Is it Time for a Time Out?

Last night, while driving home from work, I heard a story from an American Public Radio Station on the disappearance of silence. The guest speaker, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, has traveled the globe for the past 30 years listening for the earth’s rarest nature sounds and he believes that silence is becoming an endangered species. As Hempton and the show’s host talked about the last great quiet places in the world, I realized I was craving – and in desperate need – of my own quiet place.

I can’t remember the last time I was able to sit and be still. When I’m not in meetings, checking off my daily to-do list, answering phone calls and emails, or dealing with office politics, my mind is going a million miles a minute thinking about the next project – or the next ten projects. It’s all so loud!

What about you? When’s the last time you stopped to just be still. When’s the last time your environment slowed down? Every day you put out fires at work. You deal with HR issues, offer your employees’ advice, and listen on and on to various pitches and arguments in meetings. More than likely, even on the commute to and from work, you’re thinking about work or what you have to get done for the day. Or, maybe you’re thinking about what you didn’t get done at the end of the day.

If any of this is sounding familiar, you could be ready for a quiet time too. Someone once told me, “Where ever you are, be all there,” but that’s hard to do when you have so much noise going on. So, every day take a little time to relax and just breathe. Sit still and shut out all the interruptions. You’ll be surprised how much it helps you de-stress, and gain perspective and clarity – all of which will help you focus better on the tasks at hand whether your mentoring an employee or overseeing a new project.

 

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