Are you procrastinating over something? What’s holding you back? You might just need a little nudge. That’s what I got this week when I attended the Retirement Coaches Association conference.
Welcome to the 81st edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a decluttering challenge for the week. In addition to overcoming procrastination, this week’s edition discusses greenwashing ads, clean energy innovation, and decluttering outdoor toys.
On my mind this week: We all need a little nudge sometimes
If you’ve been following my year of reinvention, you know I retired from my full-time job at the end of June. At that time, I told myself I’d take the summer off before diving into my retirement coaching work.
Well! Summer is over so it’s time to get to work!
This week I got the little nudge I needed to move forward when I attended the Retirement Coaches Association’s annual conference. I came away from the 3-day virtual event excited and energized.
One of the speakers Gerard van Grinsven, made a successful transition from running one of the world’s biggest luxury hotel chains to a position as CEO of a large American healthcare system. In his newest venture, he’s taking on the long-overdue challenge of reimagining senior living facilities from “warehousing our loved ones to die” into communities of creativity and purpose. This man knows a thing or two about reinvention!
Advice on reinventing oneself
Gerard gave some excellent advice on reinventing oneself. Three quotes from his talk really spoke to me:
- “Don’t underestimate who you are.” It’s easy to fall prey to imposter syndrome and focus on all the reasons not to do something. But one of the best things about this stage of life is we bring all our accumulated knowledge, wisdom, and life experience with us into whatever we do. That’s powerful!
- “Embrace discomfort as a sign of growth.” Trying something new is scary, but the only way to grow is to step outside our comfort zone.
- “Fear standing still.” Fear holds a lot of people back from making a move, but the key to success is keeping moving even when it’s scary.
Inspired by the conference, I updated my LinkedIn profile to officially announce my new venture. I don’t have a website for my business yet, and I still have a lot of things to figure out. The discomfort is real…but at least I’m not standing still!
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Three highlights of the week
In addition to the Retirement Coaches Association conference, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:
- Fall is officially here, although this week has still felt very much like summer here in southern Ontario. I’ve been enjoying time on the deck while I still can.
- I tried a new vegetarian recipe—lentil and sweet potato stew.
- My daughter Laura is home from British Columbia for the weekend. Colleen has also been home for a few weeks. It’s always so wonderful to have both girls here in Ontario at the same time!
Things I learned this week
Life is all about learning. Here are new things I learned this week:
TTC moves to ban greenwashing ads
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has made a bold move to ban greenwashing ads by fossil fuel advocacy groups.
The motion presented on September 17 states:
Climate change is an unprecedented threat to people in Toronto and worldwide, with overwhelming consequences, especially for the most vulnerable. In Toronto, climate change is already causing serious impacts, including increases in average heat, and in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. In turn, these adversely affect the TTC and those we serve.
Kudos TTC!
Indigenous peoples lead the way in clean energy
Canada’s Indigenous peoples are leading the way with clean energy innovations. And they’re doing it in a way that respect Indigenous lands, treaties, and rights. A new report from Indigenous Clean Energy highlights four projects that are making a difference:
- A solar farm in Anahim Lake, British Columbia is reducing the use of diesel by more than 60%.
- Instead of burning its waste, a sawmill in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan has created a new biofuel plant that will power 5,000 homes.
- A wind farm outside Saint John, New Brunswick, is expected to generate $100 Million to support community programs over the next 25 years.
- Here in Southwestern Ontario, an electric battery storage facility on Six Nations of the Grand River land will draw and store electricity from the grid when power demand is low and return it when demand increases.
(Source: CBC What On Earth)
This week’s decluttering challenge – Outdoor toys and kids’ playhouse
In 2024, I’ve been revisiting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge I completed in 2021. This week’s challenge was decluttering outdoor toys and the kids’ playhouse. I only decluttered one item, but it was a big one. Find the details, along with my tips and learnings, in this week’s decluttering post.
To join the challenge, visit this post to download your free checklists and jump right in with this week’s task.
I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.
Gerard Van Grinsven sounds like a very interesting speaker and I love his insights on growth and one of the advantages we have as we get older. In fact, we have more to contribute.
And yes, way to go TTC!
He was a great speaker and his background made him very credible on the topic. Just the idea of making the switch from leading a luxury hotel chain to running a hospital system is mind boggling.
Maybe someday I will be able to embrace discomfort as a sign of growth… Hurrah for lentil and sweet potato stew! And the next time I go to Linked In, I will remember to find and follow you (and your new undertaking!)
Thanks Will. It’s so hard to step outside our comfort zone, isn’t it? I think it’s because we’re creatures of habit and those habits can be hard to break.
Sounds like the conference was a real turning point for you. Glad its nudged you in the right direction.
Thanks Brenda. It was a great experience and it also connected me with many others in the field of retirement coaching which is always a good thing.
Networking is definitely beneficial, Michelle
Cheers to you for leaping into your new ventures…one foot in front of the other and there you are! Updating your LinkedIn profile, building out your new business. Go, Michelle! 🥰
Exactly! I keep going back to one of the key learnings from the book Atomic Habits: You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist! We all have to start somewhere.
Have a wonderful Sunday Vicki! 🤗
You’ve got it! And you’re on your way. Happy Sunday to you, too! 🥰
I just followed your LinkedIn. I have only just started trying to use it.
So many helpful tips in this week’s post.
Thanks Jamie! I’ve been using LinkedIn for a long time. It’s a great place for thought leadership sharing and there are a lot of environmentalists on there that publish good information. Unlike many other forms of social media, it tends to be thought provoking without the nastiness. If you’re not following Katharine Hayhoe on there, I’d highly recommend her.