Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

Last week I had the great pleasure of meeting Yosh Kanematsu from Greenz.jp.  Greenz.jp is a Media Activism & Global Network based in Tokyo. Greenz is a news provider for treehugger.com, yahoo! Japan and others, they also organize Earth Day Tokyo and Green Drinks Tokyo.

Yosh heard about my green business ideas and we met in Waimea where he interviewed me. Yosh was probably the first person that I have met that instantly understood the value of coaching in moving green businesses forward towards achieving their goals. What a great affirmation of this part of my approach.

I recently had a girlfriend visiting from Maui and we were comparing notes on how we maintain a balanced life. She mentioned that she has a three legged stool comprised of these three things- self care, work and fun. Fun? I couldn’t believe it! I never though of adding fun to my list. My list of three is- meditate, exercise and eat healthy foods. A good list to be sure, but there is a lot of discipline and not a lot of joy in there. With my friend visiting we had a lot of fun- eating sushi, beaching, dancing, kayaking and a day at the spa. That one weekend was more rejuvenating to me than weeks of sit ups and vegetables. I am still going to keep my three core strategies, but have added a fourth to the list- fun.

Coaching Questions

· Can you give yourself permission to have fun?

· What are the daily or weekly habits that you have that keep you happy, strong, balanced and productive?