Time to Inspire……. vs. Perspire
I was listening to a sort of self help CD, in the car, on which a speaker spent quite a lot of time expounding on two words:
SLOW DOWN.
These two words, make a lot of sense, in Today’s world, if you think about all the time that we spend on the freeway, praying that the person in front of us will just hurry up, so that we can all stop and wait again, less than a car length ahead of the spot where we just were.
It makes a lot of sense, when we realize that our child is stopping for the very good reason that something in his/her shoe or pants is making him/her really uncomfortable, or because they’ve seen a really unique leaf or rock on the ground, that we’ve completely missed, by hurrying along to school, or to wherever we think we need to be a lot quicker than we probably really need to be there.
It makes a lot of sense, when our boss has just dropped 10 more file folders of work on our desk, a family member is calling, w/ some minor emergency, and there’s something wrong w/ our computer.
We think that if we can just multi-task a bit quicker, and do a bit more at once, we’ll have time for helping our child get a rock out of his/her shoe, or time for the family emergency that came to our attention, at the same time as the 10 new file folders of work, or time to be patient w/ the driver that’s trying to change lanes, on the jammed freeway, ahead of us.
SLOW DOWN.
You can’t stop and smell the roses, if you’re going 100mph.
Something is going to be missed, or messed up, if you are trying to do several different things, as you do everything on the fly, at breakneck speed.
If you slow down, a bit, you’ll notice that some of what you thought you had to do, someone else could do as easily. You’ll notice that some of what you thought you had to do, can be made a lower priority, or won’t be missed, if it doesn’t get done. Prioritizing will save you a lot of grief.
A lot of the people demanding your attention, can wait for a few minutes. They’ll even be happy to wait, if they know that they’re waiting because you want to hear from them, at a time, when you can really focus on what they’re saying. Sometimes it even works with our kids, if you explain it at their level of understanding.
Next time you think that you have so little time to do things, that it’s best if you can do a bunch of things at once, remember, that you only have two hands, just like everyone else. You only have one brain and one pair of eyes and ears.
We really don’t actually do more than one thing at a time. We just do each thing a breakneck speed and do a less than decent job at it, so that we can get on to the next thing in a “timely” manner, and then we have to go back and redo something, or finish something that we did badly the first time around.
If that’s your idea of healthful and joyful success, then by all means, have at it.
Personally, I’d rather sit down, on the stairs, take a deep and deeply contented breath, as I enjoy watching my husband showing my 3yr. old son a magic trick. I realized, just then, that if I had just continued what I was doing, I would have missed a beautiful bonding moment, taking place between my two favorite guys.
Whatever it was I had been about to do, got done a lot better, than it would have, because I began it with the joy of having seen that playful moment, when my son knew that his Dada was just the coolest, most amazing guy, in the whole world.
Every moment is unique. Some are more fun than others, but you are going to perceive a lot more fun(ny) moments, in life, if you slow down, than you will, if you bowl through your day, just going through the motions, as fast as you can. Next time you get rushed, try slowing down.
Consider the people that exude the most confidence, as they move through their lives. I guarantee you, that they do it, by knowing that they’ve TAKEN THE TIME to do a good job, on what’s really important.
The CD that I was listening to, was sent to me, by IMA, which is the group that sells me my massage insurance. Please let me know if you’d like a copy.