MonkAtWork.com

Notice how in most people’s articles, books, and blog posts, they’re doing just fine?

Either writing is such a cathartic process that the simple process of it resolves the wrinkles in people’s lives, or there’s a whole lot of sharing that isn’t going on.

Few people, I think, share about the downs in life half as much as they share about the ups. And when our “business reputation” is on the line, who wants to sound like they don’t have it all together?

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How’s your sense of purpose? Do you feel as if you live and work by a clear set of values, principles, and autonomous choices? Or, do you sometimes feel as if you’re living someone else’s life, basing your choices on factors that someone else decided were the important ones?

I talk to a lot of people who feel adrift, without a sense of real purpose in their lives. Like a ship without a rudder.

If you’re “setting your sails” by paying attention only to external factors (what other people say about you, by the job you have, by whatever is happening to you in the moment), then you’ve got a very short rudder. It’s short because it doesn’t have much, if any, connection to what’s authentic inside of you.

Boats with short rudders get knocked around pretty easily.

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Ever watch yourself at work? Probably not as much as you’d think — most of the time, your focus is on the task at hand. You’re focused on the job you’re doing, the call you’re making, the report you’re writing, or the nail you’re hammering.

It takes a shift in focus to be aware of what’s happening in you as you do that job, make that call, write that report, or hammer that nail.

When you make that shift, however, a world of possibilities opens up to you. Because when you’re aware of your modus operandi — the how you do the what — then you can be much more conscious of the patterns that are present in you as you work, so you can eliminate the ones slowing you down, and strengthen the ones that are creating your best results.

Let’s take a look at an example:

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There are at least 80 million blogs out there in the world today. Sure, many of them are “spam-blogs” (splogs), and many are blogs created to chronicle an event in a person’s life (like a move across the country, or a new exercise routine), and then get discarded once the event (or the novelty) is done.

With all these gazillions of blogs out there, it sure can seem like a lot of noise.

So, does the world need your blog?

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Need help bringing your best effort into your work? Getting clear on your purpose and expressing it through your business? Finding what truly makes you tick?

If you’ve read my consulting page, then you know these are things I show people how to do. And, over the next few months, I’m taking six three more people who want help in their business, and creating a unique group I’m calling “The Book Project”.

If you’re someone who could use the guidance of one-on-one work (and the consulting offer here sounds good), and you’re interested in learning how a book gets written (or at least one way to do it) by being directly involved in the first Monk at Work book, then check out the details on the Book Project page, and let me know.

Image by strollers on Flickr, via Creative Commons license.

After spending last weekend in Washington, D.C., I came back home to teach the Business is Personal course. It went swimmingly, except that the last class didn’t get recorded due to a technical glitch (no big deal — I re-recorded it here at home the next morning). The class was great, though… I had a blast teaching it, and (knock on wood) people were thrilled.

And in addition to all the activity of family life and business, it has also been an interesting week on a personal front as well.

Being so steeped in the Business is Personal teachings — which are all about noticing (and transforming) the filters you have between you and all the things that happen in your life, particularly the beliefs that sabotage you from being at your best in your business — I had a number of interesting epiphanies (read: upheavals) emerge for myself, in my relationships, life purpose, websites, email & rss, and money.

Hoo boy. Like I said… what a week.

Shifting things up a bit

One of the topics swirling around in my consciousness lately is the menu of articles on Monk at Work, including Gratitude Friday. I love doing Gratitude Friday, and yet I’m tossing around the idea of releasing it from its fixed weekly position, and perhaps rotating topics more freely, instead of locking a particular topic to a particular calendar day. Thoughts? Preferences? (I’d have to change the name, of course, but c’est la vie…)

One of the driving factors behind this is the realization that I prefer reading blogs/sites that aren’t publishing daily — it’s just too much information for me, even when I love the topic and the author. I’ve been no where near daily here at Monk at Work, but having GF in place often means I only get one article in between each Friday, and so that drives the relative frequency of GF posts up considerably more than I thought it’d be when I started it.

(Besides, I’m taking such an ascetic stance lately on reducing information input, that it just seems more monk-like to abstain from overloading you with too much to read… I’d rather keep it meaningful than monotonous.)

So, a little gratitude to finish off this whirlwind post:

Brian Roberts for coming all the way to D.C. (and bringing his family), and for friendship, ideas, and inspiration.
Steve and his cohorts for the iCandy.
Derrick Ashong (of Soulfege and SMT) for his contribution on The Shift Movie (and thanks to Ed for sharing it). I was inspired and touched by Derrick’s words, and his passion and energy.
Dawud Miracle, for his post on eMoms at Home (yes, you read that right). Great advice for anyone who blogs. (And while I’m here, I dug this post from Wendy, too…)

Image by Jansen Mann at Flickr, via Creative Commons license.

And thanks to all those who commented on the two previous posts so far: Jan, MichelleVan, Jean Browman, Sue Melone, Sue Smith, Wally, Brian W. Roberts, Pat, Todd

Why should you not check email first thing in the morning?
Why is it a good idea to shut down your computer for the weekend?
Why ignore the phone, except when it’s best for you?

To preserve your state of mind.

I was in Washington D.C. this weekend, spending time with friends from California and doing the tourist thing. At the Natural History Museum, can you believe I saw over a dozen guys chatting away about work on their bluetooth headsets while herding their kids through the exhibits?

We also took a bus tour of the city, and the guy sitting in front of me missed at least half of it because he was on the phone. His girlfriend looked disgusted.

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