It's Sunday morning as I write this. I'm still in my PJ's and have about 45 minutes before I need to head to yoga. I woke up early this morning (it's a weird thing I have - a complete inability to lie in, mostly an amazing habit, although sometimes it proves to be a pain in the ass ha ha).
Early Sunday mornings kinda excite me. There's a whole day ahead of you with zero expectations from anyone. Most normal folk have a sense of what their Sunday will look like, but really, it can be anything you want it to be. And for me, it's a day to play with. To deep dive on stuff with zero distractions. To get a solid fix of fresh air. But mainly, for me, Sunday's are about zooming out. Taking some time to just pull back for a moment, pause, and take check of where you're at and where you want to be.
They feel like micro versions of New Years Eve. Pause, reflect, celebrate what went well, learn from what didn't and make a plan to move forwards.
But what's interesting to me, is that, as work progresses, and the number of projects I'm working on increases, I actually need to zoom out with somebody rather than do it on my own.
This morning that came in the form of my epic friend Asher. Asher and I met in Nicaragua a couple of years back at the Global Social Impact House.... an amazing program for social entrepreneurs run by CSIS at Penn University that brought a bunch of us together to learn, share, play and grow. Oh and surf. We surfed our brains out ha ha.
Asher is an incredible human being. He's been based in NY for the last few years running an urban farm on the rooftop of an apartment building on Statton Island. He's an Aussie with a ridiculous amount of knowledge about how we should be caring for our planet, from the perspective of farming & food.
Right now he's back home in Melbourne and this morning we caught up for a long chat and general catch up. Over the last couple of years we've fallen into a rad routine of checking in and giving each other the space to talk about the work we're doing. We brainstorm a lot. We laugh a lot. But mainly we fucking champion each other in ways that are more powerful than I can possibly describe.
And so sitting here today, post-chat, I'm recognising that if you are like me, and work on a bunch of different projects, then scheduling time to zoom out should be non-negotiable. And identifying the right people to do it with will change everything.
We just spent an hour and a half looking at all the work I'm doing from a fresh perspective. We realised how easily I get excited about stuff and how that excitement seems to generate more ideas which turns into this runaway train of rad work. Ha ha. Yes, it's rad, but please note, I also said 'runaway'.
And so, with the help of someone super smart (and who, importantly, is not currently a passenger on this runaway train), I've been able to step back and see the tweaks that need to happen. I'm able to realise what needs attention, and where strong foundations need to be built.
We've set a couple of big goals that feel equally scary and epic (that's a good sign). We've started a conversation about what this all looks like further down the line. And most importantly, I got off the call with super clear next steps that I'm excited to take.
Here's what I know to be true - Zooming out with someone is a zillion times more effective. There's more accountability involved. Plus, you get the bonus of someone being able to reflect back to you what you just said, and not be afraid to tell you some home truths.
So if you're feeling overwhelmed or scattered - then please go find someone to talk it out with. And if you can do it on a regular basis, then holy smokes, you'll see the impact almost immediately.
You cannot do this alone. Plugging into the right community of like-minded people will catapult you to places you didn't think possible.