Design Yourself

Facing the Monday Blues? Feeling antsy at the idea of taking a vacation for fear of all that work that will pile up while you are way? This week's episode is for you. Drawing from what she has learned from re-entering her work routine after maternity leave, host Sharon explores what you can do before, during and after a "break" to making getting back into work as seamless as possible. Learn about how to get yourself (and your team) organized, techniques for limiting your priorities like the kanban method and why optimizing your schedule for time isn't the most effective approach. Taking time away is as critical for the health of our businesses as it is for our own sanity. Here's to setting ourselves up to do it in a way that works.

Before You Go

• Capture everything that you are tracking for when you return
• Delegate what you don't need to do

While You Are Away

• Allow yourself to really be away when you are away
• Create meaningful vacation boundaries for yourself

When You Return

1. Get organized
2. Set and limit your priorities
3. Find a small win and get it done from start to finish
4. Pay attention to your energy (not your time)
5. Tap into mission and purpose

• Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel (read from story The List)
• Episode 44 of the podcast is all about To Do Lists
• Episode 4 of the podcast looks at The Importance of Taking Breaks
• Project Time Off
• Background on kanban
• Manage Your Energy Not Your Time, HBR article by Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy

Ever wonder who makes our pretty and original cover art each week? It's today's guest, the designer and printer behind the Cincinnati-based studio Cryptogram, Jon Flannery. Jon shares with our Design Yourself community what motivates him in his work as a designer and entrepreneur. You will learn the mix of science and art that integrates in his own creative process and how having creative entrepreneurs for parents influenced him growing up. For anyone curious to get inside the head of a thoughtful, introverted creative or who is wondering how to make the jump and launch a business, this episode is for you.

"I don't think I'll ever stop learning…I'm frustrated a lot by what I don't know." – Jon Flannery

"Always be mindful and openminded about where you are and where you are going…I want to always be able to change and make changes."

– Jon Flannery

• Here's a post I wrote about Jon's process for creating the There Is Nothing Stopping You poster.
• Jon's beautiful home. Yeah, it has it's own website.
• Here's a picture of the Max Bill poster hanging in Jon's office that we reference a few times during the episode. Sick right?

• You will notice this Max Bill piece is also featured prominently in this week's cover art, designed by Jon himself.
• Learn more about artist Max Bill.
• Here's a shot of that Collaboration cover that caught my eye. Artist is Jim Floor.

• Curious to know the backstory to the name Point Road Studios that we referenced? You can find that here.
• Art Academy of Cincinnati
• Powerhouse Factories
• Northern Kentucky University
• Mike McNeive

cryptogramink.com

insta: cryptogramink

Changing jobs. Moving. Getting married. Having a baby. If you're preparing for or experiencing a transitional time in your life, this episode is for you. This week's guest is a high school English teacher, bride-to-be, and host Sharon's "birthday twin" sister. She's also one of the most giving and caring people we know. Philly has been a font of ideas for show topics since Design Yourself launched nearly a year ago. One topic that she suggested for a solo show early on was resources for moving through transitions. Especially "happy" transitions - like getting married or having a baby - whose growing pains are often ignored as the focus is on the "big event" instead. Rather than approach this topic on her own, Sharon invited Philly - who is in the midst of one such transition herself - to come share her ideas for what it's like to be living through transition and what resources and mindsets might help along the way. Hear how Philly has wended her way to becoming a teacher and listen to these sisters talk about tips for moving through transitions.

"You can do theory, theory, theory all you want, but until you are in front of the room doing it, you are not sure if you are going to enjoy it or be successful at it." – Phyllis Lipovsky

"Focus on yourself. You can only do and change what you can do and change." – Phyllis Lipovsky

1. Be clear on what you want out of your transition
2. Create a dialogue for "real talk" about your transition
3. Focus on your inner game (e.g. What can I do to be self-sufficient/strong through this transition?)
4. Name what's motivating you to move through your transition
5. Honor that your emotions will change throughout
6. "Perform" your transition in whatever way feels right to you
7. Know yourself (e.g. What you want right now may not be what others want for you. It may not even be what you want yourself over time. Be clear on what you want in this moment.)
8. Understand that things will always be changing
9. Name what skills you have that will support you through your transition.
10. Identify places where you have gaps and ask for help.
11. Remember we are in transition every day
12. Do you!

Books Philly and Sharon referenced (#literarygeeks):

• Animal Farm
• 1984
• Silas Marner
• The Great Gatsby
• Macbeth

Here are a few of Sharon's favorite books on the topic of transitions and change:

• Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

• Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization (Leadership for the Common Good)

• An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization

Host Sharon isn't afraid to admit she loves a good organizing fest. Ever since she was a little girl, she's been famous (erm, sometimes infamous) for her love of taking everything down off the shelves so that she could pick it back up in a new and improved order. So you won't be surprised that when organizing consultant Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up hit stores in 2014, Sharon began playing with these principles in her own life. Today's episode uses the KonMari method as a jumping off point for discussing how and why to find focus in your work. Learn about the problem of stretching our efforts too thin, common reasons we do this anyway, and a 5 Step KonMari-inspired process for bringing focus to your own work.

