Thursday, August 15, 2013

Practicing the Holstee Manifesto

I’ve always wanted to be in business, and I’m pretty good in some ways. But I’ve had to work really hard at being the kind of business woman I aspire to be and in reality will probably never be as brilliant as some of the people I’ve had the pleasure of working with and for. Truth is, while I enjoy certain aspects of business, a lot of it does not come that natural to me. I’ve always wondered how people could work 10-12 hours a day, every day and have it not faze them (or at least appear to faze them). The only explanation that makes sense to me is that they are passionate about what they do, they’re good at it so they can lose track of time and work for endless hours. This didn’t click for me until I started cooking. I’ve been contemplating “deep stuff” this year. I changed jobs and moved and I’ve decided to take up writing. Amongst this, I’ve been struggling to balance what I need to do (work and be really good at it) versus what I’ve come to love (and should be doing in my spare time).

Today I read an article on Fast Company that was a really good reminder, a summary of an interview from the creators of the Holstee Manifesto. Probably something I need to read every morning. So in attempt to practice this, it seemed only appropriate to post, even if just briefly.

There were two points that really resonated with me. They’ve been very much on top of my mind:

  1. Being present – don’t check your phone every 5 seconds. I’ve forced myself to leave my phone at my desk during meetings (I used to be very guilty of being glued to my phone during meetings). It’s really helped me a lot. I’m engaged and learning so much more than if I was tempted to check my email or Facebook.
  2. Being intentional (and considerate) – not asking what the world needs but what about it inspires you. I know all of the things that I need to do, I just procrastinate and make silly excuses. I just wrote a blog post for my company and recommended that companies stop procrastinating – I need to practice what I preach and do what I intend to do.

I haven’t figured out how to perfect these yet, but when I do I’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime – I’m envisioning a cooking sesh this Sat.

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