Fill Your Cup?

What does this phrase mean to you?

What do you fill your cup with?

Certainly there were times of my life where my cup was filled with cheap beer lol. And I vaguely remember filling dozens of my cups every weekend as a young adult haha.

Although.... this phrase has come to mean something more in today's society. A quick google search gives this definition:

"Fill your cup" is a phrase that refers to self-care and creating time for yourself. It can also mean replenishing your mental, emotional, and physical energy. Some say that filling your cup is important because you can't pour from an empty cup. Others say that filling your cup can renew your strength, faith, and overall well-being.

For most of my life, self-care was way down on my priority list. I can regretfully admit that many times my career took the number 1 spot, and family was 2nd.

I thought "If i can just make more money, my family will be in a better place". And I kind of ignored my some of my mental and physical health.

And I've also seen plenty of new parents that put Family first, and pour all of their life into raising their children, meanwhile their own mental and physical health suffers.

So... what is the right mix?

How do we fill our cup with the stuff that matters.... and still pay attention to our career, family, and health?

And you might be saying.... Dan.... are you going off topic again? Isn't this is a newsletter about growth and learning in the workplace? Are you turning into a self-help guru now?

Happy you asked!

Lets get into today's lesson.

SMALL INCREMENTAL SELF-GROWTH is the magic elixir that truly fills your cup.

If you are a frequent reader of this newsletter, you may know that I truly believe the #1 benefit of growth and learning is Increased Self-Confidence.

And when we are not growing, we are actually falling behind.

We get stressed because the challenges of family, work, health, finances, etc start to pile.

We start questioning our self-confidence and self-worth.

This is why the phrase "You can't pour from an empty cup" is SOOO powerful.

See, our metaphorical cup is really our skills, abilities, and attitude.

And throughout our lives, we've filled that cup with random experiences, lessons, and stories- which has graciously helped us get to where we are today.

But WHAT IF we can be more intentional with filling our cup with the things that help us grow?

What if we just spent 5-25 minutes every morning filling our cup with new ideas, new strategies, and new ways to be a better employee, parent, friend, leader, etc.?

What impact would that have?

Many of us do the opposite.

We get right into the grind of our daily lives when we wake up.

Then we spend 5 to 25 to sometimes HOURS at the END of the day.... filling our "CUP" with mind numbing activities like TV, news, alcohol, video games, social media and all sorts of other bad habits to escape reality.

Even today, I still fall into this trap sometimes.

One thing is certain though.

Day's that I start strong with "Filling my Cup" with learning and growth are my best days.

It builds my self-confidence. I feel like I'm just a little bit better than I was yesterday. I get excited to implement and try out the new things I've learned. I feel like I can be a better dad and a better friend and a better co-worker.

The small incremental part is really important too. Some people go on Vacation, go to a retreat, go to a week long conference or something else once or twice a year to try to DUMP all the cup filling in at once. Then, inevitably, the cup is empty a few weeks later.

5-25 minutes a day of growth is all that it takes.

So if you were to ask me today what my top 3 priorities are, I would put them in this order now.

1. Self-Care
2. Family
3. Career

Lets get into action

ACTION TIME

1. What are you "Filling your cup" with every day? If you have a team of co-workers, what are they "Filling their cup" with?
2. Do you put your family or career before yourself?
3. How could putting yourself first positively impact your family and career?

As always, I truly appreciate your time and attention today. I promise to continue to provide fresh, actionable content week after week. We as leaders need to inspire growth and learning now more than ever.... and using the "cup" metaphor may just be the spark that is needed to trigger action. I'd love to hear your comments and insights below! Thanks again.

Your Friend,

Dan