I’ve been so busy lately. What about you? How do we get so busy? Why do we let our calendars fill up so much. It is great that as a business owner you can work whatever 80 hours you want, but why don’t we stop at 70, or 60? And are we taking time for ourselves?
We run from meeting to meeting, task to task, and there never seems to be a moment when I feel caught up. Right now, as I sit at my desk, there are three TOP priorities on my To Do list and a full calendar of things waiting for me. I decided to NOT go to my 7:30 meeting. It wasn’t with a client or to network, but it was to go to a meeting that will help me do things better. The problem is, I always feel busy. So I decided to miss that meeting, slow down, and reflect on what is going on…so I thought blogging about it would be helpful…for me and for you.
As an owner of a small business, there seems to be a constant urgency of the now. I have to do this. I have to meet with him. I need to get that done. There is never enough time in the day. I was listening to a podcast (imagine that) in the car yesterday, and the guy being interviewed was talking about meditation. No, this is not a typical topic for me. He was being interviewed because he has self-published over 20 books (or something crazy like that), and his topic just happened to be on meditation and spiritual practice. They discussed mostly how he knocked out so many books (in the past two years by the way), and when given the opportunity to give a piece of advice to the audience, he suggested that everyone meditate each morning.
Coming from a Christian background, the idea of having a quiet time is n
ot foreign, but the idea of meditation, now that kind of freaks me out. But it does intrigue me a bit. I have heard of a lot of very successful people that spend a chunk of time meditating each morning. In fact, I just heard an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger with Tim Ferris, on his podcast, where Arnold talked about starting to do meditation when his career with acting and body building were at its peaks. It helped him to calm down and make better decisions.
Another guy I like in the entertainment world is Jerry Seinfeld. I heard him interviewed as well, and he talked about meditating daily. Many may just think of him as a comedian, but Jerry is one of the best at his craft. SUPER focused and brilliant.
I have not resigned myself to meditating…yet. But I am thinking there must be something to slowing down, blocking out the noise, and clearing the head. If your calendar is anything like mine, that will not be easy. But when you schedule a meeting, an appointment, or sign up to attend something, you should at least ask yourself, do I really need to do that right now? Could I NOT do that, so I can focus on what is really important? But before you do that, you might need to ask yourself: What is really important to me? And that, is a topic for another day.
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ways to grow your business, to hear stories from successful small business owners, and more from Nick May, listen to the #1 Small Business Podcast from Denver, Colorado, Small Business Naked