Queen Elizabeth II: “It doesn’t feel right, as Head of State, to do nothing.”
Queen Mary: “It is exactly right.”
Queen Elizabeth II: “Is it? But surely doing nothing is no job at all?”
Queen Mary: “To do nothing is the hardest job of all. And it will take every ounce of energy that you have.”
-Dialogue is from The Crown TV Series Season 1, Episode 4, 53m:59s
The summer season is radiant! After much anticipation, the temperature begins to rise steadily. Slowly, we get more light and more heat. In some regions of North America, it becomes very dry. In others, dark clouds turn into massive storms. Sometimes it’s both. But the sun doesn’t stop. Every day the sun rises relentlessly, and it showers rays of life that appear to expand everything they touch.
Everything grows vigorously. Leaves and needles begin a growth spurt. Nature goes wild in the summer. And it makes us feel alive because of what happens during this season: we get stretched. There are many lessons from the summer season to be learned! Continue exploring
Can you imagine what your life would feel like with more self-discipline? What would you do? When you take action on something that matters to you regardless of your immediate impulses—you practice self-discipline. It’s choosing to move forward to act on what you most care about despite hardship, and it feels really good. In fact, we could all use more of it. Every time that we practice self-discipline, we choose to reclaim our life. We pursue our dreams, act on them, and stay motivated when we don’t feel like it. We engage in self-discipline by exercising our willpower and focused attention to choose action over distraction. Continue exploring
“Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” -John F. Kennedy
Have you ever wondered what effort is really about? Do you believe the only path to success is through more effort? Effort isn’t just about spending even more energy, more hours, more work—and more stress. It’s about how we apply energy to get what we truly want. Many people think that effort is about grinding longer and harder. But what if it’s more about alignment and connection than intensity?
The three degrees of effort are an approach to understanding how to apply more strategic effort to act on difficult learning and challenging setbacks. Continue exploring
Do you ever think about how you think? Imagine if we were to portray your thinking process, what would it look like? Daydreaming? A constant chatter? We can’t engage our goals effectively that way. We need to improve our thinking to improve our actions. How we think matters because it affects how we feel and consequently, what we do. In the last insight we explored how to set and achieve goals, and the importance of making them exciting. Now we’ll explore how to engage your goals to make significant progress. Continue exploring
