” (QuinnsOnTheCorner.com) (in Rosslyn) has $1.00 bottles of champagne (with purchase of a brunch item) on Saturdays and Sundays;

6071.  What’s the definition of distracted?  The answer is: Watching a football game on your phone when you’re (actually) at a hockey game;

6072.  People think focus means saying “yes” to the thing you’ve got to focus on.  But that’s not what it means at all.  It means saying “no” to the hundred other good ideas that there are.  You have to pick carefully;

6073.  We’re so busy saying “yes” to the vague possibility that something is more valuable than our work that we never get around to actually working on what matters;

6074.  Until physicists figure out something better, we’re free to use 168 hours a week and no more.  That means every “yes” is a tradeoff;

6075.  New opportunities are a gamble.  And the more of them we commit to, the less likely our fractured focus can even make good on any of them;

6076.  Set strong, specific goals.  Clarity is key.  If your priorities are clear, you can play your game instead of everyone else’s.  Goals filter incoming invitations.  Does the opportunity help you achieve your goal?  Great. If not, see you;

6077.  Recognize the tradeoffs.  When you feel like saying “yes,” count the cost.  Ask, “What am I giving up to say “yes” to this and is that worth it?  Will it benefit me more than my clearly articulated, preexisting goals?”  Probably not, if you’re honest;

6078.  Cultivate a mindset of abundance.  Fear of missing out thrives on scarcity.  You might rationalize an opportunity like this will probably never come along again so I have to say “yes” now.  But, no you don’t.  There’s always another deal;

6079.  Recruiting great people is similar to any kind of sales process.  Your company is the product.  Prospective employees are your customers.  The recruiting process is not just about filtering candidates, it’s also your sales pitch;

6080.  As a leader, everything you do is contagious.  If you are discouraged, pessimistic or lacking in energy, people will feel it.  The organization will reflect it.  Conversely, when you’re upbeat, energetic and optimistic, people also feel it.  It will have a positive effect on your team and the outcomes you hope to create;

6081.  It’s critical to keep our commitments, but that doesn’t mean we can’t request a release, ask for an extension or delegate the project to someone else;

6082.  Unless you believe you can grow, your life will likely look just like it did ten years ago if not worse;

6083.  When we face time crunches, sleep is often the first thing to get cut.  It may seem efficient and even smart at the time, but it’s not.  In reality, you getting that optimal sleep is going to enable you to wake up and do the job to the best of your ability;

6084.  Taking lunch to your desk might seem like a good idea, but it’s actually detrimental.  Creativity and innovation happen when people change their environment and especially when they expose themselves to nature-like environments.  Staying inside, in the same location, is really detrimental to the creative process.  It’s also detrimental to doing the rumination that’s needed for ideas to percolate and gestate and allow a person to arrive at an “Aha!” moment;

6085.  Hank’s Oyster Bar (HanksOysterBar.com) in (Old Town) Alexandria has half price oysters ($1.25 each) at the bar Monday through Friday from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM and every night from 10:00 PM until close (i.e., midnight);

6086.  Elizabeth likes oysters;

6087.  Elizabeth grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia;

6088.  Elizabeth has soft(, cold) hands;

6089.  Elizabeth likes her neck bitten;

6090.  Apparently, Elizabeth doesn’t sleep with guys on the first date( . . . and still doesn’t);

6091.  Apparently, my (front) teeth get sore from biting necks;

6092.  You may think setting conservative goals is wise, but it actually makes us and our teams less productive;

6093.  Too many leaders believe they’ll accomplish more if they lower the bar and set goals they can easily hit.  It’s called, “sandbagging.”  When goals are fixed too low, people often achieve them, but subsequent motivation and energy levels typically flag and the goals are usually not exceeded by very much.  Sandbagged goals actually do what they’re formulated to avoid: They undercut productivity because we ultimately find them boring and demotivating.  They require little and inspire even less;

6094.  If we want our organizations to succeed, we have to set goals outside the comfort zone.  But we also have to avoid the delusional zone.  Those are truly unreachable targets where nobody wins.  Instead, we have to set goals in the discomfort zone.  These are challenging enough to inspire breakthrough thinking, but not so challenging they break morale;

6095.  The best way to stay out of the delusional zone is to get more than one perspective on it.  Ask your team.  Take the temperature of your key leaders and/or primary stakeholders.  But don’t go first.  You don’t want your statement to skew the results.  At most, offer a suggested range or a few options to start a conversation.  Factoring in what you learned from your team, finalize the goal.  You can do this together with the key leaders or by yourself.  Either way, it should feel risky enough to spark your thinking as you imagine ways to make it a reality.  You won’t be entirely certain how you’re going to pull it off;

6096.  Once you’ve set the goal, it’s your job as the leader to go back and sell it, first to the key stakeholders and then to the wider organization.  The key is to connect the accomplishment to the interests of the team.  What will it mean for them to reach the goal?  What’s at stake for the business and for them personally?  Then ask for alignment.  “Can you align with this decision?”  It is important that the stakeholders feel they have a choice and voluntarily align.  Buy-in is critical;

6097.  When we set goals in the discomfort zone, it’s easy to measure the gap and see how far off the target still is.  But if that’s too daunting, it can take the wind out of our sails.  It’s also important to measure the gains.  Even when we don’t quite make it, we inevitably wind up doing much better than we would have done without a challenging goal;

6098.  Almost a third of Americans work on the weekends;

6099.  Based on what the research tells us about rest and rejuvenation, you’ll actually be more productive if you “unplug;”
6100.  (The) Macallan doesn’t color their Scotch/whiskey;