We are scattering our efforts on the many at the cost of what making anything truly great. Over and over and over again.

It doesn't come from a bad place

• We may be risk averse so we place lots of bets
• We may not be ready to make the decision about where to focus

We have natural limitations

• Multi-tasking doesn't exist
• We can't remember more than 4 things in our heads at once

Step 1: Name the thing that motivates you

Start by naming the thing that motivates you. If you close your eyes at night feeling exactly the thing that you want to feel, what would you call that feeling? Joy, happiness, peace, fulfillment?

Let your answer shape your guiding question: Does this bring me joy? (or peace/fufillment/happiness etc)

Don't forget that there is a lot of beauty/joy/peace/fufillment in FUNCTION.

Step 2: Get clear on what you really want to do in your business

What one thing do you really want to do? Maybe not forever, but at least in this season of your work life.

To set this horizon for the longer term consider: What do you want to be known for?And consider your baseline. What is your reputation right now?

Step 3: Audit your current focus

List out everything you have on offer. All the services and products. Marie Kondo would have you put them all on the floor. I want you to make physical representations of each thing. If it's something tangible, perhaps use the thing itself. If you offer services, write them out using pen and paper. If you have multiple divisions or arms in your business, you may want to segment your focus into those – or other natural buckets.

Step 4: Determine what brings you "joy"

Take each thing in turn, hold it and ask your guiding question. "Does this bring me ______?" Notice your answer without judgement.

Step 5: Let go of the no's

Determine what emotion will steward you in this process. Take steps to strengthen that muscle.

• Marie Kondo
• KonMari method

This week's episode is all about the simplest of tools for getting stuff done: The To Do List. This week Sharon geeks out on the best times to tap into this tool, her favorite 4 variations on the To Do List, and 4 tactics to make sure that you leverage this resource to best effect. Here's the basic theory, one size fit all solutions simply don't work. But that doesn't mean you have to begin every solution from scratch. Sharon offers these templates and strategies to arm you with some best practices to customize your own approach.

1. To stop feeling overwhelmed
2. To let yourself dream up something ambitious
3. To achieve something you've never done before
4. To bring your big ideas into fruition
5. To get stuff done

The Comprehensive List – Whether you write it all out on pen and paper or capture it in an online tracking tool, the Comprehensive To Do List allows you to put down everything in your head in one place. Bonus: It usually lowers your stress levels in the process.

Timeline Map – What needs to get done this day/this week/this month/this quarter/this year? Your Timeline Map will tell you. This tool can be incredibly useful when planning for what you want to achieve in your work or business for the year.

Action Planning Tool – A timeline map used in Sharon's Go Beyond visioning process. Download the Vision Action Plan here.

For anyone wanting help in both articulating your vision and how to get this done, check out the whole Go Beyond workbook.

Index Card Strategy – To build momentum with a particular to do list, write out your to do lists on Index cards. You can use index cards (or post it notes!) to write out both 1) like tasks that you can knock out quickly, and 2) individual items that are part of a big project.

Project Lists – Lay out what needs to be achieved to take a specific project from start to finish. This is especially important for both building momentum and making sure that you really understand what it will take to make a larger project or initiative happen. Often using an online tool makes sense here.

Brain dump + transfer – First write everything out and then take that list and move each item into your regular workflow practices. Don't just leave the big list or things will almost always fall through the cracks.

Segment your list into "like tasks" – This straightforward approach has the advantage of both breaking up the to do list into more manageable chunks and sets you up you execute similar tasks at the same time. Yay efficiency!

Use an online tool to track and communicate between team members – Basecamp, Trello, Slack, Google Docs/Sheets, Asana (et cetera!) all have their pros and cons.Here are the headlines on leveraging online tools:

• Always be tracking
• Use it before you think you need to
• With teams: Use it for ongoing work teams, not for "one offs"
• Commit to it

Make it fun

• Blog post to give you insight into Sharon's "book problem" =)
• The joy-seeking, stuff purging consultant, Marie Kondo
• List writing/project management tools referenced:
  • Basecamp
  • Trello
  • Slack
  • G Suite
  • Asana

Sharon is back with her first solo show as a mama of three. She shares what she learned by setting a 40 day boundary for extreme rest post the arrival of her new son. No matter your life circumstances, all of us can benefit from finding ways to carve out rest in a way that works for us and our life circumstances. This episode is great for anyone who is feeling ready to take a break, is wondering about the value of stepping back or who is just curious about what Sharon's been up for the last few months.

