One Saturday morning, Maggie chose to spend the day catching up on email and cleaning her desk. The constant clutter seemed to weigh her down. She began each day with a heavy feeling as she entered her office and saw the stack of paperwork, books, messages and reports sitting there. Even her in-box felt burdensome. There just never seemed to be enough time to catch-up.
She worked from early in the morning until late at night. She began slowly. It felt like drudgery to look at all the stuff that had piled up. At about 1 PM, she had put a sizeable dent into the cleaning, but was exhausted. She knew it was time for a break. She took a 2 hour break to clear her thoughts and relax while walking and then eating lunch. When she returned, the rest seemed to flow, time moved quickly and before she knew it, she was done. It was 1 in the morning when she got home and she was tired.
She slept soundly that night for the firstt time in years. Sunday seemed to fly by. Her mood was lighter and she felt relaxed, though a bit strange. It felt like she was missing something very familiar. When she woke up on Monday morning, this same feeling was stronger. Something was clearly out of place! It wasn't exactly a relief to have a clean desk. It was frightening! Did it mean, she wouldn't be needed any longer? How would it look to her staff to see her desk? Would they think she had nothing to do? These thoughts and more weighed heavily on her mind when she walked into the office.
As she entered her office, she was surprised to notice that a sense of calm replaced the fear. She smiled to herself as she sat down. For the first time in a long while, she was able to focus on her tasks for the day without a sense of heaviness and constant distraction. She had time to talk to her staff. Maggie's creativity began to flow. What was most significant was the feeling of lightness and anticipation that she felt each day. She looked forward to her day and enjoyed interactions. Maggie's connection to work grew, not only in terms of productivity, but in the quality of contact she made with people.
Is there a place, are there issues or tasks in your life that keeps attracting your attention or is weighing you down? What can you do to clear this away? What open issues can you put closure on? What can you pass on to others? What do you need to do to enable the time to do this? |
