Being deliberate about THINKING while DOING a task will help you balance redwork and bluework. Watch David explain with an everyday example from the kitchen.
To learn more about redwork and bluework, read Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say — and What You Don’t. Get your autographed copy here.
Hey, you want to eat more healthy and control your weight, stop when you’re 80% full. Now, this suggestion came to me from Michael from DC. And the reason it works is because it introduces a higher level of mindfulness to your eating. When I was at the Naval Academy, the idea was to shovel it in as fast as you can to get out of there, which was not mindful at all, not deliberate in terms of eating. And so, if you do that, by the time you feel full, you’re actually overfilled because the sensation of feeling full is a delayed reaction.
Now, this is a great example of what we call balancing redwork with bluework. Redwork is the doing work. So the redwork would be the eating. Bluework is the reflection upon eating. How full do I feel? And over and over and over again, we see examples in life where it’s the right balance between action and reflection that gets you to your goals.
You can’t just have all action and we can’t just have all reflection, but it’s that balance between – we call that REDWORK and BLUEWORK.
I’m David Marquet. Hope you guys are going to have a healthy year. That’s your Leadership Nudge.