• It was easier than I thought to jump right in
• Preparation helps
• There are lots of ways to rest
• Rest made me happy
• Timing matters
• Having a boundary helps
• I could have done it for longer
• Maternity leave isn't the only cause for a period of rest

The First Forty Days

Design Yourself Episode 33: Setting Boundaries

National Novel Writing Month ("Nanowrimo")

Melissa Sanabria is one of those rare people who is both super creative and super organized. She is the designer and blogger behind Pretty Little Rowhouse and she is a consultant with a Big Four accounting firm. She is a natural at dishing out great design solutions and she is just as comfortable directing projects and managing clients engagements. This week we get to hear the story of how she developed these twin skill sets and what she learned along the way. In the process, we hear many great examples for how knowing what you want can really catalyze you to take actions that move you towards that reality. Melissa has made a series of intentional choices that I think will inspire all of us, especially anyone who is wondering how to launch a business that comes from the heart.

"All of a sudden the wave carries you and then you're like, what happened?" – Melissa Sanabria

"I'm at the point where I need to decide: Am I going to be all in on [my job] or all in on my business. I like to work and I like to be challenged; it's hard to do both halfway. I kind of need to choose one or the other and be all in." – Melissa Sanabria

• University of Arizona's program in Agricultural & Resources Economics
• Warren Wilson

Pretty Little Rowhouse

pinterest: melissasanabria

insta: mannesanabria

Aimee Rowe returns to the show this week for the second half of her Camino de Santiago discussion with Sharon. In episode 40 Aimee and Sharon share how they prepared to walk this ancient pilgrimage route through Spain. This week they share what the experience of walking was actually like. Hear Aimee and Sharon's favorite Camino adages, what they loved about the journey, who some of the memorable characters were that they met along the way, and more. Whether you are curious about walking the Camino yourself or just want to hear two friends reflect on what they learned when they stretched their limits, this episode is definitely worth a listen. Buen Camino!

"The Camino provides." – Aimee Rowe

Sharon and Aimee's Camino Adages

• The Camino provides
• A true pilgrim doesn't judge other pilgrims
• The Camino giveth and the Camino taketh away
• The Camino isn't about you
• You might have plans for the Camino but the Camino has plans for you, These may or may not coincide.

• A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful by Gideon Lewis-Kraus
• Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Marie Kondō

Check out Aimee's bio with Cascades East, where she is currently completing her residency focused on rural family medicine.

Hear about Aimee's penchant for Seizing Adventure in Episode 37 of Design Yourself.

Hear Part 1 of Aimee and Sharon's Camino conversation all about Preparing for the Camino.

Aimee Rowe joins us on the show this week for for the first in a two-part series on the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route through Spain. Aimee is a doctor, an adventurer, and a long-time friend of Sharon's. Sharon and Aimee walked this pilgrimage route together nearly 5 years ago and this week they are discussing how they both prepared for this walk, including how they went about making and honoring the commitment to walk, how they were able to carve out 6 weeks from their regular routine to - despite work and family obligations, and how they readied themselves for the experience itself. If you are trying to figure out how to carve out the time and space for a passion project or are gearing up for a life transition, this episode is for you. Hear about how small conversations can catalyze big change, tips for prioritizing what you really want and lots of laughter shared between two good friends.

"Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. Just do it." – Aimee Rowe

• Listen to sermons from the same LA church that Aimee tuned into as part of her self-designed Camino preparation. In particular, she really enjoyed listening to the reflections of Rankin Wilbourne.
• Check out Sharon's blog series My Pregnant Pilgrimage on her and Aimee's adventures along the Camino de Santiago.

Check out Aimee's bio with Cascades East, where she is currently completing her residency focused on rural family medicine.

Hear about Aimee's penchant for Seizing Adventure in Episode 37 of Design Yourself.

Life is too short not to spend your time doing what you really feel called to do. In today's encore episode Sharon offers up tips and resources for just letting go of the excuses and going for it - whatever it might be for you. Learn 5 simple steps to move from where you are today to where you want to be.

This week I had fun playing with Adam Kurtz's new book Pick Me Up: A Pep Talk for Now & Later. It is a fun book-journal-workbook-guide thing with pages of prompts for you to fill out.

One page in the book offered the space to "write some good advice." Here's what I was inspired to scribble down:

There are two tracks that I see people on as they set out to go after the things they really want in their lives:

Track 1: If you already know what you want

Track 2: If you don't know what you want

Track 1: 5 Steps for Going For It…if you already know what you want…

• Be present

• Name the prep/steps required to get you there

• Do the leg work

• Name and cultivate the emotion that will serve you

• Make the right jump for you

Track 2: 5 Steps for Going For It…if you DON'T know what you want…

• Be clear on what you don't want

• Change direction when you feel stuck

• Try lots of things – quickly!

• Follow your curiosity

• Pay attention to what's working/not working

• Check out Adam Kurtz's new book Pick Me Up: A Pep Talk for Now & Later.