A Quote I'm Thinking About
“Fail early and get it all over with. If you learn to deal with failure… you can have a worthwhile career. You learn to breathe again when you embrace failure as a part of life, not as the determining moment of life.
— Rev. William L. Swig”
Wisdom right?
Copy of Mise-En-Place
Awhile back I read Anthony Bourdain’s book Kitchen Confidential. One part of his memoir I think about often. He writes: "Mise en place is the religion of all good line cooks."
"As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system," he continues. "The universe is in order when your station is set up the way you like it: you know where to find everything with your eyes closed, everything you need during the course of the shift is at the ready at arm's reach, your defenses are deployed."
He goes on to describe what chefs call the ‘meez’ as "carefully arranged supplies of sea salt, rough-cracked paper, softened butter, cooking oil, wine, back-ups, and so on." Without a well-tended meez, Bourdain warns, you'll soon find yourself spinning in place and calling for backup.
Perhaps I’ve been thinking of this because I’ve been traveling for several weeks now and it’s easy to feel out of sorts. Thankfully...
I Saw this in NYC.... Where Do I Apply?
I saw this Help Wanted poster while wandering in NYC. Ever work for someone like this?
One more reason to work for myself!
This is What Five Million Looks Like
We took a tour of a Reggiano Parmesano factory in Castello di Annone, Italy. Fascinating! This is what 5 million dollars worth of inventory looks like!
On Perfect Friendships
Ever read something and spit out what you are drinking with a good belly laugh?
I just spit out my tea when I read this:
“We instantly connected and knew that if left unsupervised by responsible adults we could get into all kinds of trouble if we became friends.
So we became friends.”
This made me laugh because it captured in words something so magical when it happens. Life is richer... struggles more bearable... because they grant you total freedom to be yourself.
I hope you have such friends!
What Are You Tolerating? Part 2
Now that you've had time to take stock of what you are tolerating I find it helpful to to think through what I want to do about it. Really there are only four things you can do.
- Do/Fix It -- Don't keep waiting for a 'perfect' time just take care of ‘it’ now.
- Delegate It -- Perhaps ‘it’ is not the best use of your time. Can someone else take this off your plate? For me this is the hardest. Somehow I stubbornly think I can do it all when some of the things I'm tolerating can be removed if I'd simply delegate and give myself grace in the process.
- Dump It -- Sometimes it's best to accept ‘it’, let it go, and move on.
- Dedicate Time to Eliminating It -- If 'it' can be eliminated do you want create a new ritual or habit to change it? That decision makes all the difference.
Look at the list of what you are tolerating and highlight the things that you...
What Are You Tolerating?
What exists in your life right now that isn’t quite the way you’d like it to be? You know... those little things you put up with that you’ve been meaning to fix, but haven’t? Those things that you keep swearing you will to get to. . .
Maybe it’s the clutter piled up in your office, bedroom or your car. Maybe it's something in your home you've been meaning to fix. Or maybe it is something bigger – like a home that doesn’t meet your needs for the season you are entering or a car payment that's too high for your budget.
The things in our lives that are out of alignment are more than just annoyances. They actually drain energy and distract us from crafting our best life.
Why don't you grab a cup of tea and start to write down things you are tolerating. Take a sheet of paper or open a word doc and begin to make a brain dump. I've listed various categories...
Don't Fall Into This Trap
“Every single day on which you don’t start, you are ingraining the habit of passivity more deeply into your mind and body." — unknown
I read the above quote a couple of times today and thought I'd share it with you. If you let passivity rule, you are doing nothing. Nothing to further your goals. Nothing to take control over your life. Nothing to turn your dreams into reality.
In short, you are letting things happen to you. Instead of going out there and doing things.
I'm reminded of a Leonardo Da Vinci quote I like: “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things”
When you don’t start today, you probably won’t start tomorrow, either. Your future self is probably not going to be all that different from your current self — unless you start making the necessary changes today.
“What is the single step that I...
FREE LOVE YOUR LIFE CHALLENGE
5 videos and a downloadable journal create space for you to reflect on your work, growth, play, relationships and purpose. Everything online, to fit your life and schedule, and the whole thing is completely FREE.
I'm Glad You're Here!
Charlene Fike
Avanti Maven
Lover of ideas, a serial entrepreneur, a digital nomad, a gourmet cook, an endlessly curious reader, an adventurous traveler, a synergistic networker, and a champion of creative projects large and small.
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