Auteur/autrice : marc

Color, during the Holi festival, celebrates the victory of good over evil. Bright colors make people smile and can make you look healthier (although there are no scientific proofs that colors can heal you). One thing for sure is people dressed with colorful garments look more cheerful that people dressed in black or dull colors. Colors have different meanings in different cultures and we should pay attention to this. However, in nature, you will find all sorts of colors, some subtle and faint, some bright and glowing. As my old friend Bernard, who believed in the power of colors on our mood, was saying: « when I need to dress conservatively for professional obvious reasons, I always make sure my underwear is colorful ». This memory makes me smile. But it’s so true and obvious. Bright colors drive bright mood.

How many bright colors are you wearing today?

When you tweet you gain some followers and lost some, it may mean something to you, but it’s noise.

When your health device facebooks the numbers of miles you ran this morning, it’s good for you, but it’s noise.

When you say hello world on social networks, it’s polite, but it’s noise.

When you send a selfie without any other form of message, you may be beautiful, but it’s noise.

Do not get upset if I unfollow you, but I’d rather enjoy the silence that being disturbed by noise!

Some days are better than others. Some days, you struggle on that idea, you stumble upon this concept, you are not clear, ideas are blurred. One of those days. It’s what Steven Pressfield, the author of the War of Art, calls resistance. Resistance is my struggle, the little devil that spoils my effort, the nasty little voice that says you will not be able to do it.

You get rid of the struggle IMHO in two steps:

1. Acknowledging the struggle is real. Because it is, if you struggle do not ignore it or do not bang your head on your table, fighting the struggle with its own power, it will only reinforce it. The struggle’s power increase with your energy to fight it.
2. Ignoring it by acting. Do not fight the struggle, change the action. The struggle will die by itself and next time or a further time, it will disappear like magic.

Everybody has the capacity to win over our own struggles, doing it with sheer force will result in energy drain. We have to be smarter, and we can!

It’s one of the shortest word in many languages and what I consider the most powerful. It’s one that will allow to unleash the best ever productivity and stay focus. It’s one my kids prefer when asking them to do something. And yet, it’s one we fear to pronounce sometimes to avoid the discussion. It’s the word No!

• Do say No to people who want to overload you with stuff they can’t do
• Do say No to tasks you have no bandwidth to execute well
• Do say No to events that do not fit into your goals or interests

We have just one life to be great, do not let outside forces draw you away from delivering your greatness, learn to say No, with a smile!