Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
STRETCH 1: CHANGING YOUR PACE WILL MAKE YOU MORE INTERESTING.
STRETCH 2: LEAVE WORK HALF AN HOUR EARLIER THAN USUAL.
STRETCH 3: UNPLUG FROM SOCIAL MEDIA FOR 24 HOURS.
STRETCH 4: DROP THE BALL. ON PURPOSE.
STRETCH 5: GIVE YOUR WORKOUT AN EXTRA PUSH.
STRETCH 6: HELP SOMEONE YOU DON’T LIKE.
STRETCH 7: WAKE UP ONE HOUR EARLIER THAN NORMAL
STRETCH 8: WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE OTHERS A SMILE, NOT THE FINGER.
STRETCH 9: DOING THE DISHES WILL MAKE YOU MORE APPRECIATIVE.
STRETCH 10: GETTING A BETTER MIRROR WILL BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE.
STRETCH 11: CHANGING THE SIDE OF THE BED WILL MAKE YOU
MORE CREATIVE.
STRETCH 12: WHY ‘PULL YOUR SOCKS UP’ IS THE BEST ADVICE EVER.
STRETCH 13: STOP YOUR BRAIN FROM BEING FRUSTRATED EVERY DAY.
WHAT'S NEXT?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Introduction
S t r e t c h B e y o n d Yo u r
Comfort Zone
Live the life that you deserve. Don’t settle for less.
I won’t tell you how you should live your life and what’s right
or wrong for you. I will help you build the right mindset for
you to succeed in achieving whatever you want in your life.
The exercises here are meant to help you jump into action.
You don’t need to follow a specific order. Create your own
change journey.
Gustavo Razzetti
Chicago, Illinois
January 2018
Stretch 1
C h a n g i n g Yo u r P a c e W i l l M a k e
Yo u M o r e I n t e r e s t i n g .
I’m not advocating for slowing down your life. I want you to
experiment with changing your pace. If your life is fast-
paced, go slower. If it’s slow-paced, pump it up.
Seniors walk more carefully. Not just slower but they are
more conscious of their surroundings. I remember my walks
with my grandmother before she passed away. Everything
seemed to stop around us. Older adults pause, they invite
us to inner-reflection.
Do you need to see the big picture because you are stuck on
the details? Do you need to slow down because you are
leaving your team behind? Do you have a hard time
connecting with yourself?
Do you live in the slow, medium or fast lane? (you can take
the pace of life quiz here.)
What new things were you able to realize when you changed
your pace?
Stretch 2
L e av e Wo r k H a l f a n H o u r Ea r l i e r
than Usual.
F r e e Yo u r s e l f f r o m B e i n g B u s y
“My friend will get mad if I don’t like his latest pic.”
Did you feel compelled to check your updates? How did you
prevent it?
How strong is your will when you want to change
something?
Stretch 4
We will all leave this world sooner or later. And that’s our
biggest fear. We have a hard time accepting death.
If you quit your job, someone will replace you. If you get
divorced, someone else will fill that empty space. Things
might take time. But everything always falls into place.
“I tried this before. I dropped the ball in the past and no one
picked it up.”
G i v e Yo u r Wo r k o u t a n
Extra Push.
G o B e y o n d Yo u r P e r c e i v e d
Physical Limits
But it’s not always true. Most of the times when we start to
feel some pain -physical or mental- we haven’t yet
reached full capacity. You can either follow that voice
(and quit), or you continue pushing.
H e l p S o m e o n e Yo u D o n ’ t L i k e .
E x p a n d Yo u r W i n d o w o f To l e r a n c e .
Help someone you don’t like. They need help. Try to walk in
their shoes. Ask how they feel. Understand what they are
going through. Give them a hand.
“After all he’s done to me, how can I help him? I never forget
those who hurt me.”
Yet, every now and then, I like to go out for a bike ride early
in the morning. It challenges me. But I love riding on the
empty roads. Or to enjoy the feeling that everything and
everyone are getting ready.
Those changing colors, the calm before the storm, are a
powerful source of energy.
You can do this stretch just once or one day per week. It’s
your call.
W h y Yo u S h o u l d G i v e O t h e r s a
S m i l e , N o t t h e F i n g e r.
Well, it’s also critical to surviving the road. Not just to elude
accidents, but not to allow anger ruin your ride.
Overcoming excuses
I don’t know about you, but I prefer to smile back. The only
thing I want is to continue enjoying my ride :)
Stretch 9
D o i n g t h e D i s h e s W i l l M a k e Yo u
More Appreciative.
Tu r n c h o r e s i n t o a m e d i t a t i o n .
The only caveat is that Daniel, that’s the boy’s name, never
asked to be taught. Even worse, the training was
disguised as a set of painful chores.
Kids run because they want to. Adults run because they
want to stay healthy. Running has become a chore for many.
I have all kind of appliances. But nothing can beat the joy of
kneading with my own hands. Same happens with cutting
vegetables. Sounds trivial but I do it faster and nicer than
with a food processor.
— Buddha
1. Quick Warm-Up
Here’s a simple trick that you can use to reframe how
you talk about chores.
The words we use impact our brain. They can either
inhibit or promote positive behaviors. That’s precisely what
we will practice here: how to reframe our
conversation about chores.
His theory of the looking glass self, states that the view of
ourselves comes from how others perceive us. Or, better
said, how we believe people see us.
Others reflect our worst flaws. And it’s always easier to see
what’s wrong on the other side of the street.
You can practice in this order or jump into the part that
resonates the most.
2. Let go of comparisons:
Write a list of all the things you envy on others or you wish
you can do/ have too. Start every line with “I wish I can do/
have…”
Review the list again. Now delete all those things you
can live without them.
We don’t have our own side of the bed for the same
reason.
“When you change the way you look at things; the things
you look at, change.”
— Wayne Dyer
W h y ‘ P u l l Yo u r S o c k s U p ’ I s t h e
B e s t A d v i c e E v e r.
That’s why ‘Pull your socks up’ is the best advice I’ve ever
received. Rituals can get us back on our feet. Immediately.
I’ve played rugby for over a decade. And I’ve always dreamt
to be part of my High School A-team. But when I finally
joined it, all I got was the disappointment.
How can you turn the score around when your ability to
think creatively is diminished?
The moment, space and the ‘how’ turns an act into a ritual.
It creates an experience that builds meaningful memories.
Having both a literal and metaphorical meaning makes
rituals more visual and compelling.
“Rituals are the formula by which harmony is restored.”
— Terry Tempest Williams
You can always score back. After the first half of the game,
there’s still another half to go. You always have a chance to
get even.
If you lose a match, you can win the next one. But that
requires playing rather than staying in the “defeat
mode.”
S t o p Yo u r B r a i n f r o m B e i n g
F r u s t r a t e d E v e r y D a y.
When you get upset about the same things over and over,
frustration builds up. Trivial things quickly turn into a
life-or-death situation.
The sink that’s full of dirty dishes although you dined out?
Your teenager’s messy room regardless of your many
reminders? That someone ate a piece of pie you bought for
yourself? Your son who used your car but forgot to fill the
tank?
If that’s the case, let go. The world doesn’t revolve around
you.
This exercise will help you rewire your brain and pause,
rather than having a fight-or-flight response.
Good luck ;)
What’s Next?