The Explorer

Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2004

a Life Navigation Coaching publication 

Happy 2004!

The snow is falling, the birds are at the feeder outside, and I'm listening to my most recent favorite CD: Dido's "Life for Rent."  This one's so good that my husband and I each unknowingly bought copies for each other for Christmas.  We did the same thing with Sarah McLachlan's "Afterglow."  Now that's gift giving!  It also makes for amusing gift opening.  In any case, we highly recommend both CDs.

I'm looking forward to this new year.  (Heck, I look forward to each new day!)  I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to share my thoughts, my life, and my work with you, and I appreciate the feedback and ideas that you send to me.  Keep it up!  May your year be full of joyous surprises, good friends, special events, and mindful experiences.

Love and Joy,

p.s.  For those of you who are following along, I'm now 33 weeks pregnant!  (See photo below.)  Seven weeks to go until the day we expect this new little life to appear on the scene.  The baby is healthy, I'm healthy, and we're all happy.  I'll keep you posted.

Finding Your Own Rhythm

Remember the fable of “The Tortoise and The Hare”? 

There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run.  Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race.  All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.  Hare ran down the road for a while and then paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?"  Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax."  Slow and Steady walked and walked.  He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.  The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare.  Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line.  After that, Hare always reminded himself, "Don't brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!"

According to the story, the tortoise won the race through his slow and steady progress.  The hare lost because he stopped to take a nap.  I spent most of my life trying (unsuccessfully) to be like the tortoise – I continually tried to make slow, steady progress toward my goals.  In years past, I would create a short list of New Year’s Resolutions – a set of plans for how I would improve my life in the coming year.  I’d make good progress on them for a little while, but then I’d stop.  Time would pass, and then I’d come up with “Springtime Goals” or a “Summer Strategy” or “Autumn Changes” or a “Birthday Plan”.  With each new set of goals, resolutions, or plans, I would make steady progress for a while and then – invariably – stop.

The fact is my natural rhythm is much more like the hare than like the tortoise.  I work in bursts.  I’m amazingly productive for days, weeks, or (occasionally) months in a row, and then – without warning – I become amazingly unproductive.  After a while, I’m back to being amazingly productive again.  For many years I resisted this pattern, feeling that I was only really making progress if I took small steps each day, continually improving, never stopping, and – most importantly – never going backwards.  Having been raised on the story of “The Tortoise and The Hare,” those periods of hare-like unproductivity felt terrible.  I felt lazy.  I wasn’t moving forward.  I felt I was doing something wrong.

However, I’ve recently realized (with the help of my own wise coach) that my pattern of intermittent progress and pauses (or productivity and unproductivity) is one that works well for me for a reason.  The periods of unproductivity are anything BUT unproductive.  In fact, the pauses in between are just as important as the progress itself.  Sometimes an idea needs to percolate for a while before it’s ready.  Sometimes my body needs to rest.  Sometimes I learn something during the pause that changes the direction of my journey for the better.  Sometimes I move backward a bit because I need another opportunity to master the step.  To the untrained eye, my behavior during my downtime may appear quite lazy.  I may read more or look out the window for a while, but this “unproductive” behavior serves a very important purpose for me.  The downtime between my bursts of productivity gives me a chance to refuel, recharge, and recuperate.  After a while, I realize that I’ve had enough downtime and I’m raring to go again…which leads to another burst of productivity.

The most important lesson I’ve learned?  You need to do what works for you, not what works for someone else.  I’m simply not a tortoise; I’m a hare.  Being a hare works for me; trying to be a tortoise doesn’t.  Take a minute to think about your own productivity pattern.  What’s your natural rhythm?  Do you tend to make slow and steady progress like the tortoise, or do you tend to make progress in bursts and spurts like the hare?  Either pattern can work, no matter what Aesop’s fable says.  (That said, bragging about how great you are, mocking others, and then slacking off like the hare in the fable never tends to work well.)

Regardless of whether your pattern is more like a tortoise or more like a hare, the best thing you can do to increase both your productivity and your happiness is to be mindful of whatever you’re doing.  Work when you’re working.  Play when you’re playing.  Rest when you’re resting.  Pay attention to what your body and mind are telling you.  Chances are, your body and mind know what they’re ready for, and if you’re having trouble focusing on your work, it may be time for a break.  Rather than resisting it, let your natural productivity pattern guide you throughout your day. 

Once you acknowledge and accept your own productivity pattern, you’ll move forward through your day and toward your goals more easily and more joyfully.  And for me, ease and joy are what life’s all about.

Call the Holistic Health Institute of Ohio at (614) 261-9165 to register.

Ready to live your best year yet?

Want to learn more about life coaching?

© Copyright 2004  Lisa M. Evans, Ph.D.