Appointment with Self:

We all rush in this modern world…Rush on the way to work…Rush to complete the work…Rush to eat …Rush in a greet ….Rush in a meet. In this rush, We go down the blind alleys again and again without marking somewhere that we had been here before. The result is Stress & Burn-out. While we can blame the environment easily for this (we mastered this art!) ,the problem is that we do not keep an recurring appointment with our-self.

So my sermon today is going to be this…Develop the habit of appointment with Self. This may sound excruciating like a Zen exercise to sit cross-legged, motionless, with single point focus..but do not get frightened…Let us see how would this habit look like:

·         Set aside a specific time of the day (say Morning before anyone wakes up) for this exercise. For any activity to grow into an Habit you need mental muscles to develop a memory...a memory that will remind you of the activity

·         Keep a Pen and Paper ready to journal your thoughts. This is key because ,Journaling frees your mind from impoverished thinking. Personally, I avoid computer for purpose of Journaling as it can be a distraction for the appointment itself.

·         Now Think about an issue or a project that is bogging you down….it could be anything…in your Work Life or Personal life…

·         Just write the Issue on the piece of paper

·         Now think What success would like if the issue got resolved

·         Again Write down the “Outcome vision” that you thought for the issue

·         Finally, think about what Next actions you would take to move one step forward on this issue….Call somebody, Email the friend, Set up a meeting, Visit someone…whatever. The key point it should be a physical action....Please note it down...That's it

All this should take only 5-10 minutes. Also, Don’t pressurize yourself to go through  all the steps in a single sitting. The idea is to develop the habit of Appointment with Self. The steps will gain clarity as you go through this motion as often as possible. I am not going to talk about the result of this exercise. I will let you do it and feel it.

The moot question is “Are you prepared to take on this Thinking Journey?” If so and so long you took the first step of Setting aside Thinking time, the path of Journey will get cleared. A Journey, I am sure that you will enjoy as it is devoid of the Rush!

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