Increased Efficiency when Balancing Business and Life

When was the last time you were able to clear your mind, reflect and refo­cus your thoughts so that you were able to get your spir­i­tual bal­ance? How often do you take more than a few days to go to an area that has very lim­ited cell phone and inter­net access? Do you find your­self too attached to those elec­tronic devices that make you con­nected to the world 24/7? If you answered yes, then you might want to find a more iso­lated place to take a break. For me, I recently took time away in the wooded iso­la­tion of the Smoky Moun­tains.  This time away allowed me to clear my mind, reflect and refo­cus. Walk­ing through the woods with the beau­ti­ful fall foliage, tak­ing sev­eral moments to enjoy the moun­tain views, lis­ten­ing to the mur­mur­ing of the cool moun­tain streams…this allowed that nat­ural awak­en­ing of the senses. The Native Amer­i­can Indi­ans refer to the Long Man who speaks in the mur­mur­ing of those streams. I enjoyed lis­ten­ing to the Long Man. The poem “Trees” at the begin­ning of one short trail in the Joyce Kilmer National For­est reminded me to respect nature as I walk through a for­est of huge trees that are more than 400 years old. His­tory tells me that time is pre­cious and I should value that time I have on this earth. Nature gets me away from the con­nec­tion to the busi­ness world and reminds me that there is so much more in life than just work.

It is not that I don’t enjoy my work. I love my work! But there are times when it just becomes too monot­o­nous and some­times over­whelm­ing. I have to get away to get reju­ve­nated, to remem­ber what it is in life I want most and why. As I come back from my vaca­tion high, I have an amaz­ing sense of clar­ity about what I need to be work­ing on. I can pri­or­i­tize those things on my desk. I have renewed the pas­sion for what I am doing. And once again, I am work­ing at opti­mum pro­duc­tiv­ity. Why? Because I have had the chance to replen­ish my energy, nour­ish my body and clear my mind of all that clut­ter. It is the bal­ance I needed to sharpen my saw.  

If you have not had the oppor­tu­nity to get away for enough of a period where you feel replen­ished, then what are you wait­ing for? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do when you get away?  Once you do, you might be amazed at how much more effec­tive you are in your work.