Yes, I know this sounds counterintuitive. Boundaries create separation, right? This distinguished from that. And that’s true, but I think there’s more, beyond what seems obvious. That’s what’s worth exploring, in my opinion.

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This is the eighth and final post in the series on personal productivity platform.

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This is the seventh post in the series on your personal productivity platform.

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People are primary.

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This is the fifth in the series on your personal productivity platform.

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It may be hard to admit but we are finite and we don’t have forever. Bummer.

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This is the third in a series of posts about your personal productivity platform and its elements.

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Yesterday I was leading a teleclass on team conversations for the Institute for Generative Leadership’s Coaching Excellence in Organizations (CEO) program. I had several participants on the call and we were talking about important issues related to coaching leaders in business settings.

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We’re not out of the woods but it seems that some things are changing for the better.

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It seems like such a small thing – progress. And yet it carries our hopes and commitments forward towards a desired future. I used to think disparagingly about progress, focusing instead on results, seemingly the ultimate arbiter…

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We tend to take what we do seriously. Often, we set extraordinarily high standards for success (read this as ‘perfect’). We put pressure on ourselves far beyond what can usefully motivate us towards learning and success; in fact, the fear of failure becomes an impediment…

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Last Saturday I was driving to St. John, Indiana, to meet my friends Richard and John for our monthly in-person breakfast chew and chat, a chance for guys to hang out and catch up. I had my country and western station on and Gary Allan’s 2005 song, “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful,” was playing. I found the tune poignant, its simple lyrics compelling and the refrain haunting and ringing so true: “Struggles make us stronger. And changes make us wise. And happiness has its own way of takin’ its sweet time.” Over breakfast, I shared the refrain and we talked about it and what it meant to each of us.

I seem to have a lot of time to think about things, more than usual. Some might snidely suggest too much time. The pandemic has radically altered our world and many of our habits are upside down.

Yesterday I attended another weekly zoom huddle of Institute of Coaching Fellows. A colleague and new friend, Rolf Pfeffer, led the discussion, crafted around a recent Manfred Kets de Vries article in Harvard Business Review, on “Finding Direction When You’re Feeling Lost.” The author identified five focal points for finding one's direction: purpose, belonging, competence, control and transcendence.

We all feel overwhelmed. We are stressed, emotionally wrung out, stretched thin.

Some of the disruption is due to factors beyond our control. Pandemic, work from home, layoffs, foreclosures and evictions, food shortages. We may spend our time coping with these conditions, trying to be as accountable as possible.

If there’s one thing that the pandemic has done, it’s underscored the importance of connection to our well-being. Social distancing (a consequence of physical distancing) and work from home have disrupted our routines and with them, our direct access to others. I live alone so my situation is similar to some, different from others who share a home.

There’s power in perspective – not simply a different point of view but a higher, elevated perspective. The view that comes from stepping up and back, getting a broader sense of things. The different view from the orchestra seats in the theatre compared to that from the balcony. Relationships come into relief, foreground and background shift, possibilities emerge and disappear.

Blending is another way of talking about moving together. A similar term is rapport. It is implied that the two parties are connected in a functional way. It is silent about which party is leading the movement.

“Put your own mask on first.”

Until recently, I traveled on business fairly frequently. I heard this advice often on the plane. I haven’t traveled in the past ten months but I still hear that refrain, now in a new context. As true now as before, it’s a life and death practice. Take care of yourself so you’re able to take care of others.

Seldom, if ever, is this a straight line or a smooth upward curve. More often peaks and valleys, ground taken and lost. Around the things that matter to me, how do I set myself up for success (or failure)?