Tag: work

When opportunity knocks …

Summer Fridays were never my thing because it meant I could stop working early. I was not a fan of lunch breaks either, but I did love the post-work social hours that ran way too late into some nights. Work hard, play hard.

Work is something that I grew addicted to at a young age. As a child, I operated a pretend office rather than play with dolls. Accompanying my grandmother to the local stationery store was one of my favorite outings, purchasing sales receipt books and other business supplies. Forget Barbie! Sitting at the cherry executive desk when my father worked part-time delivering office furniture was better than any trip to Disney World in my opinion. I felt a surge of adrenaline and pleasure, at the ready to strike a deal or two in my vivid imagination.

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Your daily thought, point to ponder and soulful reflection.

Daily thought: There are times when we work ourselves to an extreme. We push and push until we forget what it is that we are trying to accomplish, yet know we need to keep going.

Point to ponder: There are times we need to step away, even when we know we need to keep going. Why do we find it so hard to stop? Why are we so reluctant to step away, forcing ourselves to drive things forward even when our health and well-being is at stake?

Soulful reflection: I was reminded of this today because I am working tirelessly in an effort to bring to life some important projects outside of my full-time work. I’m passionate, excited yet also frustrated because things don’t always happen as quickly as I would like them to. That and being on a computer 18 hours most days is daunting. We do what we have to do.

But there is a time to step away. Usually when we give our minds and bodies a break, temporarily shifting our priorities, we come back refreshed and replenished. When we take that break, we allow room for creativity to flow. New ideas have room to percolate. Problems can be ironed out as various solutions are revealed.

When we don’t do this, we aren’t nearly as productive and can actually be slowing down our progress. In the wise words of a former colleague, ‘sometimes we need to slow down, to speed up.’

Tonight, I’m slowing down, taking a breath and spending quality time with my pooch.

Be sure to discipline yourself because often it is not our time we need to manage, but our energy.

What do you want written on your tombstone?

How often do we read that when we look back on our lives, we will never wish that our tombstones read: “I wish that I’d worked more.”

Yet I’ve grown quite comfortable and certain in saying that there are some who not only want that, but need that.

We try to help because we believe in taking control of our lives – personally and professionally, thus we expel experiences, stories and accounts of how they, too, can do this.

We offer up our wisdom and skills on how to manage time, energy and resources – yet the person never seems to make that work. They consistently find a reason or share a story – which is really an excuse – of why they are underwater and overwhelmed.

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