Good Friends, Good Times and Better Balance
During the previous week’s focus of Give First, which I described in My Boomerang Got Bigger, I had unknowingly set up a great dynamic for the 5th week’s focus area. And the funny thing about it was that I hadn’t realized how the two focus areas would overlap so incredibly or how the timing would be so beautiful…
Casting the Wheel
After you choose your domains and your focus areas, the next step is what I call “casting the wheel.” Simply put, this is when you decide the order of your focus areas week by week. Tom likes to assign numbers to his, starting with the center focus as week one, and then he picks one from each domain in a rotating fashion until he’s ordered all 13. For my first 13×4 cycle, I chose mine by intuition, picking whatever I felt drawn to… and if you’ve been following this article series, you’ve probably noticed the pattern that developed.
I started with the center focus. Then I picked two from one domain, then jumping to another domain – in no particular order – I picked two from there, two from the third and then two from the last. Then I popped around and picked up the remaining focus areas, one from each domain. Not only was it fun to do it this way, it turned out to be really eerie and cool how everything worked together. As I look back on how I cast the wheel in January, I had no idea that the timing would work so synchronistically with the events that later occurred in my schedule, as well as how the focus areas would complement each other according to the order they were cast. Talk about planning without planning… or, rather, planning with faith!
Focus Area #5
F-ocus: Renew/Cultivate Friendships
A-ttitude: What is my approach to this focus area – what do I/we want it to be?
I work… A LOT. Six days a week, my average schedule is about 7am until about 7pm. In fact, it’s 6:23pm right now as I write this. That’s because I love my work so much. When the lines between work and play are blurred, you really have to force yourself to remember to nurture your social and personal relationships. My friends and family give me love, emotional support and intellectual stimulation. Without that, my life lacks balance because the work I’m doing in the world doesn’t provide me all that I need. Let’s face it, if we knew that a giant asteroid was going to hit the planet 6 months from now and wipe out the human race, my work wouldn’t matter anymore would it? Instead of working over the next 6 months, I’d be seeking the companionship of friends and family during our remaining time together. (Though I think I’d still write… ‘cause I can’t not write!)
S-tory: What is a story that illustrates the power of having this focus in my life?
Planning was definitely underpinning the focus area for this week. I planned and enjoyed two lunch dates with dear friends, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. Ironically, these two particular friends actually started out as workmates more than ten years ago.
A friend, who also used to be a colleague, decided to get the old work team back together and I responded to her reunion dinner invitation that week. How interesting that it happened during this particular week…
Still in the spirit of the previous week of Give First…
- A long-time friend reached out with a question via email, and I gave her some advice that she seemed pleased to have.
- I set up a coffee date with a new friend I’d met in December and then introduced him to someone who I knew wanted to hire a contract trainer (and he got the gig!).
Yes, casting the wheel by intuition was a great deal of fun, and here’s another synchronistic surprise in the way the timing worked!
T-ool: What is a tool I/we can use to maintain this focus area?
I set a daily recurring appointment on my calendar to “Send a note to an old friend” – and so I did. It also raised my awareness of gratitude for all my loved ones.
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Click HERE for the next article in this series. –>
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Angela Loëb helps people rediscover and use their gifts so they bring who they are to what they do in life. http://angelaloeb.com
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