Elijah of Vilna
William “Bud” Hart of Haverhill shares “Success Principles”—ideas for living a greater, better and more accomplished life, and building habits that stick. He also coaches clients to incorporate strategies for boosting their mental and physical performance during everyday living.
Saturday I had to get a jump start and drive my car to the garage to have the battery replaced. I had sensed a couple of times prior to Saturday that the engine started slowly when I turned the key. At one point I thought the battery was about to die, but then the engine stingily turned over (whew). I hoped it all might be a fluke, so I waited. Even with my growing sense that the battery was gradually wearing down I pushed it until finally it died completely.
Most of us have probably turned on the television at one point and seen the Energizer (battery) Bunny commercial, “It just keeps going and going.” I really don’t have an answer for how my car battery story and the Energizer Bunny commercial relate, other than that I have been thinking about the importance of recharging my own battery this week and they just came to me.
Let’s be honest, it’s rather easy to be busy and hard to slow down in today’s fast paced world. The inability to relax and recharge our bodies, minds and souls is a significant problem for many. Some even act as if their self worth depends on the length of their to-do list. But ask doctors, athletes, business leaders—heck, even ask yourself (like I’m doing)—what is important for health and success and you will hear “take time to rest.”
My wife thinks I’m totally incapable of completely disconnecting from work (not so, at least in my opinion). But I’m sure she’s right about one thing (along with all the other experts), completely and entirely switching off from work can be extremely beneficial for improving everything from health to wealth.
Any amount of time on a beach spent leafing through a good beach book, or a pile of magazines (interrupted only by a refreshing walk or dip) gives valuable flashes of clarity to personal and professional hopes, dreams, projects and ventures. Stepping away from the regular day-to-day stuff provides the all-important opportunity to look at work and all that’s going on in life to see what needs fixing, or nixing.
The implication is clear (for all of us). We can live lives caught up in the details of our daily work, but, we’re not truly living and progressing until we can to take some time to stop creating and start enjoying. As the saying goes, “More work is not better work, smarter work is better work.
The Rabbi Elijah of Vilna puts it this way, “What we create becomes meaningful to us only once we stop creating it and start to think about why we did so.”
William “Bud” Hart is a certified “mindset” coach, accountability partner and business consultant. He is the founder of Hart Group, www.hartgroupma.com.