by DLCC Coach Nancy Turngren
How many of you think balance between work and “life” just isn’t possible? You’ve read the information on how to achieve this but are still thinking: ‘I’m just too busy; I don’t have enough time in the day to even think about balance’.
Well, there’s another way to think about it. It is called rhythm.
How productive and effective are we when we work continuously? In the book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz, a case is made that “we’re neglecting the four core needs that energize great performance: sustainability (physical); security (emotional); self-expression (mental); and significance (spiritual). Rather than running like computers at high speeds for long periods, we are at our best when we pulse rhythmically between expending and regularly renewing our energy across each of our four needs.”
So, while you might be putting in a lot of hours at work, how focused and productive are you?
Pulse. Rhythm. Expending. Renewing. This makes sense to me. I can’t think of anything that works at its best erratically. In fact, the opposite of this comes to mind: a metronome.
It’s not a common device that we use or even think about, but you know it, that device used for tracking rhythm. You can adjust the pace to go faster or slower. Imagine the metronome making its ticking noise at a fast pace. After a while, don’t you just want to slow it down?
Our bodies are amazing machines; they also operate best rhythmically. Picture your body or your mind going as fast as the fast-paced metronome. Just thinking about it wears me out! This pace may be necessary at times, but how long can your body work like this until you want to tell yourself to slow down?
We often fool ourselves into thinking we don’t have another choice but to go, go, go. For the metronome to go slower, you have to physically change the setting. For humans to find a different rhythm, you have to do something different or make a different choice.
You do have a choice.
The choice may be a change in habit or perspective. What is one thing you can do differently this week to create a new rhythm? See if anyone notices your new song!
