Today is my personal anniversary of being born, aka my birthday. 26 years ago I stepped foot into this world–well I probably didn’t actually step into the world since I didn’t walk out of the womb, but you know what I mean.
Different people have different ways of celebrating the occasion of their birth. I have friends who always go to the same restaurant, or always buy themselves a gift, or always go to see a movie by themselves (this year I think he saw Avatar, a pretty good gift).
For me, your birthday is your own personal new year with the world. For the majority of us not born on January 1, our new year doesn’t start at midnight when the ball drops, but on our birthday. As such, I like to spend my day reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the new one. I spend time with people I care about, I take a reflective walk by myself, and I drink a milkshake.
So to my fellow February 11th celebrators, I say Happy Anniversary, and Happy Birthday.
How do you celebrate your birthday? Share it in the comments.
When a player is on the football field in a game, he isn’t sending instant messages, checking his email, or taking phone calls. He’s concentrating on the task at hand: playing football.
Yet when those of us in the corporate world take our proverbial football field (i.e. sit down to do work), we have more distractions than those listed above. If you want to perform at your best in football game of life, put the multi-tasking aside and run your corporate “half-back option” to glory.
According to the Mayan calendar, the world is ending in 2012. I don’t believe that it’s actually going to happen, but what if you knew for sure that it would? What would you differently? Would you stay at your current job? Would you spend as much time watching TV? Would you try to eat as much Chick Fil-A as possible (I would)?
Excluding the last one, the above questions are all worth asking yourself right now. Because if the world ends in 2012, you’ll want to make the most of the remaining 2 years. And if it doesn’t, then you’ve still just made the most of the last 2 years.
The point is that if you would change your life drastically knowing you had only had 2 more years to live, then maybe you’re doing something wrong (within reason of course, don’t go spending all of the money in your savings account or testing the limits of the law).
Now that 2010 is here, the question is how are you going to make it your best year yet? I have a suggestion: improve your perspective.
Use the change of the year (and the decade) to change your perspective to that of an improviser–instead of dwelling on what’s wrong with a situation, think about how you can build on what you have. Apply “yes and” to every situation and see how your attitude and results improve.
Need help thinking like an improvisers? Check out “Collaborating Through Yes And“, read Improv Wisdom (or at least the “Life Lessons from Improv Wisdom“ ), subscribe to the Humor That Works Newsletter for upcoming articles, or take an improv class.
