The Spokesperson Newsletter from July 29, 2020
| Being ‘Intentionally Full’ Instead of ‘Busy’ |
| Hello Facilitator Friends! Thank you so much to those that took time out of their day to join me in my 21 Year Anniversary Zoom Happy Hour last Friday! I had friends and colleagues from so many of my ‘past lives’ show up. I am very blessed. In last week’s newsletter I came up with a list of 21 Lessons Learned over the years. If you missed it you can read them here: 21 Lessons Learned Today I want to talk about the word busy…. I know I’m guilty of responding with the word ‘Busy’ when someone asks me how things are going. “I’m crazy busy.” or “it’s been really busy!” According to dictionary.com, the word busy means “actively engaged,” which doesn’t sound all that bad. But added to that definition is “not at leisure, not accessible.” It can also mean “cluttered with small, unharmonious details.” Add “careful, anxious, continually employed or occupied” to the definition and it sounds really awful. A quick survey of a thesaurus.com produced the following synonyms for busy: unavailable, buried, overloaded, slaving, snowed, swamped, tied up. Eeeek! When we we’re busy, we’re not available. We’re not present. Being busy makes us feel buried, trapped, and anxious. And that’s not at ALL how I feel or want to live each day. So I’m doing a paradigm shift and choosing a new word (actually, words). I’m choosing Intentionally Full. Can being ‘busy’ mean that your life is rich and varied and you chose to have it that way? A lot of the things we complain about being ‘busy’ with are things we intentionally and joyfully chose to bring into our lives — the work we do, the houses we clean, the children we cheer on at their chosen hobby, the friends and family we spend our time on or with… Sometimes we need to reevaluate how we spend our time, and sometimes it’s just about appreciating the amazing things we spend our time doing. This week at Training Wheels is crazy Intentionally Full. (Doesn’t that sound SO much better than busy?) I’m delivering a virtual keynote today and several virtual workshops with clients this week. I also have 10 Virtual Scavenger Hunts to build out for August programs, which has been SO fun coming up with new ways to connect people in a fun and engaging platform. (Email me if you want to chat about having me or my team build out one for your upcoming event!). I also have a writing deadline of THIS FRIDAY to get the last bit of writing done on the upcoming book, Team Building From the Toy Aisle, which I’m co-authoring with Matthew Broda and Trevor Dunlap. Plus we’ve gotten in a ton of orders on our Online Store, so we are hopping around here! AND my oldest son gets to have his high school graduation ceremony next Thursday, so we are prepping for a (physical distancing) reception in our back yard. All good, amazing stuff! And I love all of it, and I love being Intentionally Full. How about you? Are you busy or intentionally full? Perhaps it’s as simple as changing the words we use to describe our lives. Perhaps not, but I know that words matter — they powerfully shape how we see ourselves and how we interpret our actions and lives. Best wishes for an Intentionally Full week! Have fun out there, Michelle Michelle Cummings Owner/Trainer/Big Wheel Training Wheels www.training-wheels.com |
Founder / Facilitator / Big Wheel of Training Wheels
