#58

Welcome to Weekly Whisper #58.

Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life. Jerzy Gregorek

I’ve mentioned this quote before but it continues to resonate and reinforces something I’ve written about previously - all our decisions are a vote for our short or long-term success.

My personal take is ‘Long term choices, optimal life. Short term choices, less than optimal life’.

Less catchy I know but I don’t think the choices are actually that hard. What I think makes them harder is we make them too big to consume regularly. If we were to make small, easy-to-do choices a more regular part of our lives then we’d have a better chance at living a more optimal life (as defined by you of course). Instead, we make what I’d call ‘lazy choices’ that feed short-term needs and over time find ourselves living a less than optimal life. Once we are heading down that path then changing becomes a harder choice. Staying where you are becomes easier. It’s easy to make long-term choices just far easier not to!

One of the challenges I observe - in myself and others – is the clamour for immediate results or instant gratification (particularly prevalent in our attention-deficit economy). So, do something your future self will be thankful for and make some easy long-term choices on a consistent basis.

What’s hard for you isn’t necessarily bad for you

Read that again.

Yep, whatever might be showing up for you that’s difficult, challenging, or hard isn’t necessarily going against you. Perhaps it might be signaling something else.

Take a moment to consider something that you are finding hard - what’s it telling you? Is it whispering something? If you got a little better at it might it turn out to be quite beneficial for you?

I believe that life puts obstacles in our way to test our desire for wanting it. So, how is your desire being tested today?

Question of the week: Where does a thought go when it’s forgotten?

This question caused me to stop and ponder. Does the question have the same impact on you?

Where do your thoughts go when you’ve forgotten them? Or do we carry them somehow? Are they never forgotten? Which one’s do we consistently bring back to the front of our minds? We seem to believe much of our thoughts and yet we can forget them so easily too.

Worth pondering eh 😊

 
Quote of the week: "Formal education is not nearly as important as an unquenchable thirst to learn" James Clear

Are you full? Are you full of stuff that there’s no room for any new learning? What do you consider learning? Knowing more stuff?

Our glamourisation of knowledge and ‘knowing’ is getting in the way of real learning – experimenting, practising, iterating, failing, falling, and getting back up.

Intentional growth and learning are the new competitive advantage.

 
Freedom Fridays Podcast Episode #52

An exploration of what freedom means. Through a series of conversations with experts and leaders in their field, we explore some of the ways we can be free from whatever is holding us back. We’ll share some of the ingredients – easy, hard, and almost impossible.

The lessons are hiding in open sight within the conversation – it’s up to you how you apply them.

Episode #52 with Gabrielle Dolan

In Episode #52 Pete chats with Gabrielle Dolan, a highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator, and author. Gabrielle understands the power of storytelling in effective business communication and has found her calling as a global thought leader in strategic storytelling and real communication. Gabrielle has worked with thousands of high-profile leaders and their teams from around the world and takes the time for an enlightening and informative chat with Pete.

Gabrielle (Ral) and Pete chat about the Freedom Fridays philosophy, the importance of setting boundaries, and the tangible and intangible effects those boundaries have had on Ral’s personal and business life. They take a look at the helpful and hindering convenient stories that we all tell ourselves. And dive into the importance of bringing humanity and real-life personal stories into the world of business communication.

That's all for this week. I hope you enjoyed Weekly Whisper #58.

Feedback is my fuel so if you have any comments please send me an email at [email protected] and let me know your thoughts.

Cheers

Pete