Morning Coffee: Values Assessment
Every time you stop to consider a different aspect of your life, you have the possibility of relating to it in a new way.
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[pre:s. I write more about wellness x entrepreneurship here]
Health
When you set the intention to be healthy, and then you must address any imbalances that are keeping you from feeling your best.
The injury you’ve avoided, the nagging pain you haven’t addressed. Imbalances seek to be balanced.
I dealt with a wrist injury from doing too many kettlebell workouts, finally fixed a postural issue I've had in my upper traps and neck that led to headaches, and got serious about my dental health to avoid issues down the road….
The people who win aren't just the ones with the most talent, but the ones who survive and are able to play the game for the longest period of time.
Maybe I have 30 or 40 more years of my career. My success rests on the foundation of my health…
Relationships
You can’t fully grow into yourself alone.
Immersing myself in the process of personal development led me to see how community is what tests and expands our growth. Meditation is only relevant in how it grounds you in the world, and the world is made up of other people.
My intention to no longer grow in isolation led me to new communities and to meet people who have been so supportive and impactful. You don’t just benefit from the growth but from the relationships themselves.
Connection is its own form of sustenance.
The more I connect I give and receive, the more I realize how much I need it. We’re not to meant to live isolated lives, and relationships are at the center of life, not at the periphery.
Work
In my 20’s my work was at the center of my focus. This extreme attention helped me understand different aspects of achievement and success.
In my 30s, work has taken on a multi-dimensional quality. It’s no longer one thing, but competing aspects of achievement, income, personal challenge, and exploration.
I’m not meant to do just one thing, and I expect my work to change again in the next decade. My focus is more on the inputs I can control than the outcomes I can’t.
You practice your serve, rather than your return.
Form matters to me now; this includes values and integrity, and also how I feel as I’m doing my work. Integrating body with mind, heart, and spirit, I notice more about the parallel process of comprehending information and making decisions.
The farther my client’s personal growth takes them, the more subtle the experience and learning we dive into.
Repeating our practice, we get the benefit of thousands of reps, which gives us new layers of understanding and depth.
The game that’s played at the highest levels might look the same to those on the field, but at every stage of growth, the game is played at different levels of depth. True success is built on a foundation of a deeper understanding and knowing what to focus on.
Learning
You’ve never had more access to great information. You’ve never had so much potential for scattered attention. You leave the structured learning paths of college and enter the unstructured, messy learning of a career.
Learning directly from people, ideally in person, teaches you about being not just doing. You get nuances you can’t pick up from a book.
A book will tell you the same thing 100 times because it cannot customize what it teaches you; it has to teach en masse.
AI changes this by creating personalization of learning.
Your curiosity is a compass…what is that compass pointing you towards?
Where do you choose to learn on your own time? What is your learning practice?
Creativity
The way I feel while doing something matters just as much as doing it. Creativity gives you access to a wider spectrum of ideas. Your goal is to access the creative field beyond yourself, and this gives you two benefits: You find greatness and you dissapear in the process.
Overplanning kills creativity. Guaranteed outcomes and success kill creativity. Everyone will teach you their process, and you will try and follow their recipe. Your creativity is your own recipe. Creativity is a deep listening practice. Too much noise drowns it out.
You can start a project without knowing where it will end. In fact you must. Creativity is a leap most people are scared to take. The people who make that leap consistently learn to love the feeling.
Art happens in the in-between spaces.
It attracts us because it breaks convention. It exists in the gaps.
Every time you stop to consider a different aspect of your life, you have the possibility of relating to it in a new way.
Time is on your side when you choose to lean in…
xx David