Focus

So first off let me start by saying I hate my blackberry.  I miss my Droid phone with it's large screen and easy to navigate apps.  I hate having to sign in every half hour just to check my gmail.  I hate not having google maps or the possibility to zoom with only two fingers.  All in all, I hate almost everything about my blackberry.  It stressed me out to no end the week I was supposed to leave for Europe.  It stressed me out while I was abroad and racked up a ton of international data minutes checking work emails and my schedule.  It stressed me out when I got home and couldn't even update my fantasy line-up on it thus losing in the playoff round.

The point of this whole rant though is to say how important focus is.  I've been so focused on finding a "fix" or "dealing" with issues that were bothering me that I couldn't focus on really anything else.  While I was gone I only ran once and that was just so I wouldn't disappoint mom.  There were so many fires that I had to put out and only so much time in a day to do it.  As my focus continued to be centered on things I need to get done and stuff that I needed to finish that day I began to lose my perspective.

I realized that this weekend and went into today with one focus.  Prioritize your time so that you can go to the gym by 4:30, run and make the 5:30 bodypump class.  This is all that I have focused on today and I fully intend to make it happen.  It's a real shift in perspective for me and one that I think I really needed.

Making this happen has revolved around the idea that everything that I need to do today I will also need to do tomorrow and the next day etc.  Now for all those managers out there reading this please don't worry.  I'm not advocating becoming a slacker at your job and trying to rationalize it by the fact that you want to be healthy.  There is definitely a balance.  For me I've focused so much on work lately that I won't allow myself to do anything but work until I'm completely devoid of energy at the end of the day.  The beauty of knowing that I have to prioritize the gym is that I have a time limit.  This works great for me since I am extremely efficient when under pressure.  As you can see this paradigm may not work for everyone.

Using this technique today required me to make a list of everything I needed to do this week and then prioritize the tasks.  By doing this I no longer have the stress of dealing with the little things that are bothering me or focusing on what needs to be changed that I can't immediately change.  I hate my blackberry still but I realize that until the blackberry guy calls me back there is nothing I can do to change my situation.  Somehow that's freeing.  :)  And of course now I have no excuses for not going to the gym at 4:30!

Val