Recommended Reading From "The Renaissance Soul..."

It's time to return this book to the library: "The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One," by Margaret Lobenstine. But first I'd like to share some content with you:

Strategies for maintaining momentum:

• "When frustrated and tempted to give up, think what you'd say to a young child in such a situation."
• Use laughter to relieve tension.
• "If a key call makes you too nervous, pretend you're someone else making the call."
• Use music to either calm or energize yourself.
• "Think of someone who'd expect you to give up and prove that person wrong."
• "Create order in some small part of the area in which you are going to be tackling something difficult."
• "If you work best under pressure, have a movie or other event that begins at a specific time as your 'reward deadline.'"
• "If ... [you postpone working on a project because] ... you are afraid ... [to make a mistake], remind yourself that the Amish deliberately put a mistake in every quilt to honor the fact that no human is perfect."

On time management:

"Richard Leider and David Shapiro enchanted me with a twist on the popular hourglass analogy in their book Repacking Your Bags. Why, they ask, do we always picture ourselves living in the top half of the hourglass, where time is always running out? Instead, why don't we imagine ourselves in the bottom of the hourglass? There, every minute is followed by another minute that comes pouring in. Every hour is followed by another hour, and every day is just the first of many days to come.... With a bottom-of-the-hourglass perspective ... each event unfolds. We don't have to worry about time being 'spent' or 'lost.'"

Recommended Reading: