I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend. It’s nice to get some down time and do — nothing. It’s even better that there’s a whole national holiday dedicated to NOT working. But while you were putting up your feet, flipping through channels or chilling out in the backyard, I hope you also took some time this weekend to reflect on the labor of love you’ve been working on so hard. Your business, dream, goal — call it what you want. Did you give some real thought to where your business is going? What you could be doing differently — better, even — to improve some of the inefficiencies that are creating obstacles? By chance, did you take this Labor Day weekend to think about the labor you’ve been working on and building?
Much of the time, our down time is just that — down. Productivity is down, effort is down, connecting is down. Down on our list of priorities. Every so often, we need a break and any time we get one, we take it. But are we letting our down time drag us down? Just because we get a break doesn’t mean we need to break the momentum. Even when we’re taking it easy for a couple of days, there’s a lot we can still get done so that when we’re ready to pick things back up at our usual pace, we can do so effortlessly.
Plan – we should also be planning, creating outlines, mapping out timelines and working out budgets. It doesn’t require a great deal of intensive energy but it can get much of out of the way.
Brainstorm – this is much like planning, except without the organization. Brainstorming is the collection of ideas and thoughts before we’ve had a chance to comb through it and nit-pick over every detail. Maybe there was something we wanted to introduce into our company but have been so busy to give it a second thought. Now we can.
Read – we don’t always have time to stop and read the latest reports, findings or articles related to our industry. Our down time is the perfect time to catch up on all this and see what the experts and other business owners are saying.
Wander – as in, let your mind wander. Sometimes a little ol’ fashion daydreaming is just the right amount of inspiration we need to spike up our motivation and vision. Daydreaming is a time killer when we’re busy. But not when we’re doing nothing! So let’s indulge ourselves. What else can we create?
The next time you get some down time, use it wisely. See if you can couple day dreaming with channel surfing or reading with sun-bathing. You never know when inspiration will strike, so make a little time for it. After all, it’s not work, it’s a labor of love
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