Disease

A client recently shared her frustration with how a project is going – or actually not going.  Between Kathryn’s teammates not completing milestones on time, her boss inquiring for the third time on the status of her presentation, and painful discomfort in her lower back, she’s overwhelmed and exhausted.  Adding to the situation was a phone call from her 10-year old asking if she’d actually be home for dinner any evening this week.

Problem

And so it goes climbing the ladder of accomplishment, praise and recognition.  For most of us, we’ve all logged the 100’s of hours, the late nights, the back-to-back meetings and the neglect of our larger life.

It’s not surprising that our conversation turned quickly to Kathryn’s back.  “Herniated disk.  Did it playing volleyball.  Can’t seem to get rid of it.  Physical therapy is helping though.”  Her speaking painted the same picture.

Familiar story?  Lack of time or money, the abundance of frustration, anxiety, overwhelm and the neglect of our well-being add up to create real problems.

Solution

When you look a bit deeper, the aches, pains, illness and sickness we experience fall into the category of disease.  Think about it: “dis-ease.”  Webster’s word origin definition states, “Without ease.”

I’m sure Kathryn’s physical therapist is doing great work to alleviate the pain in her back.  I just wonder how much faster she’d heal if she created more “ease” in all parts of her life.

I asked when the last time was she took a clarity break.  When Kathryn looked at me cross-eyed, I couldn’t help but remind her how valuable it was to create space every week to work ON the business and ON our life rather than just IN either.

“Go grab a coffee and an hour with a blank notepad and just start writing down ideas, thoughts, frustrations, issues… anything that’s important to you.  After a few weeks, your thoughts will turn from ‘to-do lists’ to special projects, ideal outcomes, key issues that need your expertise.  When you begin walking out of those clarity breaks with not just a small set of actions, you’ll walk out with exponential confidence.”

Results

An appointment with yourself, once a week for 60 minutes (at a minimum) may seem insane on top of an already over-scheduled life, but those who make this a habit are without chaos and frustration.  They are the clear, confident, and calm folks you meet.

What are you doing to promote your “dis-ease?”  What are you doing to promote “more-ease?”

Imagine a world in which we learned to say “no” to the urgent and unimportant, let what our boss said roll off our backs just a bit more, and invested more time in focusing on the important and non-urgent.

Action

You might just end up creating a world without disease.