The New Crop: Issue #23
What ice cubes have to teach us about celebrating the small stuff
What’s in this issue:
💭 Thought: What ice cubes have to teach us about celebrating the small stuff
📚 Read: How to be a purpose-driven leader without burning out
😆 Today’s Laugh
The ones where Baby Emma’s cuteness distracted the cast of Friends…
💭 Today’s Thought
Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. The room is cold and you can see your breath. It is currently twenty-five degrees [Farenheit]. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up.
Twenty-six degrees.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-eight.
The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you.
Twenty-nine degrees.
Thirty.
Thirty-one.
Still, nothing has happened.
Then, thirty-two degrees. The ice begins to melt.
A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a huge change.
Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.
- James Clear, Atomic Habits
It’s easy for us to ignore or downplay the small achievements in our lives — the steps that on their own seem teeny tiny, but quietly tell a larger story about who we are becoming.
Transformation is about so much more than what we can see with our eyes…
We can see the ice cube finally melt at thirty-two degrees, but it was only possible because of all the temperature changes that, to our eyes, seemingly did nothing.
In turns out, those 1-degree shifts aren’t nothing… they’re everything.
I hope that no matter what challenges you’re going through today, you can take the time to pursue, appreciate, and celebrate your own 1-degree shifts. They mean more than you know.
🖊️ Today’s reflection
If you’re new to journaling, I highly encourage you to read Nancy Adler’s article: Want to be an outstanding leader? Keep a journal.
This week, find a quiet place and gift yourself 10 minutes to reflect on any of these prompts (or invent your own!):
What small accomplishment(s) can I celebrate today? What’s important about that in the bigger picture of my life?
How often do I skip over celebrating my accomplishments? What’s that like? How does that serve me?
What 1-degree shift do I want to make tomorrow?
📚 Today’s Read
How to be a purpose-driven leader without burning out
“The idea of servant leadership — putting your team’s needs ahead of your own — brought us to a more compassionate, human-centered work environment. But in today’s environment, it’s a recipe for burnout. Instead, the authors suggest a more impact-driven philosophy called ‘noble-purpose leadership,’ that ties leaders and teammates to the pursuit of a shared goal that positively impacts constituents.” Click here to read more.
See you next week!
xo,
Anne