I’m in the (new) habit of creating time to read during the day. Same thing with morning prayers and intention setting, working out before it gets too late, a mid day walk, etc. The comments I've received about this range from 'good for you' to 'who in the world believes they’re entitled to THAT mid day activity'?!? And spoiler alert, the last one is often what I think deep inside that hustley brain of mine...
When I had a more traditional job, I was doing what work or my super, jam packed calendar dedicated. I would get up before 5a, start on calls, stop for kid prep then start back with my meeting packed day. Few days included time for my health, introspection or time to learn. Those happened occasionally, but not intentionally.
My lady BB asks a question of her podcast guests - what’s the leadership lesson that keeps on repeating in your life? In other words, what’s a lesson you have to keep re-learning and re-learning because (presumably), it hasn’t quite seeped into your core, your habits, your way of being.
Oddly enough, for me, I didn’t make the switch to a more intentional life as soon as I left corporate. It took a few years for me to disentangle myself from the deeply ingrained ‘hustle culture’ to which I’d grown accustomed. For me, the call is coming from inside the house - no one needs to encourage me to ‘do more, try harder’ - I do this all on my own now! I’ve been properly conditioned or so it feels…
Great book on the topic of hustle culture
My hardest work NOW is to not do anything. Pushing away from my computer is tough. And I know myself well enough to know I can’t have sight of that monitor glow or it pulls me in. I have to push away and leave or I’ll be typing away for hours. The relevance or impact doesn’t matter, usually. It feels SO good to work (or so I believed), ‘I love my work’, I say and that’s true. And to stay my best, my most focused and well nurtured now requires I step away. Did I mention it’s the hardest thing ever, still…
I’m curious how often you notice the recurring patterns in your life? What’s something that’s no longer serving you, something you know that is sucking your brain energy more than you’d like to acknowledge? Do you just want to notice it now or take action to make a change?