Episode 600 – Zooming in

• Here we are – 600 episodes completed
• Another milestone
• A pretty big one
• It coincides almost with the end of this pandemic year
• And I have been thinking about this episode for a while now
• Usually – at the 100 mark, I reflect on the previous 100 episodes
• And I want to the same thing today
• But it will look a bit different
• Because I want you to reflect together with me
• Welcome back to QFY
• It has taken me a while to get to 600
• Mostly because I’ve dragged my feet
• But before I start down the self-deprecating trail that maybe you also find yourself on, I stop short and I think we will do something different today
• There is no denying –
• I have not felt so unproductive since I started my podcast in 2017
  • And it wasn’t just a feeling, I was definitely not productive – at least not with this podcast
• I have never lacked motivation for more than a day until this year
  • When I sat down to write episodes but only kept looking at a blank white screen
• I never slept as much in a year as this one
  • Well maybe as a baby, but not as a grown up
• I have always dreaded Mondays, since I was a kid in Kindergarten
  • Until this year, when I realized, that if a certain task like laundry didn’t get done on the weekend, I could just do it Monday
  • All the days just kind-of blend together
• And I know from listening to friends and podcasts, and reading, I am not alone
• It was an epic year in many regards,
• And as I reflected on this year, and I am sure I will do more of that as it winds down –
• But specifically on these past 100 episodes, most of which were published this year
  • In fact it took me over a year to get them all out to you
• I am tempted to say – this year was a blur, a waste, a disruption, something out of the ordinary
• I could use it as an excuse for a bunch of things
  • As a friend likes to say – a hall pass
  • I could just give myself a hall pass for this year
• Or – I could feel extremely guilty because I wasted it,
  • I had all this time at home
  • Extra time I didn’t commute
  • And I didn’t use it towards anything measurable – like
    • I could have learned another language
    • Written a brand new website
    • Maybe even start another podcast
    • Definitely could have read more books
  • And Depending on the day, I drift back and forth between either guilt or excuse
  • But what if I got it all wrong?
  • What if we have it all wrong?
  • What if this year
    • My last 100 episodes
    • Your projects, your non- progress, your other activities
  • What if we need to look at it differently, with a different lens, a more magnified lens?
  • A ZOOM lens maybe
  • and I thought about workshops, seminars, live events many of us have gone to before
    • Maybe sponsored by our employers, our churches, or out of our own pocket because we want to improve ourselves
  • Those events are always intense
    • Tons of information packed into each day, into every hour often
    • So much is happening
    • New people, new places, information that lights us up, gives us sudden clarity, ideas,
    • We take notes and more notes and our brain spills over with everything we want to do as soon as we get back home
  • But once we get back home – 90% of the information we found so inspiring is forgotten within the first few days
    • The notes shelfed somewhere
    • Maybe 10% stays, changes us because we make a change as a result of the workshop
  • Why so little? If at all?
  • I think its because we don’t take time to review the material, the notes we took, the information we felt a need to follow up on
  • I know from my own experience – I have been to many workshops
  • I don’t recall ever sitting down afterwards at home to digest everything, to make a plan, to research more
  • Instead, we go back to normal and we forget
  • The excitement is gone, but so are the ideas we had that we wanted to try out
  • Over Labor day weekend earlier this year, I went up north into Oregon with a friend
    • We visited Crater lake – which is the deepest lake in the United States
    • We also visited the Lava Tubes nearby
  • I learned a lot on this trip from reading flyers and signposts, but I also had tons of questions, especially about how these lava tubes were formed
  • On the way home, we drove miles and miles back into CA and we still saw fields covered in huge black lava rocks
    • Peoples properties had them on it
  • I left the national park flyers prominently on my desk so that I would remember to research about these topics and the questions I had
  • It was hard and it took me a few days because as soon as my normal life swallowed me back up, the trip was forgotten
    • The inspiration and the curiosity gone
    • Just like with a workshop
  • And somehow I feel that we’ve been given 2020 as a year for review
    • To Zoom in
  • Prior, every day was a workshop for me of some sort
    • Always on the go, doing, learning, listening
    • And while I had moments where I made time to let sink all in – these moments were not enough
  • And I see that now
  • I plowed along
  • Because that’s what I am good at
  • But I didn’t stop to look back on all that plowing
  • Let me give you an example:
  • I used to be a gym rat
  • I was in the gym almost every day of the week, except weekends because I was out climbing
  • When I wasn’t climbing, I also went to the gym on the weekends
  • In my mind I needed all those workout
  • Yet, now, I work out less
  • I walk more, I do more yoga, but my weights workouts are fewer and on the lighter side because I don’t have access to all those machines I used to rotate though on a weekly basis
  • And guess what?
  • I still feel great
  • My body looks less bulky but still toned
  • So basically – I get the same result as before, but in a different, less intense and less time-consuming way
  • But also in a way that appears less productive
  • Just listen to how these 2 statements sound:
    • I went to the gym today to do an hour leg workout
    • I took an online yoga class today at home
  • The first statement sounds way more productive
    • You can visualize me working out hard in the gym, cant you
  • Versus my yoga workout at home – its sounds kinda lame – doesn’t it?
    • Didn’t appear to require nearly the same amount of effort as the gym
  • Compare that to a walk even – super-lame
    • But nobody knows what kind of walk I went on
    • This could have been an hour long walk up and down steep hills, having me completely out of breath
    • I know I have not been out of breath after most of my previous gym sessions
  • What I am trying to illustrate is
  • Appearance is not everything we should use to judge something

