STOP… right now… and read this!

“Stop right now thank you very much,
I need somebody with a human touch,
Hey you always on the run,
Gotta slow it down baby, gotta have some fun”

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

Yes…I’ve started the year with a blog that starts with Spice Girl lyrics! Maybe it’s because I had Spice Girls on my mind recently as someone you know went to a NYE party dressed as one (you know…that Union Jack dress!!??)…they weren’t the only one though!!

But more seriously, in my new year reading there has been a constant theme about the modern disease of running to achieve everything and do everything on our task lists and increasing our possessions and getting all the things we want and didn’t get at Christmas!!!  It can be exhausting! So many looking to define themselves by what they have or what they do, or simply just lost on the daily “treadmill of life”.  There’s no judgement here, we ALL do it and have done it!

One of the books I’ve been reading shared an account from a youngish American lawyer…a wife, mother of two young kids, home-keeper and main bread winner in the house, who found herself constantly chasing her tail to get EVERYTHING done, and never seeming to get further than half way through the infinite task list! (Do you know that feeling?)

Anyway, on one trip she boarded a flight and her mind was buzzing with all the things she had to do for her day ahead and other things she needed to delegate to others.  Then, when the plane got to the start of the runway it stopped.  She stopped.  Everything became still for a moment.  She suddenly had a realisation: “even the plane stops before it takes off!” and she started to laugh.

The point of course is, if we want to really FLY, for our careers and our personal journeys to “take off”, then we have to get off the treadmill of daily life and stop, get clarity of what exactly we want to do and why, and then get on with that with total presence and to a certain extent “bloody minded focus” (although this is no excuse for inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour nor a disregard for teamwork!  We are talking about getting on with it with total presence and the focus and energy that it brings.) There’s simply no better time of year to do this (and then make it a regular thing!)

So, 21 years since the Spice Girls released their song, maybe read it now with a new insight and listen deeply to what message it gives.  Do you want a greater human connection with those you live with and work with?  Do you want more fun?  More success?  Then you know what you’ve got to do…

“Stop right now thank you very much,
I need somebody with a human touch,
Hey you always on the run,
Gotta slow it down baby, gotta have some fun”

Have fun!  Always:-)

Antony