The Speed of the Day

Submitted 2005-10-05 Article Views: 1 Rated: Total Word Count: 513  View Comments (0) Add Comments Rate This Article Send To Friends Publisher Print

Think about the first 30 minutes of your day. Do you hit the ground running, gulping down coffee and racing around like your hair is on fire? If so, you've probably noticed the rest of your day follows likewise. This article recommends that you reconfigure your morning ritual to create an "island of serenity" in your day.

There is a direct correlation between the speed of your early morning hours and the speed of the rest of your day. I noticed this connection some 10 years ago when I started working with my first coach. She asked me how I spent my early mornings and if I had a morning ritual that I enjoyed. I confessed that I usually hit the ground running, grabbing a cup of coffee and heading into my home office to launch into whatever hit me first. The only ritual was seeing how fast I could get moving before my then very small son woke up and needed my attention.

When she advised that I create a morning ritual that sustained rather than drained me, I eagerly took on the challenge. From that point forward I completely reinvented my morning routine. While I still had the coffee, I spent the first 45 minutes or so relaxing, reading inspirational or instructional material. I meditated. I walked. And I didn't even move toward my office until 8:30 or so. The changes that began to unfold in my life were amazing. And to this day, I honor those early morning minutes as among the most precious of the day.

I share this story with you because often, when I am coaching someone, or meet someone at a presentation or speech, they tell me how crazy their life is. They, like I used to, hit the ground running, filling their early morning hours with caffeine, bad news reports, and racing like mad to get wherever it is they need to go, or racing their children wherever it is they need to go. Maybe you can relate.

There's a saying in leadership that "the speed of the leader is the speed of the gang." The corollary in terms of lifestyle is: "the speed of the morning is the speed of the day." Experiment this week with altering your morning routine. Even if you can only spend 15 minutes in quiet before the day begins, watch how the seed of peace takes root in the rest of your day. Mentally return to those few peaceful moments when you feel rushed or hurried during the day and that peace will again permeate your mind and spirit.

Gandhi said it well when he commented: "There has to be more to life than increasing its speed."

***********************
Quote of the Week
***********************

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." ~~Ecclesiastes 3:1

Article Source: http://www.elrincondelantropologo.com/