The Three Simple Arts | Protect | Deep Work
Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS.
You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach:
Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: an energy (good or bad) word and it’s meaning
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge
LEARN
Something Worth Sharing
The Three Simple Arts
Over the past few weeks I’ve captured some slightly different books. These books aren’t the usual ‘strategy’, ‘growth mindset’ or ‘communication’ type books, but they have had a noticeable similarity. I began with The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse - a gorgeous book focusing on self-kindness and compassion. The next was Big Panda and Tiny Dragon. This one was about two unlikely friends navigating life. My third book was from the same author, James Norbury, called The Cat Who Taught Zen, this was about the journey of life and a need to see what we have rather than being in pursuit of what we believe we need. Finally, was a little book called Zen - The Simple Art of Living.
All of these books were beautiful - to read and look at. All of them left me reflecting on how complicated we can make our own lives. The constant search and hope for more simplicity, time and space was a huge take-away.
Ironically, they each sound easy - and obvious! But, I often struggle with each of the three: simplicity, time and space. I’ve realised that they are each an art. By ‘art’, I mean the skill, technique, and mastery required to do something well or effectively. This highlights the need to practice and develop a muscle or three. The muscles I’ll be prioritising are:
The ability to simplify - physically, emotionally and mentally.
The use of time - to value our time and how we use it.
The protection of space - to think, process and reflect.
The ‘simple art’ of these three isn’t so simple, but is definitely valuable - if not vital.
ENERGY
An emotion or energy; a stand-out word / s
Protect
While watching the Lion’s rugby game last week, my husband shouted ‘protect the pill’, an expression used to mean hold on to the ball and defend it.
The word ‘protect’ is from Latin protegere meaning "to protect, defend, cover over, cover in front". This was formed from pro "before" + tegere "to cover".
ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference
Remove or Reduce
Following the theme of ‘simplicity’, find one thing to either reduce or remove. This could be old files, an old shirt, emptying a cupboard and rearranging it. You could go further and remove an App from your phone - or even old contacts.
PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)
“What conditions do I need to be able to reset, recharge and reflect?”
Being able to create the right conditions to reset, recharge and reflect is critical. This can be making sure you have the right routine before bed (e.g. no blue lights and devices), or just finding a quiet 5 minutes during your day to pause and think. Do you have these conditions? What do they look like? Is this something you need to work on and develop?
I’d love for you to send me your own stories / thoughts about this. Drop me a line with your answer / thoughts on this question
SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition - my gratitude or to be celebrated.
Boredom
I have had cause to sit and wait for appointments recently and rather than get my mobile device out, I decided to embrace boredom. In just sitting, I’ve found myself people-watching, allowing my mind to wander and process. I’m shouting out the act of sitting and being bored - it’s really quite cathartic!
BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
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The artwork featured in this section is all copyrighted and for private use only. If you wish to use these online, in blogs / features or in presentations etc - we are happy to discuss licences. Please get in touch. The downloads do not have watermarks.
If you’d like to discuss having your ideas, business or culture captured visually - you can also let me know via email.
LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis.
I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:
L: what have you learned?
E: what’s your energy / feeling word
A: what’s one thing you need to do?
P: what are you thinking / processing?
S: who or what can you shout out?
