HERO MAINTENANCE: Do What's Important

10th July 2012 - "HERO MAINTENANCE: Do What's Important."

(Epic Pic, I know. We'll get back to that.)

So I just had my mind lifted by a friend & fellow Blog writer.  He wrote this article which is entitled "The Confidence of Doing". Honestly it could be the title of a self-help book.  In this article, the writer talks about how doing your responsibilities helps you to be in motion & basically get more done because you're doing.  Truly, action is a manifold cure. But, I do his writing no justice with a sentence or two summary, so go & read it yourself.  I connected with His post because like The Eclectic Runner, my wife & I have been going through a lot of crud.  To give you the short story, life draws a vacuum in a most house-less way.  (Long story to come later.)   

The Eclectic Runner's post specifically helped me think about prioritizing my day better.  I know, it's not directly related to what he wrote but it's what I thought of.  I'll take inspiration where I can get it.  DISCLAIMER: The rest of my Blog's entry will not really be related to what The Eclectic Runner wrote about.  I just had to give credit where credit is do & shamelessly promote my friend's blog :-D  Thanks for the inspiration bud!

With reading The Eclectic Runner's post I got inspired to start my first Blog-series, which is titled HERO MAINTENANCE.  The basic concept for this series will be to provide tidbits of info for maintaining you, the Hero of your life story (or the protagonist at least).  So here we go!  Do you know of the old self-help concept of "make time for the important things".  A classic parable for "doing what's important" is this one:

A college professor started his class one day by pulling out a tall glass jar & placing it on his desk.  He then grabbed a bucket of rocks & started to put the rocks in the jar until it was full and asked the class, 

“Do you think I can put anymore in this jar?” and the class seeing the jar full of rocks said “No.” 

The professor grabbed a bag of pebbles and poured them into the jar, filling the gaps between the rocks. The professor asked the class, “Do you think I can put anymore in this jar?” and the class seeing the jar full of rocks and pebbles thought there was definitely no more space so the majority said “No.” 

The professor then grabbed a bag of sand and poured it into the jar filling all the small gaps between the rocks and pebbles. Then the professor asked the class once more, “Do you think I can put anymore into this jar?” and the class, not desiring to be duped again said “Yes” but nobody knew how. 

The professor grabbed a beer, hidden in his desk, opened it, and poured it in the jar of rocks, pebbles, and sand. Then he asked the class, “Do you know what this represents?” 

A young man responded right away, saying, “There’s always room for beer?” The class chuckled as did the professor. Then the professor responded, “No. Always put the big things in first. If I had put the beer or the sand in first there would have been no room for the rocks; the important items in life.”

I'm sure we all have days like I had today.  Days where things are popping at work at a non-stop pace.  I had one of those crazy busy work schedules where, as soon as I get on top of my 'to do' list, poof, more urgent things jump on me.  But some how I keep it all together & I get it all straightened out. Then poof, more, & poof more!  I kick it into high gear & I knock it all out of the park.  Like The Eclectic Runner said, I feel good cause I've gotten a lot done!  I'm taking care of business!  

Then I get home & poof, I have even more tasks that beg my attention. Finish designing a website for a friend, get some phone calls done, get some progress on one of my many projects, do the dishes & laundry, blah, blah, blah.  

I'm sure you've been there.  And when you come to this crossroad you have a choice: knuckle under & keep doing the little tasks or say you've had enough for the day & take a slice for yourself.  I find it's hard to know what to choose & not feel guilty.  I have a hard time knowing when I've done enough in a day.  Are you like that at all?  Well today was a rare occasion for me, because I chose instead to say no.  Sometimes you just gotta let the chores lie & do what you gotta do!

Sometimes you have to yell "I will not be under the tyranny of the urgent!"  I will not let the 'important' little stuff eat up my life.

So tonight was that night for me, & so I went for a run.  But for me, running often involves many . . .   

 . . . detours.

Yep, that's me, bouncing from one wall to the next and back.  (sorry for the fuzzy pick, my cellphone is not the best camera.)  

I train in Parkour & Freerunning.  I have for many years.  I even taught the art for a couple years at a local gymnastics gym.  I love it!  It's one of the few things I can call mine.  Parkour is a great escape.  Tonight I decided I had to go run & it ended up being a good reward for a long day.  

This particular area in the picture features two outdoor walls that are close enough together to perform a Tic-Tac, as it is called in Parkour, where the athlete run-jumps from one wall to another & keeps going.  It's a combination move that can be fairly tricky & it's one of my favorites.  The Tic-Tac is one of the moves that drew me into Parkour in the first place.  All you have to do is see one good Jackie Chan movie & you'll wanna do it too. 

Anyway, back to my night.  I almost literally ran into this location today, when I had that 'ah-HA!' moment, like "There you are! Where have you been?"  I had forgotten this location, which is surprising because it's perfect to train the Tic-Tac, one of my favorite moves.  It's sad to think I had forgotten such an awesome place.  

In truth, I had forgotten how good it feels to do those things that help you breathe deep, release pressure, & just be who you are supposed to be.  It is so easy in this busy life we lead to get pulled away from the things that bring us alive, that make a heart sing.  It's so easy to get caught in the urgent & forget what's truly important.  And that's what happened tonight, I got a chance to remember what's important not just do what I enjoy.  It was like a breathe of fresh air.

So, to those other neurotic people, who like me, are more likely to get caught up doing the little stuff, instead of the important stuff, i ask: What keeps you going?  Why do you work so hard?  What's your reward at the end of a long day? 

What walls are you leaving empty?

Go find them!