Humor and commitment are invaluable to your life.
I’ve got a book and a movie to add to your experience of both humor and commitment.
I’m managing my mother’s daily blog and newsletter as she rides her bicycle 900 miles to her 60th high school reunion, which means I’m tuned in to her 5 ingredients for success:
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Make the commitment
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Ask for help
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Connect with others
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Stick with it
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Bring humor to the days.
I’ve been noticing what helps me access these “ingredients.” This week both a book and a movie stepped up for me.
On Commitment:
Straight Line Leadership by Dusan Djukich
My friend Marjorie pointed me to this book when she caught me whining and chasing my tail. While its tenants are used to help business owners, they are equally valuable in one’s personal life. If you have been spinning or are caught in an eddy, this book will clarify and point you forward in a hurry.
One of the things that resonated most for me is what it points out about spending time wanting something you don’t have (without taking action to achieve it)—it provokes a cycle that is emotionally draining and degrading. Far better to identify where you are (point A) and where you are committed to arriving (point B) and plot, then travel the straight line between the two, come what may.
On Humor:
Late Bloomers (2011) starring William Hurt and Isabella Rossellini
Laughing at yourself can be terrific therapy. This is a movie about getting older, and will provide you with plenty of opportunity to laugh about it. It’s a French drama, with characteristic subtlety—(a different feel than American humor.)
I especially liked the routine where (entirely without dialogue) Isabella abandons the water aerobics class, inspects herself in the mirror, decides what she sees is not really not so bad (hey! She’s Ingrid Bergman’s daughter, after all), and heads out to the club juice bar to prove it to herself by gauging the response of men. The juice bar is populated by youngish businessmen, reading papers. Not a single one looks up at her open neckline, long legs and “come hither” attitude. It’s the invisibility factor that descends on aging females in America. I know. It’s actually something to cry about, so why not laugh instead?
One irony of this film: there are no subtitles available (don't worry, sound is in English. It's simply ironic to have a film for older people that doesn't include subtitles for better hearing!)
One irony of this film: there are no subtitles available (don't worry, sound is in English. It's simply ironic to have a film for older people that doesn't include subtitles for better hearing!)
Coach’s Challenge: pick up one or both (book and movie) this week, and indulge yourself with more humor and deeper commitment. Feel free to leave a comment: I love it when you do!
