Sunday morning, and the pressure’s off
It’s 7:25 on Sunday morning. I’ve got my coffee, my cat and my computer. I have a To Do List, and the day is mine to get things done.
I love Sundays. The pressure’s off. The phone’s not ringing. I have a block of time to do things. I don’t feel stressed.
I wonder how much more productive I could be if I rearranged my thought processes so I didn’t feel as much stress. Yesterday I had one of my best runs ever — EVER — at the Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon. I went into it with no expectations whatsoever. I ran the smartest, strongest race I’ve ever done, and I ended up cutting 28 seconds off my best time! And even before I knew I set a personal record, I was elated because the race had been so much fun.
I need to translate that back into my business. What if I took the pressure off of being perfect and just realized I was having fun, that I was lucky to be doing what I love for a living?
Yesterday was a great reminder of how thinking differently about a situation can make all the difference in the world.
Ingrid on 15 Sep 2008 at 7:41 pm #
I’m glad you found your stride!ha ha ha
It’s nice to have a leisurely day, and sometimes you are very productive when things keep going your way.
Sometimes I hit a great stride at work, and when I stop I realized I just worked through 6 hours and got so much done.
Okay, so I am not sure how that sounded, good or bad that I worked 6 hours and did not realize the time? Oh well…
Mark McClure on 16 Sep 2008 at 1:39 am #
You say: “What if I took the pressure off of being perfect…”
Well, whenever I think about such things, running analogies often come to mind and it seems clear there is more going on between footfalls than I can ever consciously become aware of…
those trillions of cell laboratories going like the clappers to keep the juice flowing, sinews/muscles smoothly flexing and stretching, continuous CO2-O2 exchanges so the system isn’t poisoned, visual coordinates being rapidly updated and tracked… and a very subtle balance mechanism making sure I don’t fall on my a$se. lol
And we worry about pressure!!
The greatest secret might be to see that not only running 1/2 marathons but all of a person’s life has the same miraculous processes built in – a custom-made kitchen of the mind (you can learn to cook, can’t you?!)
Anyway, congrats on the PR (we say PB across the pond) and go eat a cupcake or 2.