Someone posted this quote on social media the other day, and for a Monday morning that kicks off a holiday work-week, it’s a worthy reminder of priorities. My Saturday was spent seeing lifelong friends in New York, and it was a recollection of what our youthful passions and goals were, juxtaposed with the ailments and complaints and survival stories of what the past two decades have wrought. It was also soul-enriching, and a pleasant reprioritization of what feeds our mental health. In my case, that’s not rushing to get every single done as soon as it comes up.
Most of us who take pride in our work and career try to excel and please, in as quick and urgent a way as possible. That’s not a way to make for a lasting sense of fulfillment in a working environment, and I’ve slowly come to see that over the past few years. There are many instances when there is a serious need for immediate action. We like to pretend there is, but that state of frantic rushing when anyone in charge wants something is a false urgency – a contrived and self-created mode of working that more often than not ends up with more errors and mis-steps than if we slowed down to analyze and take our time and care in executing things properly, and working within calm conditions.
A lot of us do the same thing in our personal lives, and in our relationships and friendships, wanting to rush and immediately fix or solve or address things the minute they come up. We tend to make decisions and take action in the heat of the moment rather than pause and consider what’s really going on. In my youth, I made my fair share of those urgent decisions, of rushing to get something resolved or finished at the expense of letting it evolve or improve, and perhaps losing out on things that might have ripened into much more.
Summer feels like a good time to slow things down, to re-learn and refine the way we’ve been hurrying through life and missing the moments around us. On this Monday morning maybe we can begin to shift that way of thinking. To that end, our usual weekly recap that appears early every Monday will show up a little later today. All good things to those who wait…
