Weekly Musings #2 What's your AND?

Musings - contemplations; reflections; thoughts or comments on something one has been thinking about.

Second week of the year and if last week was about resolutions and promises, this week has been more about reflecting on what you do with your time.

Personally I spent Wednesday and Thursday attending a course, "Diplomerad VD" which went through the basics of being a CEO. I attended it mostly for my job at the university where we are working to include more corporate governance into our programs for early stage startups, but as always, any course you attend will always be beneficial. For me it was a good repetition of all the responsibilities a CEO actually has, in my feedback after the course I wrote "it was like being given the lid of a puzzle box, the one with the picture on it, so all pieces suddenly make sense".

It was also a really good opportunity to put things into perspective, we talked a lot about leadership and managing not only other but also yourself, which led me to write a couple of posts on that; the art of slowing down to speed up and the importance of enjoying the ride, not just hanging on until the end. Mindset is key here, it's just like Johan Cask commented: "So many people just sit around waiting for life to happen to them instead of the opposite. Enduring it instead of experiencing it".

My main post this week though was without a doubt the one I wrote about hobbies; finding a hobby for your mental well-being. The inspiration to the post was a discussion at the course, but also an article I remembered reading about a person who who had tried everything to recover from multiple burnouts: "I was looking at my spouse and envied his total commitment and presence in the here and now that a hobby seemed to bring", and then the change she experienced after taking up a hobby of her own.

It's all about allowing yourself the time to do something different in order to break the cycle of negative thoughts and stress. I recalled myself having said similar things about my own pastimes, that I enjoy doing things that are completely different from my everyday job, something that for an hour or so at a time is just plain fun and enjoyable yet challenging and demanding in skill and concentration.

So that's what I wrote about, and wow, the comments and discussions!

Almost 50 comments (so far) from people all over the world, and not only comments on what their hobbies are today, but also what they would like to take up.

So many good comments in that thread, and super impressed by Peter Sandberg who took up painting in 2016 and has progressed immensely since then, and even though he (very humbly) states that practice makes anyone better, I still think there is a lot of hidden talent there as well.

But I think the comment that stuck with me, and that will be my encouragement to you this week comes from Erik Ohlzon (who enjoys cooking and carpentry amongst other things ??) is "strive to add your AND's", meaning what are you aside from your occupation? Who are you besides your title?

So sure, I'm an Innovation Strategist at KTH Innovation AND I am a fitness instructor, bassist, writer and nowadays also a biker ?? I'm also looking forward to becoming an author some day, that's definitely something for 2022.

What about you? what's your "And"? What is your hobby or pastime?

What do you do to disconnect and focus on something completely different for a while? Or what would you like to take up as a way to find yourself in the now?

If you find yourself saying to yourself "I don't have time for a hobby" then don't forget: Feeling that you don't have time for a hobby is a sure sign that you need one ??

And time is always constant, you won't get more or less, all you need to do is to decide what you want to do with yours. So by saying "I don't have time", you're in fact saying "I have filled my time with too many things so I don't have any time left for what I actually would like to do".

The expression is "make time for something" but you can't "make" time, but you can make space in time for things you want to prioritize. So do that. Make some space for yourself in your time.

Oh yes, almost forgot - Make sure to tune in to the coming week's Innovation Fika!!

I'm starting up again with episode 33 and I'll be talking to John Murray from the startup ProTendering about "How to plan and follow up your progress as a startup", look forward to seeing you online for that one.

I'll be kicking off the week as usual with my Monday greeting, have a great week all!

Sincerely

Donnie SC Lygonis