• I know this year will not appear as productive to many people
• But let me ask you –
• What have you learned – about yourself, your life, your family,
• What conclusions have you drawn?
• What insights did you get during those many idle hours in the afternoons, when it was quiet in your house?
• What new habits, hobbies, activities, routines have you started this year?
• What minor, almost insignificant changes have you made?
• Wanna hear one from me?
  • I only started this recently, but I decided to take action on ONE thing every time I listen to an inspiring podcast
  • Almost every day I am out walking
  • And I listen to podcasts
  • Sometimes I take notes while walking, but rarely because I like to enjoy my surroundings, and not have my head over my phone
  • But the podcasts I listen to are all for the most part interesting and informative
  • And there is always something I learn
  • But there is hardly ever anything I follow up on
  • And I want to change this
• Its something minor, but before I listened to podcast to check them off
• Now I want to listen to them to become a better person
• They are not just another thing to do anymore,
• Reflection, quiet time, thinking time – I know many people do a lot more of that
• This is also ZOOM in time
  • Walking and thinking
  • Doing yoga, breathing, meditating
• Its all time that doesn’t look productive because we don’t have anything to show for it
• Before, I did a lot more in a given day
  • But much of that doing wasn’t anything of value, really
    • Getting dressed, putting make up on, driving to work, being at work, driving home, stopping at the grocery store, etc
  • I’d come home and feel like it was a productive day
  • But was it really?
  • Or did I just do a lot, cover miles, visit different places, listen to 5 podcasts – and all this gave me a sense of productivity?
• What did you ZOOM in on this year?
• Your home and family life for sure
  • Think of all the closets you cleaned out this year
  • All the refreshing, remodeling, repainting, refurnishing, repairing you did
• Think of all the extra time you spent with family, people online, maybe cooking, gardening, knitting, doing yoga, walking, thinking
• Did you think about food more this year?
• I know I did
  • Because I was for the first time almost 100% in control over my food
  • No more catered lunches and office snacks lying around
  • No more party or dinner invitations, lunch or coffee meetings
  • It was all me
  • My grocery runs, my plans for cooking dinner, my decisions on eating times and snack choices
• Even my sleeping time –
• it was all needed, all necessary
• All part of the zooming in on our life that we needed to do
• All the doing before, maybe the non-doing, the idle time, the less flashy looking work
• it belongs just as much
• its all part of our life
• a productive life
• a thoughtful and purposeful life
• and maybe this year was needed because we have been only on the go ever before
• and because we never took the time to zoom in on what really matters
• let me ask you again –
• what have you changed your mind on this year
  • like I did with my workouts
  • the way I listen to podcasts
  • the people I want to keep close to me
• what perspective has changed for you?
  • In terms of priorities, for example
• What values have moved into the foreground for you
  • Health, maybe
  • Friendships
  • A calmer, more patient approach
• What small changes have you made?
• What different approaches are you taking?
• When I look back – So many examples come to mind
• Here are a few
  • Instead of powerwalks or runs, I take at least one long walk with a friend a week where the purpose is to connect
  • With much less face time with my friends, I had a chance to really evaluate which friends mean more to me than others
    • And this reflected in the effort to reach out and schedule walking time, for example
  • By spending more time at home, and being around my roommate more, I have come to really appreciate my apartment and my roommate, who is quiet and kind – something I truly failed to appreciate before
  • And in the many hours fretting over my podcast, my inability to kick out 3 or more episodes a week – I am actually still thinking about my podcast
    • I am considering new approaches,
    • Thinking about different strategies
    • Trying to really think about its place in my life
  • these examples appear insignificant, unproductive, meaningless
  • but only on the surface
  • because this time is needed to digest, to learn, to make changes, to figure out what matters
  • its only when we become still that this is possible
  • and becoming still, and idle, and without a plan and an agenda
    • it’s what we should be doing regularly
  • 2020 just gave it to us – all of a sudden – and lasted so much longer than we thought
  • Good –
  • I am grateful for this year
  • For Almost 9 months I had a chance to work from home
  • 9 months I was free of the pressure that started every weekday with the sound of my alarm, and ended with me falling exhausted into bed
  • 9 months of more time for myself, time I needed
  • Its not yet the end of the year, but its near
  • And these are some of the thoughts that are going through my mind as I reflect on this year and the last 100 episodes
  • And that I want to leave you with as you reflect on this year
  • Think about what changed for you this year
  • In a less obvious way
  • A less apparent, less productive, less measurable way
  • I know you will come up with a lot
  • And with that my friends
  • I want to say thank you for your time
  • For listening
  • For being with me on this journey
  • A journey that continues
  • I am going to take some time off, but I don’t yet know how long
  • I want to come back with a slightly modified QFY podcast
  • And it will take me some time to figure it out.
  • Please remember, you can stay in touch with me via my newsletter that you can subscribe to on my homepage of QFY.com
  • I send it every other week and its brief and thoughtful
  • But I wont be gone for long from here
  • 600 is the end of the 500 series, but its also the beginning of the 600 series
  • And I cant wait to be back with new episodes
  • So stay tuned

Much love