Monday, January 30, 2012

Airplane Mode

I love it when the pace of my life is frantic. Up early, meetings all day, a flood of email, a crisis or two, social media throughout to stay current and share ideas, commuting time runs into hockey practices, kid’s homework, my workout, some family time and then bed. Wake up and go harder the next day. Love it.

However…even I realize that pace is not sustainable. Unfortunately, we all know people who refuse to take a proverbial time out and catch their breath. It’s a slippery slope disguised in words like commitment, work ethic, and “not enough hours in the day.” When we’re moving that fast mistakes happen, opportunities are missed, and speed can sometimes be an enemy.

Step Back and Evaluate
How have we allowed a non-stop focus on work to become the norm? Is that healthy? I don’t think so. When we never slow down we don’t give ourselves a chance to examine our own performance. Did we say the right things to our team? Do we need to apologize for an inadvertent comment? Do we need to offer praise that we’ve neglected to do? Taking the time to stop and reflect affords us the opportunity to answer these questions, and more importantly, to do something about them. When we never slow down these questions don’t even hit our radar screen.

“Every once in while we need to push away from the corporate trough and stop feeding on a schedule that only accepts work as an acceptable use of time.”

How About You
Do you find your self moving so fast that you can’t remember the last time you turned off your smart phone for a few hours and just spent time thinking? If so, it’s time to slow down and catch your breath. There will be plenty of time in the morning to come back harder and faster than ever.

I’d love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

pic courtesy of newconsultanthq

4 comments:

  1. My days are getting busier and busier and I appreciate now more than yester-year.

    Rock on

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  2. Thanks Chris...so glad to hear your pace is up to!

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  3. Great post, Jay!

    I'm a big fan of personal productivity and don't mind a quick pace to life (although down-time is obviously important too).

    Remember the old adage that if you want something to get done, give it to the busiest person you know?

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  4. Thanks for the comment Alex. You're right, it always seems that the buiest person is the most on top of things!

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