The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal said: all of man's problems come from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone. And they didn't have internet, email or iPads back then! Around this time of year there is usually a lot of energy around making lists and getting a fresh start and I wanted to make a different suggestion. Schedule time to do nothing. At Intel they scheduled engineers to have 4 hours of uninterrupted time every Tuesday morning just to hear themselves think -- and it was so unusual (apparently the usual is about 3 minutes of uninterrupted time) and had such an impact that at the end of the experiment the participants recommended extending it to everyone in the company.
I just returned from the longest getaway I've ever taken -- two weeks at a wonderfully quiet beach where there is almost nothing to do. We had a partial excuse because we were having work done at our house, but I have to admit, I was lazy. Having two weeks meant I didn't have to start right away "planning" how to enjoy my vacation. I walked on the beach under brilliant blue skies -- only when I felt like it. I listened to the waves, wrote, fell in love with the BBC series Doc Martin and read. My family and I biked at a leisurely pace, played a lot of bananagrams and Settlers of Catan and tried out some interesting new recipes.
You probably think I'm going to say something earth-shaking or deeply transforming happened. It didn't. I was finally able to help my husband start his blog, which has turned out to be even more amazing than I thought it would be. I started two poems. And he and I were able to reconnect in ways our crazy schedules don't usually allow. What it did make me realize is that our usual pace is only possible in fast forward -- and that cuts way back on time for the human connections and the beautiful, satisfying and sustaining details of what we are experiencing. Worst of all, it leaves no time for the solitary reflection that allows our imaginations to connect the dots of all those experiences and reframe them into the ideas & passions that keep us moving forward instead of running on our hamster wheels. We tell ourselves you can do this, numb out everything so we can keep going, but get nowhere, then feel more pressure to do more to get ahead. Do you see how this can become a seriously vicious cycle?
Don't give in to the pressure that you "should" be making a new start this January. If you believe there is something creative and valuable in you, find ways to be still this year and allow it to surface.
And if you think that sounds too airy-fairy for a serious, success-oriented business person, go ask Intel what were they thinking?
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