“Time taken to review progress, reflect and refocus isn’t wasted. It’s part of growth to realign.”
We are in a frantic race to nowhere but we have to keep acting like it because you think that’s what is expected of you. You are ever busy and you have the audacity to use it as an excuse for not taking care of what really matters like your health, family and etc. Do you think you are doing yourself any justice? I doubt so.
I never knew or comprehended a fast life as much growing up. In the village all you know is that you’ll wake up, go to the farm in the morning then through the day you are either in the fields looking after animals or at home attending to family errands. It’s a norm in the village and nobody felt the urge to be running against time. As a common saying in my community goes; “You can’t outrun time. You’ll finish your race and leave it running till eternity.” In essence you did what needed to be done when it needed to be done and let the rest be.
Nairobi is one place everybody is rushing somewhere and nowhere at any given time. This trend is catching up with more people even outside the city. It’s some chronic restlessness and anxiety of wanting to be doing something or rushing somewhere. I recently walked through Uhuru Park early in the morning heading to work and I was surprised to find people settling in at the park. Question that keeps lingering in my mind is what would get one to leave their house very early to sit in the cold that early? I wish I ever get an answer to this but it ain’t the focus of this article today.
We all have dreams, aspirations and goals to achieve. In a world where we’ve been accustomed to the catchphrase; “Hard Work Pays” we all strive to always be working even when the productivity levels are dismal if not on the negative. In the course of such we lose our cool, fail to attend to the basics and instead of performing we are self distracting. Our projects may not be as productive as they would have been if we approached them from a clear mind after enough rest coupled with clarity of purpose.
I believe it is important to sit back and relax once in a while. It helps you get in touch with your senses at a personal level, gauge your wellbeing and most importantly it helps one reflect on whether they are on course or running after an illusion. I wouldn’t say I haven’t been part of the frantic racers but from experience, after enough rest there is some level of clarity that comes making you be able to ace your next project. With such stellar performance, your fulfillment is at peak and you have a chance to grow.
For some just staying chilled doing nothing may prove impossible especially as we are accustomed to doing something. In this case I would recommend reading a book at least. By reading you are relaxed and at the same time you are feeding your mind with different perspectives which help sharpen your thinking. When you resume work, you’ll be able to perform better. Time spent gaining knowledge or perfecting a skill is not time wasted as well. I have interacted with individuals who feel they are too busy to advance their skill in their field of practice. The risk of being redundant is higher when you don’t sharpen your skills and reasoning. Taking time off even if for a day only in a month is sound investment in yourself. Through this weekend take time to figure out whether you are productive or busy. If the latter consider taking time off to reflect and refocus. Most importantly consider investing in yourself skill-wise and intellectually for anything before it’s achieved or done starts in the mind. Envision it and dream it in order to act on it.
“Your goals are important. Focus on them but factor your wellbeing to be able to achieve them. Take a chill pill.”