Busy… Busy… Busy

I slowed down this week. I guess it happened because I’m tired (refer to last week’s post). The bottom line is this… I liked it. I stopped trying to “get it all done” … and it felt nice. My son had hockey on Saturday night and a good portion of the day Sunday. Instead of trying to fit 500 things in between driving here and there and bed… I allowed myself to be present and really enjoy the weekend. When we got home from hockey on Sunday afternoon, I felt like I should be cleaning… and doing laundry… and at least thinking about dinner. Instead, I took Lucy (our chocolate lab) for a walk. It felt good to walk… to take time for myself… to sweat a little and enjoy the outdoors.

So, the lesson is… slow down. The thing is… it’s hard to do! As much as I enjoyed it, the toilets need to be cleaned and there are dishes in the sink. I have one day off per week and I’m so thankful for it. On most Monday’s, I vacillate between taking time for myself and trying to get done everything on my to-do list. It’s a long list. I won’t go into it here. You’re welcome.

The crazy thing is that there are always 500 more things to do! It is never done. The house is never clean enough… potentially save that 5 minutes after you finish a cleaning frenzy… but other than that – no. Grocery shopping… continuous – if you like eating. Bills… yes, they keep coming. Laundry… dishes… cooking… you get the gist.

So, I guess this gets back to my post last week about wanting to leave a legacy. On some level, having re-read my last post, that is what it was all about… I want to leave a legacy but I’m too tired to find the time. I think there is a fear that if I slow down… if I allow myself to just be present in this moment and not push myself to do the other things… I won’t have time to do anything big. Not pushing myself to do “more” seems like settling for less than what I want. And yet… I don’t necessarily believe that more is always better. Sometimes more is just… more!

Maybe the trick is to come up with a set of core values that helps you decide what to focus on or whether to spend time and energy on a project or not. I’m thinking of Zappo’s – I read the book Delivering Happiness and loved it – in it they talk about how Zappo’s developed a set of core values that each employee could base decisions on. It’s a great idea for empowerment… instead of having to get approval on every question that comes up, the employees are empowered to answer the questions themselves by reviewing the list of core values. Zappo’s has a very cool culture and set of core values… check out  http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values

I wonder what would happen if I based decisions on a set of carefully constructed core values. Fun would definitely be a core value. I’m not sure cleaning toilets would be considered fun. I guess, potentially, there would be something about cleanliness and personal hygiene. Then again, maybe there would be something about hiring someone to do the jobs that do not make you happy!!

Here’s what I suggest… let’s make a set of core values and start basing out decisions on them! What do you say? Couldn’t hurt, right? Would it throw our world in a tail spin? Or maybe the better question is… would the tail spin that is inevitable proceed by spiraling in a good direction or not?

Let me know what you come up with on your list of core values… and how it goes basing decisions on them!

Love and laughter to you!  ~Rashel