Lots o’ changes happening around here. Some of them you’ll see in the newsletter, some are behind the scenes.

Of the second variety, my housemate moved out (she’s going to Thailand!) and I’m taking over her room for the Project Simplify World Headquarters. While I’m not entirely sure what that means (so far it’s been something of a cheeky name) there’s a feeling in my gut that’s saying this is the next step for the emerging Natural Professional phase of the business. Very exciting!

Of the changes that you’ll be seeing here in the newsletter, the most significant is that Lance and I have decided to shift his energies away from his role as co-editor to focus solely on the tech and marketing development side of the biz. We’ll take this month to transition and then the 100th newsletter will be his last (we love the round numbers around here!)

Lance has played a huge role in this publication–as you well know if you’ve been reading for any length of time. I’m immensely grateful to his contributions in editing my articles and tips, dealing with all the tech stuff, researching the (former) sections In the News and Keep Smiling, and applying his talented writing skills to the various sections. I couldn’t have walked this road alone these last four years.

In different phases of development we have different needs. We do our best to anticipate, but we can never know exactly how something is going to play out. Throughout the uncertainty, I’m grateful to the practice of meditation to help me stay grounded in this crazy tide of life. Let’s raise our glasses in a toast to friends, change, and new beginnings!

Enjoy,

Shawn Tuttle
Chief Simplifier, Project Simplify
Editor, The Simplifier

“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.”

-Confucius

Here are Shawn’s hand-picked selections from the Project Simplify blog:

Zoom vs. wide angle: leadership perspective
http://projectsimplify.com/tips-tricks-ideas/tips-to-simplify/zoom-vs-wide-angle-leadership/ 
”The next time you are in a meeting, practice your wide angle view. At a few different times, pretend that you are zooming out to a bird’s eye view…Practicing this skill has huge pay offs; you’ll spend more time on important activities, you’ll feel more accomplished, and will waste less time. While this is awesome for you individually, the goodies will overflow to your team, business, and family. People will look to you as someone who gets stuff done.” (more)

Giving discipline a little help
http://projectsimplify.com/tips-tricks-ideas/tips-to-simplify/giving-discipline-a-little-help/
”You might exert discipline in some areas of your life, but it may be a big challenge to hold the line when you are in that hazy realm between intention and habit. … Sheer will doesn’t always (in my case rarely) do the trick. Pulling the fuse on the excuses trying to chip away at your discipline keeps you moving toward the good luv of your simplified life!” (more)

…and from the archives:

A file for your future reference
http://projectsimplify.com/tips-tricks-ideas/organization-tips/a-file-for-your-future-reference/
”Here’s a quick tip idea triggered by a Lifehacker post and subsequent comments. The post is Keep a File of Your Accomplishments. Post author Wendy Boswell suggests having a ‘Yay-Me’ file to put notes on accomplishments you’ve made.” (more)

Ahhhh, February. A time to honor Black history. Some see it as Presidents Month, or as the month of Love. I see it as the second month of the Natural Professional book project! Subject: Clearing. Yee-haw!

"Clearing what?" you might ask. Well, whatever is in the way of you living your best life, of course! If you were a dog, you’d be scratching away the fleas and ticks. If you were Michelangelo, you’d be chipping off any marble that wasn’t a part of the magnificent statue of David.

As residents of the 21st Century modern-day living, we’ll be looking at physical stuff, commitments and relationships.

Your thoughts, ideas, stories and suggestions on this topic are… requested? nay. Encouraged? nay. Desired, nay… How about “commanded by fate”? Yeah, that’s the ticket! Fate told me to tell you that we can’t do this without your unique input.

Here are the initial questions on the forum. (It’s easy to sign up if you haven’t already. More info on the book project here.)

• Stuff! How do you feel about the amount of it in your life?
• How do you know it’s time to get rid of something?
• What effects does clutter have on you?

Next week the topics will turn to commitments and responsibilities. See you at the February forums!
Here’s the URL: http://naturalprofessional.com/forums/february-topics/

Let’s get one thing right out of the way: I don’t own anything fancy or nice. I’m not saying I don’t have anything of value–I’m currently basking in the glow of five computer monitors, for example, and I have more books than I know what to do with. I could list a lot of things I own…but not a one of them would be considered "nice" by the discerning critic. (And I don’t even want to postulate what percentage would be judged "straight-up junk".)

Maybe it’s having two large dogs and three indoor cats, or maybe it’s living on land that is almost always either muddy or dusty, or being a bachelor for too long…or maybe it’s just me. But I’m generally glad if I can just make sure most of my belongings are not grimy and gross–never mind "nice".

So maybe that provides a little context when I say I bought a new rug the other day. …

Finish reading “Upping the Ante”