Sep 22 2009
Why Life is Like a Baby In a Swing
The reason life is like a baby in a swing is because if all you do is push, the swing eventually leaves your hands, flies over the bar and hits you in the butt, injuring both of you. In other words, for a happy baby/life you must know when to push it and when to let it come to you.
For most ‘Type-A’ entrepreneurs, this is damned near impossible. After all, we wouldn’t be where we are today or on the road to where we want to be without pushing long and hard. Therefore, the key is to know when we’re close to the point of tossing the baby over the bar.
For me it’s when I can no longer shake the little things. They begin to really tick me off and I really begin to lose it over the bigger issues. Case in point – last week.
My new book, The Biker’s Guide to Business hit the shelves three weeks ago and I’ve been laser focused on its promotion. I’ve assembled a great team and have reached out to other incredible resources. Now, it’s simply a matter of doing the work – of which there is a ton!
We’ve all been there, only so many hours in a day but the backhoe keeps dumping and dumping and dumping. Finally at the end of last week, it all became overwhelming as there were too many people to talk to, screwy interviews and things falling through the cracks. As a result, the background noise became deafening and my edges began to seriously fray.
So I took my own advice and shut it down. It was time for a lost weekend, so starting Friday at 6:00 p.m. the phone and the computer were turned off. On Saturday morning, after my workout I saddled up and hit the back roads.
It took about half a tank of gas for me to begin noticing the butterflies along the side of the road and the herons floating aimlessly above the marsh. I even slowed my pace enough to find that elusive pocket within the traffic flow where no one was in front or behind me for most of the ride. The only things left were the wind in my face and nature as my canvas. All became right again with the world.
Then on Sunday I was incredibly productive, not because I had to be, but because I wanted to be. Everything just fell into place and I regained my rhythm by simply giving up one day and re-calibrating my place in the world.
So if you’re moving faster and accomplishing less, stop the madness. All it takes is a day off by yourself doing something you love. Remember, it’s your ‘baby’.
Dwain – The BusinessBiker
As always – these are just my thoughts on the matter, I could be wrong. So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com
Stumble it!
Dwain, I find this happens so often in my own life, although I get caught up with more practical aspects of living—balancing work, my child’s needs, my partner’s needs, the shopping, cooking, etc. When is there time to create the life I [capital bold I] want to live? For me, the “baby in the swing” is anxiety around my own dreams—and when I let go and move into the flow gracefully, rather than continuing to push, I am happier, more peaceful and, of course, life becomes smoother and less chaotic.
Good words for all of us! Thank you for the analogy. And glad to hear you had a chance to get reconnected with the now.
There is nothing better than a two wheel therapy session to get the priorities in order. But sometime is take more than a day. Great points.