jalléCafe

Time sweeping by

This morning on my walk into work, I noticed something I wanted to photograph. This cute little Zurich street sweeper got in my way.  So I took his picture instead.

What I wanted to show you was this: look closely. 

Took this one last night in the dark.

Those are strings of Christmas lights already hung and waiting to be illuminated - more than a month from now!!

Zurich is nothing if not prepared and organized (and clean).

And you know what,"just like yesterday" I'll soon stand there to take a photo showing how beautiful they look.

As fast as that little street sweeper moved, December will arrive.

Will the real me please stand up?

Last week, several conversations reminded me how people with similar backgrounds can - based on their own views and experiences - see the same person entirely differently.  Case under discussion: President Obama.  I relate to him as an educated, family-oriented leader.  A few people close to me see him only as a Democratic politician (not a plus in their eyes).

My point, as I sit here hungry for lunch at 1:30 p.m. on a Monday, is not to argue for or against Obama.   I'm just wondering how anyone ever really knows us at all.  At least Obama gets press coverage.

I, on the other hand, have only a few paltry demographics easily visible.  My native country, for example.  My gender.  My 20 years in business professionally. 

Is that who I am?  I don't think so, but I'm not sure it's that easy to see or learn what else lies beneath right now.  It's taking me years to step towards a new way of living my life.  Still working on it.

Perhaps who I am won't show until much later when I actually have results.  Meanwhile, I'm still taking each next step that no one really understands. Leading yourself can be a solitary road.

I remember the first moment I felt genuinely, internally motivated to try something that inspired me.  I was 13 years old in a year-end school assembly.  I suddenly saw a goal that I thought I might reach and later did.  I've been enthusiastically trying new things ever since, often making a next change before the last one was fully visible.  No wonder people get confused. 

I suppose the main person who has to understand the woman who walks in my shoes is me.  But it is nice to have company sometimes. (I do when it counts.)

I pondered all this as I sat writing seminar materials this morning - aiming to make tangible the still mostly invisible concepts in my mind and heart.  I concluded that I might as well give being visible as myself a try. 

Yet sometimes demographics we don't choose lead the visible way anyway.  For example, no matter what I do, I may always be most known by the people around me for one demographic that seems to never recede in its intrigue, yet has the least to do with me at all:

Jill, the Identical Triplets' Sister.  Thanks, Boys!  But then I guess with a blazing statistic like that, it's been even more of a challenge for you...

Managing the peaks

I drove to work today because it's supposed to rain later - and I need to carry groceries.  Often, during my 15 minute drive (on the rare days I bring my car), my mind explores random ideas that sometimes even prove creative or useful. 

Today, my thoughts wandered around a presentation at the Professional Women's Group Tuesday evening during which the speaker helped us identify our "peak times" in the day.  As I drove along with pop music playing, I thought what a shame it is that my peak time today will be spent on a train this morning on the way to a client meeting (8:30 - 10:00)!

Turns out that wasn't the only distraction from my peak:  when I arrived at the office, our parking space was fully and unexpectedly blocked by a crane (cute little mobile one) delivering blocks of tile to a store nearby.  Ugh!  Now my acceleration to the peak was spent negotiating how I would move my car in time to make my train.  I cannot say I was the friendliest girl in the world to the crane driver, although I tried to throw a smile in at the end for good measure.

The only thing I could think of to do productive with the now 12 minutes remaining before I will run for the main train station was to post this blog, that I also thought about while driving but modified a great deal for reality.

Sometimes our knowlege of the best thing to do collides with real life.  And when I grab a cup of coffee on my way to the train platform, I'll send a mental apology to our great PWG speaker Felix as I once again make a compromise on my way to the peak!

Slowing into a fast daily flow

Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down for the important things.  For example, it's now lunch time.  My "to do" list remains fairly full.  Two of six things checked off.

Because I felt that - on balance - I had been a little too task focused on Friday, I consciously moderated my style this morning.  I said, "Jill, you know it is the wide range of strong relationships with people you enjoy and value that have already made the most difference.  Don't forget to pick up your head from your desk and take a look at the specific opportunities for that in your day." Quality of results does not always come from a pen in my hand or a keyboard under my fingers...

So I spontaneously invited a colleague who I had not seen in a while for a hot chocolate to start the day.  And later, I took just a few more minutes to laugh a little with another colleague while we were working on a project together.

These few extra human moments make me feel good as I sit here before my lunch break full of errands.  They also inspired me to remember that such conversations often stimulate creative ideas.

And there's still hope for my "to do" list overall with some after-lunch discipline. I'm sure of that. My inner-voice says, "Girl, you got something right this morning. Good going.  Now try to remember that tomorrow too!"

