This article was first published in our Outside the Lines newsletter

The launch of Do More Great Work has had a rhythm all of its own. If it was a dance, it would have been a combination of the quickstep, The League of Extraordinary Dancers, and a bad attack of malaria. In other words, interesting, slightly too sweaty and I’m glad to take a break.

Now, post-launch, I’m thinking about what I want my rhythm of work and life to be. Here’s what I’m considering:

• Who do I love?

I love that the last line in the last Beatles’ song is “And in the end the love you take/Is equal to the love you make.”

Pretty much every deathbed moment has people thinking about the people that matter in their life, and not so much whether their Inbox is down to zero. (Maynard Keynes the economist may be an exception. He wishes he’d drunk more champagne. Which is also good advice by the way.)

What’s the rhythm that allows you to hang out with those you love and those that love you back? I know for me I’m constantly seduced by the busywork and spend too much time holed up in my office. That’s going to change.

Who makes you smile? – see #5 in The 5.75 Questions You’ve Been Avoiding

• What do I love?

This is one of those big Great Work questions. What’s still giving me juice, exciting me, making me dance?

I don’t want to just be doing stuff because I was doing it 12 months ago just because of momentum.

For instance, I know that I love the creating process – taking ideas and turning them into something funky and inspiring and useful for people.

And as I look ahead in my calendar, there’s almost no space held for that. I’m travelling and delivering workshops and having fun … but that’s not going to be enough.

What do you need to hold time and space for?

• Public/Private

My wife and I have a code phrase, “public/private”. It’s uttered on those occasions where one of us – almost always me – is about to reveal something that really should stay private between Marcella and me. It gives us (me) the chance to rescue myself from a moment of Too Much Information.

With social media lapping at our feet everywhere we look, this question of public/private is starting to mean something different for me now. It’s how much time do I spend in the public eye and connecting with all of you, and how much time am I private, on retreat.

Where do you stop the performance?

• What’s really urgent?

Chris Brogan, who is as prolific as he is wise (ie. very) has just published a post called “The Assault on Anywhen“. In it he rails against this ever intensifying circle of urgency that drives all we do. Everything, it seems, requires an immediate response and was due yesterday.

I’ve been getting caught up in all of this recently too. Time to take a breath and find out what’s important rather than urgent (with a hat tip to Steven Covey).

What really matters?

Don’t take my word for it

Smart people thinking out loud about balance.

“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.”
-Zig Ziglar

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”
-Thomas Merton

“If you’re interested in ‘balancing’ work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable.”
-Donald Trump

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.”
-Brian Tracey

“Love and work… work and love, that’s all there is.”
-Sigmund Freud

“Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.”
-Jessye Norman

“In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.”
-Patti Smith

“In today’s society we sometimes forget to balance our hearts and our heads; this is the reason we stop laughing.”
-Yakov Smirnoff

“It must be a balance in everything we do, not too much of everything, keep it simple, not complicated.“
-Abdullah Amad Badawi

In honour of the Vancouver Olympics I give you Adanac (spelled backwards is … ). This is a font created by the folks at 10fourdesign.com. You can download the font for free at their website. Go have a peek at the upper and lower case letters, and the numbers. You can download the font for free, or buy a Tshirt.

This article was first published in our Outside the Lines newsletter

There’s a debate ranging in Canada about how well we’re doing in the Olympics.

It is after all “our games” – and there’s been some relentless hype leading up to the event about how Canada will “own the podium.”

Our athletes are doing pretty well – but not quite as well as had been hoped. And we’ve been treated to the sad sight of men and women apologizing for “only coming in 4th”, or not winning Gold.

It’s been yet another lesson, reminding me to take every chance I can to celebrate. And it should be noted that it’s not something that comes naturally to me. I’m always onto the next thing. Luckily, Marcella – my wife and VP of Everything Else at Box of Crayons – has part of her remit to “Tell Michael to STOP and ENJOY the moment.”

So we’ve drunk some champagne over the success of the new book this week. It’s no small feat to hit the Amazon rankings we did. Hurrah!

And so I offer up some tips on what you might like to celebrate.

1. Celebrate getting this far.

You could have stopped, given up, got distracted, abandoned ship, lost you mojo, been bamboozled.

And yet, here you are.

Whatever shape you’re in, whatever number you are in line – congratulations are in order for making it this far on the journey.

It’s no small thing.

2. Celebrate those who support you

We’ve had amazing and generous support from so many people for the launch of the book.
People blogging and tweeting and news-lettering. people buying the books. People writing lovely congratulatory notes.

Wherever you are, you’re not alone. Make a point of reaching out to say “thanks and hurrah!” to those who’ve been in your corner.

(I’ll be posting a blog specifically thanking some of our champions soon.)

3. Celebrate what’s possible now

Where you are now, who you are now, has set things up for what’s next.

As you lift your eyes to the path that unfolds in front of you, possibilities are popping up like buds of wattle after an Australian bushfire.

Celebrate what lies before you, because it will be juicy.

Don’t take my word for it

Smart people thinking out loud about celebration.

“Everything is created from moment to moment, always new. Like fireworks, this universe is a celebration and you are the spectator contemplating the eternal Fourth of July of your absolute splendor.”
-Francis Lucille

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.”
-Barbara Hoffman

“I love any and all situations where you celebrate creativity.”
-Brad Paisley

“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!”
-Amanda Bradley

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.”
-Tom Peters

“The Olympic Games are the quadrennial celebration of the springtime of humanity.”
-Pierre de Coubertin

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.”
-Walt Whitman

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
-Oprah Winfrey

“It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going.”
-Anthony Burgess

“Mom always tells me to celebrate everyone’s uniqueness. I like the way that sounds.”
-Hilary Duff

Brian is the Chief Philosopher of Philosophers Notes, a website and business I discovered about a year ago and think is absolutely terrific. Brian’s role as Chief Philosopher is to study and share the the world’s greatest wisdom. He has picked the hundred best, wisest, smartest books, he has articulated the thousand best ideas in those books and from those he has extracted the ten core principles behind the real works of wisdom that guide us and shape is in our 21st century.

What makes this sweeter still is that Brian is also a brilliant entrepreneur. He founded an organization called E-Teams that grew, was massively successful and sold it in 2000 to The Active Network then came back and founded another brilliant online company called Zaadz which is now known as Gaia.com and which is also terrific – it’s like a Facebook or LinkedIn for people who want to save the world and change the world.

This is a really juicy call, full of ideas and in it we talk about:

• How you know if you’re ‘following your bliss” (and what Carlos Castaneda has to say on the point)
• One of the deepest choices of life: do you step forward into growth or back into safety
• A brilliant mapping system to help you keep track of your path
• And what Brian learned from Jim Loehr about projecting his shadow
• The importance of ritual

And of course, a whole lot more.

You can find Brian at www.PhilosophersNotes.com and follow him on Twitter at @_Brian_Johnson. (And if you do so, you’ll see he’s just announced he’s getting married. Woo hoo!)

Listen to my interview with Brian Johnson

Today’s the official launch day of Do More Great Work in North America. It’s been quite the ride from having the idea for this book almost three years ago in Einstein’s former summer cottage in upstate New York to where things are now.

Today seems like it will be a day spent doing radio interviews and obsessively checking Amazon.com to see how high we can go. Butt cheeks are officially clenched.

Thank you everyone for your support. I’m now understanding why they have to keep the Oscar speeches short, because otherwise everyone’s thank you list would go on and on and on and on. And on.

And if you’re still umming and aahing about picking up a copy of the book – remember you’ve got just a day left to pick up the bonus ebook “Be Courageous” when you buy your copy of Do More Great Work.