Jump Out of the Fish Bowl

After a great weekend, I am finding it hard to get myself going this morning.  Summer weekends seem so different to me than winter weekends.  I am more relaxed and am outside every chance I get.  Also because the days are longer, I find myself pushing chores or personal office work until later and later in the day so I can do more joyful things during the day. Then before I know it, it is 8:30 p.m. and I am rushing around to get the nitty gritty done. And then it’s time for bed. This is why I find Mondays in the summer harder to get into my work mode on Monday than any other time of year. 

I want to share with you a quick excerpt from Experience Life! Magazine that I recently read and shared at our Office Dynamics daily staff team huddle, which by the way are awesome. It is from Alan H. Cohen, author of Why Your Life Sucks (interesting title, huh?). 

“Did you know that goldfish are kept tiny by their little tiny bowls? If we let them swim in a lake, they’d grow 100 times larger. It’s the same with humans, writes Cohen.  We have all been hypnotized into thinking that we are smaller than we are . . .

You are not dependent on someone else to move you. You have the power to move yourself. You can step into a broader domain and grow to your full potential.”

For our daily huddle, I gave everyone a picture of a goldfish jumping high out a fish bowl as a visual to place by their desk.

Let’s think about:

  • What is holding me back from pursuing what I want to accomplish; whether at work or at home?
  • Why aren’t I planning that dream vacation?
  • Why aren’t I pursuing that special class I want to take?
  • What is getting in the way of me spending time being fully focused on my children (maybe it’s my mobile device and addiction to being connected all the time)?
  • In taking a look at my relationships with people, do I need to be more patient? Or giving? Or understanding?
  • What keeps me from talking to my manager about something he or she does that prevents me from being fully effective?
  • Why I am afraid to be everything I was born to be?  (This is the BIG question.)

Picture yourself doing at least one thing this week that represents you jumping out of your fishbowl.

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