Remembering my vegetables

I started this morning wandering out of my apartment abruptly realizing I could have used my gloves, then happily shopping with cold hands through the farmer's market on my way to work.  Not quite fully light at 8:30 a.m.

Bought my vegetables for the weekend. Mom would be proud of how many green things I eat.

Ten minutes later I was in the office and tackled lots of admin still as I organize for the rest of the year. But also managed a bit of focus on our seminar plans. 

I realized several times this week - and even through today - that I'm in the flow a little.  I know exactly what to start on every day, wha feels most important next among the list of key things that I hope will make a difference.  I still have some serious topics ahead next week:  budgets for 2010, final seminar details.  Must address them directly, creatively and postively. One at a time. Not all at once.

So as I'm about to wander out near-dark to enjoy a slow walk through the city home, I'm going to try to practice a little more: be grateful for the little steps and the good days that feel fun and productive.  Try not to think about what "might happen" or "might not work" or "might fail."  Drink a prosecco.  Remember to grab my vegetables on the way out the door.

Lost days?

Last weekend, I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" with Meryl Streep.  In addition to making me hungry, it also inspired me to think about my own blog.  What's cool about Julie's blog is that it had a clear goal: cook 536 Julia Child recipes in 365 days. Gave it an intrigue to see if she would meet the goal.

Could I add intrigue to my blog, I wondered?  A plot?  Problem is that my blog is about my life - well, the on-going goal to make my life fit with my work and, after mixing it all together, feel like it is meaningful in the end.  I don't think Julia wrote a recipe for that.

But I think I'm going to try.  Goal: Grow my business, really be an entrepreneur with a successful little boutique consultancy that reaches more people than my current friend "fans" and my Mom.  And while doing it have a life, not just work.

There I said it.  That's what I really want to do.

Of course, soon after I thought of it, life got in the way: I woke up Monday night sick.  Spent yesterday dragging around (having realized I did not have a fever and was not throwing up on anyone, I probably was not contagious) from appointment to meeting.  Slept 13 hours last night.  Loped into work today just before lunch. Albeit, feeling better.

So if my 365 days started on Monday, 12th October, I'm already three days into it and the only recipe I've tried so far is "slow down and let yourself sleep until your body is ready."

Keeping it simple

"Being simple and clear is a lot harder than letting everyone do what they want," a leader said recently during a workshop.  

He was referring to the time and effort required to lead something well and to the work required to make communication simple.

Isn't it true? You just know that when something seems clear, simple and easy, it was most likely because a "heck-of-a-lot-of" work went into making it that way.  The same effort underlies an athlete who makes it look easy to land a quadruple axle or ski with grace down a slalom run at the speed of light.

I've been updating what seems like a myriad of my own marketing web sites and tools.  I realized as I thought about this post that they are not yet as simple and clear as I desire.  I am now working on that.  I know they can and must get there.  There are no shortcuts.

In our instincts, we know when we reach elegant simplicity.  Never underestimate the beauty and power in that.

Autumn glory

Autumn glory, originally uploaded by jalléCafe.

Back in July, I showed you a garden planted to grow around the structure of an old industrial building. If I liked it then, I'm in love with it now.

Look at its Autumn glory!

During the last months, I've raced past photography classes, local street workers, students and executives all taking a break among the metal and vines.

Haven't taken the time to sit under it myself yet. But I managed to pause a moment with my camera.

Why I don't have a tattoo

One day this week - during those few minutes gathering with others by the train door waiting for it to stop at the station - I noticed a man with an intricate, even lovely, tattoo from wrist to shoulder.  As I prepared to dash out and race for my next meeting, I thought, "Now there's the difference between my life and his, when would I ever have the time (or patience) to sit for as long as that tattoo would have required?!"

As I nearly scampered down the street to my client's office, I remembered one of my favorite tattoo encounters nearly 15 years ago with a wonderful, creative communications manager Doug. He actually convinced me to allow a photo of a woman with a tattoo on her shoulder to be printed in a product brochure for my industrial product marketing role.  It illustrated "The Permanence of a Lasting Commitment."

And then I remembered that the agency involved working with Doug was Gibbs & Soell Public Relations (G&S), the same agency whose Zurich office I managed for the last two years - until yesterday.

So G&S and I have had a lasting relationship with changing and evolving commitments to meet our changing and evolving needs. I have fully appreciated that. As of writing this post, our relationship has taken on yet another form.  I hope it still lasts and evolves.

That's why I don't have a tattoo, too.  How could I ever possibly choose one visual image to fit my entire life?  I prefer changing my clothes!