The mind at rest, kind of.

[caption id="attachment_363" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="...dream on."][/caption]

My sister Molly sent the family an email that read:

Last night I dreamed that I had saved my dream as the wrong file type and I couldn’t open it.

First, I must express my admiration of a dream so terse and still so meaningful. It makes my recurring dream of being lost on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston and knowing I need to walk the 90 miles home in the dark seem... well, rather stale.

More to the point, I think my sister just had the ultimate "I'm stressed and not exactly having the time of my life" dream that deserves the 2009 Great Recession Award.*

(*All credit for the term "Great Recession" is ceded to my older son, Zach.)

When I get stressed, I misplace credit cards, keys and other everyday necessities. Sometimes I misplace them in restaurants or public restrooms, which is unfortunate. My sister, apparently, mis-saves dream files.

When I get stressed, I can lose touch with my aspirations, my joys and my confidence. My sister can't even dream her damn dream.

On the other hand, don't you think the mind is a wonderful thing? What a creative way for her brain to say, "Hey kid, you could use some downtime and fun, because life is taking you away from yourself."

May she open her next dream file with ease.

Be more stressed, be more smart!

[caption id="attachment_326" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Enjoying your day?"][/caption]

More smart? Smarter, that's it.

I guess I knew this, but I forgot. Some of us, and I suspect this includes many entrepreneurs and creative types, work way better under pressure. Not only that, we learn so much more when we suspect it's vital, not when we're feeling la-di-da. We also learn more when there are fewer people on hand to help us, like when those people are really busy doing their own thing that we've already assigned to them, or maybe they've thrown in the towel and moved to a faraway island. (And I'm sorry if I caused that... really I am. You know who you are.)

About learning under duress, stress and the rest. I'm of the generation that grew up not attached to a keyboard. No, I had to learn the hard way - as a young adult. And I've gotten pretty good at installing software, troubleshooting, even making an incompatible printer work with my Mac! (Four hours it took, four full hours!) For 2009 business planning in Dismal Economy World, I know it will be important to reach out to clients and prospects in a whole range of ways - from speaking engagements to media relations, mailings to direct personal outreach.

Even as a veteran marketer, I learn new skills when I have to perform unfamiliar hands-on tasks. Like running a slide projector (this is the stuff of nightmares for a verbal learner with no mechanical skills whatsoever). You'd think that the scary part of speaking in front of a large crowd would be... speaking. But for me it's displaying that damnable PowerPoint presentation. IF I have one.

So, in the perpetual interest of finding something lovely in nearly any situation - just think how much you'll learn this year! With so little support! How many new horizons! What an enhanced professional you'll be. Me, too, I hope.