MonkAtWork.com

Ah, the classic Rumi poem… it’s being quoted everywhere these days.

People love to recite this, saying, “See, it doesn’t matter how I do it; let go of right and wrong!”

But did you know that the poem doesn’t stop there? Read more »

I’m quite the digital Monk. My office is close to 100% paperless — well, maybe 90% or so is closer to accurate.

But I just came across some tools so cool that are so gobsmackingly cool, I had to download them and try them for myself.
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We’ve all been there. Times when we’ve found ourselves squeaking along, trying to just get by and not ruffle any feathers, or have our own feathers ruffled.

In those moments, we’re caught. We’re believing in the message sent by our voices of pain, of doubt, and fear. We’re believing the barriers, the reasons why not to be bold, and stand out.

There is a great post over at Brian Clark’s Copyblogger, where he talks about how our perceptions about hierarchy can often be the biggest hindrance to our success.

Rather than live strong, you succumb to the voices and shrink, trying to squeak by without being noticed.

But in that shrinking, into the box you go.
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Each of us has a team of horses inside us. Sometimes, one wants to gallop. Another wants a drink of water. And another would rather just sleep.

Are you having a heck of a time getting these horses to work together?

It’s when we get all these horses aligned in the same direction that we experience flow and true productivity.

You could bully your horses into line, but anyone who works with horses knows that bullying only works for so long — and then you either have a horse that’s entirely impossible
to manage, or a horse with a broken spirit.
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Last week I held a free teleclass on busting up the myths we hold around productivity. It was great — we covered some really good ground — and, there was one myth that we didn’t cover that I saw pop up on a forum I frequent.

The person posting said,

“I’m going to back off of productivity a bit today, and only work until noon. Then I’m going to go out to lunch with a friend, and take some time to relax this afternoon.”

No big deal, right? Sure, her productivity may suffer a little, but we all need a break sometimes, right?

GONNNNGGG! Let’s drop that idea right here, right now.
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Everyone’s talking about keeping it real. And I don’t even have to point an eyebrow towards Enron, Britney, or Milli Vanilli (remember them?) to remind anyone of the conversation of what happens when one’s view on reality takes shore leave.

And yet, there’s another level of real that’s not so easy to pick apart. On a spirituality website I came across last week claiming to be a “guide to contemporary spirituality for women,” I saw the testament, “The first piece, the largest one, has to be spirituality. However, to get it to work, it has to be practical, it has to be fun, and most importantly, it has to be real.”

Isn’t everything real, though? I mean, how do you escape real — unless you become imaginary. But the dot-com rupture sealed the lid on that realm of business (or, let us hope so).

There is a spiritual distinction that sheds some light on the subject, but I’ll warn you, it may bake your noodle the first time you read it: Nothing is real, except the Real.
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