1) Smile.
As I begin this letter — on my phone, sitting in a fast service Thai restaurant in downtown Seattle — I’m in a bit of a bad headspace and trying to spin out of it.
Travel shakes things loose upstairs. Sometimes it’s good stuff, and inspiring. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable stuff, and overwhelming.
Smile is the first item on this evolving list of affirmations I turn to when feeling uncentered. I don’t know if affirmations is even the right word, but it’s what I’ve always called them. I read them. Say them in my head a few times, take a few deep breaths, and go on.
(Way more than you wanted to know: this affirmations list lives as a plain text file called AFFIRMATIONS in a folder on my computer called GOALS 2016 that I revisit every other day or so as I update my various lists and trackers for the year.)
2) The way you are doing it is fine.
Optimizing the work is often more fun than doing the work. At least for me it is. A little optimization is good but too much is an enticing and endlessly deep trap.
Don’t get up to sharpen your pencil. Don’t open the preferences pane. Don’t reorganize your files. Just do the damn work, kid.
3) Seek joy and be present.
Seek joy — a reminder that feeling good is not only okay, but desirable! Thanks, counseling.
Be present — a reminder to acknowledge the world around me. I like spending time in my head but it’s not healthy to spend all of my time there.
4) Do what you can today.
This one is a little kindness I give myself so as to not stress about not having solved all of the world’s problems in 24 hours. Getting One Thing Done per day on active projects is the goal. More is a bonus.
5) Do not be too serious.
This is one I’ve reworked over the years. An affirmation to “be happy” or “laugh lots” or whatever else is written on those glittery wall hangings at Hobby Lobby just wouldn’t work for me. But I can benefit from a reminder to not be too serious. Taking anything and everything too seriously caused a lot of problems in my 20s. Live and learn, right?
6) You have permission to suck.
As I’ve gotten older, and further into my career, the stakes feel higher. I feel an inclination to share less, to do less — in public, anyway. To polish and perfect things before I put them into the world. This is Not Good.
I want a lifetime habit of learning and experimenting and doing new things. As Jake the Dog tells us, sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something. I want to be sorta good at lots more things.
7) Listen to music.
Affirmations should be uplifting and positive, right? Which is why this one isn’t “Hey dummy, listen to music.” But it may as well be. One reason I like lists is that my weird brain is bad at remembering what I like. Turning my attention to a favorite album for a bit is a great way to clear my head. Perhaps I’ll do that right now.
*** Originally published as List No. 04 of the 7x77 newsletter project.