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Your Personal Barometer This week's trek is based on the work of Stanford academics Bill Burnett and Dave Evans on how to design a well-lived life. Does it feel like you are running on empty in some parts of your life? Burnett and Evans would argue that in order to get things back in sync you need to review your personal barometer across four areas of your life -- health, love, play and work. Introducing Your Personal Barometer Exercise* What It Is A quick way to understand where you are focusing your time and energy so you can assess what might be out of sync in your life. Why We Love It  Sometimes we feel that things are off in our life but we aren't certain of the source. This exercise helps you get a quick gut check on where some of your sources of imbalance might be. How It Works 1. Set aside 10-15 minutes and grab your favorite notebook. On a piece of paper, create a scale from 0-Full for each of the following categories: health, love, play and work. 0=nothing really happening here. Full=lots happening here. 2. Then, think through your current state in each of these categories. How much time and energy are you spending on your mental, physical, and spiritual health? On love (e.g., time with friends or loved ones)? On play (e.g., hobbies, creativity)? On work? Rate where you currently fall on this spectrum based on your responses (see image below for an example). 3. Next, consider areas where you might be full versus running on empty. - Are you comfortable with those discrepancies? - Are there areas where you might want to make more of a shift in a particular direction?  4. If you have some areas where you might want to make a shift, consider what it would take to make that happen. Keep in mind that the goal may not be to reach 'full' in every single area. At some points in your life different areas will get more attention than others. The key is to decide if the balance you have right now is the right one for you. *Source: Designing Your Life. Want to dig deeper into this topic? To watch Bill Burnett's TED talk on how to design a well-lived life, watch here. For details on how Burnett and Evans developed their approach, read this from NYT. To learn more about how the average American spends time, see this from WSJ. To go deeper on this specific exercise, check out Burnett and Evans book. Shout. It. Back. To treks@lifetrekkers.me if you have praise or gripes about this trek or random thoughts about Life Trekkers. Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks: "The What's Your Tutu? exercise couldn't have come at a better time. I've always had a hard time showing emotion in romantic relationships, so it's helpful for me to check in with these questions after a date."  – Beebe Xia, Copywriter and Single Lady Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@trekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Listening Meditation This week's trek is inspired by Darden professor Edward Hess's research on why "listening is the most important 21st-century business skill." You know that moment when you realize no one is listening to you? It's the worst, right? We hate it when others don't listen to us but we often mimic that same behavior when it's not our turn to talk. When someone else is talking and you spend that time thinking about what you are going to say or you interrupt them to make your point, you are making an active choice not to listen.   Hess argues that our inability to listen gets in the way of our ability to critically think. He believes that thinking critically isn't just about analyzing what you know -- it's also about being open to what you don't. Your Listening Meditation What It Is A partner meditation that creates space to rethink what it means to listen and what it feels like to be heard.   Why We Love It  When we have conversations with other people we are often driven by an unconscious obligation to respond and react in a certain way. This exercise gives us an opportunity to break some of those norms and explore new ways of consuming and interacting within a dialogue. How It Works 1. Find a friend and schedule 6-10 minutes for your partner meditation. 2. Pick one person to be the speaker and one to be the listener and set a timer for 3 minutes. During that 3 minute period, the speaker has full reign to respond to the prompt “What is it like to be me?” The listener isn’t allowed to say anything but can respond through nonverbal communication. It’s important for the listener to hold eye-contact while the speaker is speaking. 3. After the 3 minutes conclude, switch roles and repeat the same exercise. 4. After the exercise, take a minute to reflect by asking: - What did it feel like to be the listener? How did I listen differently in this context? - What was it like to be the speaker? How did I feel? - How might I hold a different space for the speaker and listener roles in my daily activities based on what I’ve just learned? Want to dig deeper into this topic? To read about the eight things that often get in the way of our ability to listen, check this out from Inc.  To learn more about the characteristics of bad listeners, check this out.  For tips on how to be a better listener, read this. Shout. It. Out. To Angel Hu for her next-level exercise crafting skills! Shout. It. Back. To treks@lifetrekkers.me if you have praise or gripes about this trek or random thoughts about Life Trekkers. Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks: "The creative recovery exercise was one of my favorites. This exercise helped me push past my creative blocks. I love using it to clear my mind and reflect by rereading it at the end of the week." - Dama Dipayana, Founder of Be Frank   Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@trekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Reining In Your Ego This week's trek is inspired by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter's research on the egoless leader. Ever thought of yourself as a big deal?  You aren't alone. Whether it is through Instagram, Twitter, or your role at work, many opportunities exist these days to reinforce how amazing/capable/brilliant you are. When it comes to working with others, though, focusing solely on yourself is not the way to win. In fact, through a survey with 30K leaders Hougaard and Carter discovered that compassion for others was one of the most important traits a successful leader should possess. Your Reining in the Ego Exercise What It Is A 10-minute exercise to bring more compassion and understanding to others. Why We Love It  We spend a lot of time thinking about ourselves - how we can nail that presentation, win that quarterly award, or show everyone around us how smart/fabulous/right we are. While all of that is gloriously self-serving, no person wants to follow someone who is only in the game for themselves. This exercise helps you focus more on others and how you, as a leader, can better serve them. How It Works 1. Set aside five minutes right before your next meeting with a coworker, direct report, client, or your child. (We know it's probably not a meeting if it's with your kid, but we've heard it still works!) 2. Start off by closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths to clear your thoughts. Then, ask yourself: - Who am I meeting with next? - What matters to them?  - What challenges does s/he have that I can help with? 3. Make a commitment to bring this new perspective to your meeting. Then, use it to provide this person with one thing that will better support his/her needs. 4. After your meeting, take a few minutes to reflect on how things went. Were you able to create a new connection with this person? Do you have a better understanding of who they are and how you can help them? Want to dig deeper into this topic? To hear more from Hougaard and Carter about their research and how they structure this exercise, check out this podcast. To hear John Mackey's take on the value of emotional intelligence, watch this video. To learn more about why emotional intelligence is important for success, check this out from FastCo.  Shout. It. Out. To Erin Hersey for her next-level exercise crafting skills! Shout. It. Back. To treks@lifetrekkers.me if you have praise or gripes about this trek or random thoughts about Life Trekkers. Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks: "When I started envy advantage I didn't realize how much envy was sapping positive energy in my life. The easy exercise offered a moment for powerful reflection that would have otherwise been unattended to." - Ian Manheimer, VP Strategy @ TCN Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@trekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.