It’s hard to believe it’s Spring Break season already. I give thanks that my kids aren’t old enough to make requests to attend group trips yet, although those days are coming quickly. Actually, as I’m finding, many of us are feeling stuck in the day to day craziness at work. Clients of mine just postponed their offsite meeting for the third time this year, reminding me that earlier this year I myself cancelled my annual offsite for my own business. What makes it so hard to get away?
We’ve all heard the time management principle of filling our calendar’s “mason jar” with the big “stones” first, then the “pebbles,” and the “sand” last. The big stones are the really important but not urgent things we want to accomplish that give meaning and purpose to our lives: the out of town wedding we want to attend, that conference I’ve been eyeing for years, the vacation, trip, ballroom dance class or scuba certification I’ve been putting off for a decade or more. The pebbles are the other smaller but still important things like changing the oil on your car and your yearly physical. The sand is all the stuff that springs up each day — seemingly out of the woodwork — which, if given the chance, will expand to fill our entire lives if we let it.
Of course, life still happens, and sometimes the big stones need to be postponed for reasons outside of our control. Why is it still important to get the shovel out and dig out time to “get away?”
Perspective. How can I wonder why I keep having the same ideas when I continually work from the same place? Why does the muse of creativity elude me when I find it so hard to disconnect from the siren song of my day to day responsibilities?
It takes organization, effort and intentionality to carve out a time and place for exposing myself to new surroundings, disconnecting from my phone and inbox, and getting comfortable with the deafening sound of silence. Pat Lencioni talks about executives with “adrenaline addictions” who aren’t comfortable unless they are simultaneously putting out three fires while fighting traffic, putting on make-up, eating breakfast and listening to the weekly conference call all at the same time.
If we don’t have the courage to put the day to day on hold for a time and climb a tree to make sure we’re hacking our way through the right jungle, then it’s no wonder we end our days exhausted but with the feeling of having gotten nothing done. The elusive prey of meaning, progress and momentum can more easily be found in the quiet and novelty of a day set aside to review, reflect, assess and plan ahead every once in a while.
What insight, clarity or new perspective did your last offsite day give you?
