A number of you have asked me if I would say a few words about each of “The T.I.P.S.” (the Twelve Integrated Practices of Sparking) that I recommend as your core strategies for feeding your spark and creating a life of joy, meaning, connection and impact. I will begin that here and assemble them in one place.

I still (try to remember to) open up my T.I.P.S. document each morning and look at it before I get onto The Hamster Wheel.

Each day, the first of the T.I.P.S. I see reads:

1. Remind Yourself Each Morning What Matters Most

As you start your day — and certainly before you begin working — REVIEW YOUR GOOD LIFE INDEX (GLI) and remember to aim at creating G.L.E.E. (the experiences of joy and meaning that fuel you that you will tuck into your “Good Life Experience Envelope”) OUT OF WHATEVER PRESENTS. I call this “Spark Surfing.” This will help you remember what you are really “after” throughout the day and will make it easier for you to avoid confusing the “means” (of what you have to do or have planned to do) with “ends” (that which you care about the most).

Then I look through my own Good Life Index, which reads as follows:

For me a successful month is a month in which I experience …

I. CONNECTION

 1. FEELING THE FAMILY FLOW

 … Ease and happiness with Stacey and Tsadia together at least once a day on twenty or more days in the month.

 2. STACEY SWEETNESS

… Loving heart connection with Stacey at least once a day on twenty or more days in the month.

 3. DAUGHTER DELIGHT

… Loving heart connection with Tsadia at least once a day on twenty or more days in the month.

4. FEEDING FRIENDSHIPS

… The awareness of deep connection and/or the sense that I am nurturing a friendship at least once a day on twenty or more days in the month.

 5. MOMENTS OF MICRO CONNECTION

… The happiness I experience when I co-create a small moment of genuine human connection – especially a serendipitous micro-connection in an unlikely context, at least once a day on twenty or more days in the month. 

II. IMPACT

 6. GIFT GIVING

… Meaning and satisfaction as I use one or more of my gifts to spark others … at least three times a day on twenty five times or more days in the month.

 7. LASTING LEGACY

… Gratification s I take at least a small step to create some sense of meaning/purpose (and relief) by writing, recording and posting, and/or otherwise sharing some idea, insight and/or story that I believe could be useful to others — if not in a lasting way — at least five times in the month.

III. JOY

 8. LOVING WHERE I LIVE

… Delightful belonging that I am “living in the right place,” (including “Beholding Beauty”) at least once a day, on sixteen or more days in the month.

 9. COMING ALIVE WITH PLAY

… Exhilaration and coming alive from play, at least once a day on eight or more days in the month