“Take your time; don’t live too fast.”

Lynyrd Skynyrd

At this point in my life, I am making the effort to adopt the principle of taking my time. I even made it part of my performance statement.

(Backing up for a second, a performance statement is a short and powerful sentence that helps the performer focus on exactly what needs to be done to execute at peak levels.  I help clients write their own statements by drawing out of them what they already know deep down.  I’ve found over the years that most of us (read: all of us) already know what we need to improve upon, we just don’t like thinking about it. The performance statement helps you to think about it, when you need to think about it, in order to perform at a higher level.)

Back to my performance statement, taking my time has been something I have struggled with for as long as I can remember.  This wasn’t a problem in the Marine Corps, especially in boot camp.  The drill instructors love instant obedience to orders, “Brush fangs! Do it now! 5….4…3…2…1….You’re DONE! Spit and rinse! Do it now! You’re DONE!”

To this day, I barely taste my food at meal time.  I’m usually done within literally 2-3 minutes.  The problems with not taking my time are obvious and many.  Mostly, not living in the moment.  I’ve heard that said on TV interviews with athletes, and am just now starting to make myself slow down enough to be aware of a “moment”.  My daughter does this naturally.  She enjoys and relishes every little thing in life that makes her smile.  She is teaching me to slow down, take my time, notice, taste and savor each bite of a good meal.  She is teaching me to notice, ponder and appreciate the colors in a bouquet of flowers, her American Girl Doll’s accessories, birthday cards, wrapping paper, bows, and watching a movie together.

I am beginning to find that taking my time, and delighting in the good things this life has to offer, is so much better than rushing through the good stuff because I’m trying to get to more and better good stuff, and not even recognizing how much and how great the stuff is that I am rushing through.

Take your time and embrace  life! It really is wonderful!

Boo yah!