Interludes 2017 – Priorities

What this episode covers

The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast - Interludes 2017 – Priorities  (Audio: link) audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/ Interludes2017-Priorities.mp3] Link MarathonBQ – How to Qualify for the Boston Marathon in 14 Weeks -   Hey Folks, This is Chris.  I am dropping you a quick note so that you can stop worrying about me! That’s right, you can stop checking the morges and the hospitals and the retirement homes.  I’m ok, I’m just busy and as much as I’m committed to producing the podcast, it is not, and you may be shocked to hear this, my highest priority!  It’s up there and I take consistency of delivery and quality seriously, but that should give you an idea of how tactically strapped I am. Anyhow, I do have a half-written show for you coming and I will keep working on the fun scheduling and priority tetris that allows me to talk to you, but I beg for your patience.  I’m also feeling that we’re in a rut and I need to change the format in the new year.  It’s been a couple years so I’m willing to take suggestions for anything that you think we could do that would be useful, new and exciting in a RunRunLive Version 5.  Also A quick note – I am running my personal festival of races called “The Groton Marathon” on December 31st in West Groton Massachusetts at 9:00AM if anyone wants to come up and join.  We have people show up who run all different distances at all different speeds.  Myself and some veterans jog the full 26.2 in 4-5 hours and we have some cheer. Shoot me a note at cyktrussell with any thoughts, comments, questions and suggestions. … And just for fun I’ll share a journal entry from a early morning train ride where I was trying to noodle out how to work my priorities to get everything done.  It’s a bit of navel gazing and has nothing to do with running, but hey, why not? … Scheduling for me is about priorities. On the one hand I think my priorities are good and normal.  I prioritize my career, the work that puts bread on my table, my family and my health.  Those are my drop dead items on my todo list.  Everything else is negotiable.  The challenge is when these top-of-list items crowd out the creative things; pursuits that I get a juice out of – a joie du vivre. Career means work.  It means putting in the hours.  It means learning fast and acting faster.  It means having a change mindset and looking around corners.  It means having hard change conversations with people who’s support you need to be successful.  It means all these things and more.  I don’t just show up and hang off the back of the pack.  I set the pace and the tone and I lead. Career is a daily heavy lifting that starts early, ends late and burns hot the mental torch.  Career is exhausting intellectually and emotionally.  Sometimes in a good way.  Sometimes in a long-term capacity building way that training always is.  Those are the good days when you are building roads and changing lives. The challenging days are when the hordes pour over the wall and daylight to dusk is spent swinging swords and thrusting pilum with your back up against the sortie gate. Could walk away from the world of business and spend my days on the farm?  I think I could, but I don’t pine for it.  I’m not bewitched by some retirement fantasy where everything is unicorns and rainbows and candy.  That would kill me in short order. What about Family?  Family is the rock upon which my church is built.  This foundation allows us to venture forth into the world with some sort of hearth secured.  It gives us comfort and purpose.  This foundation, even with its human cracks and mold in the mortices gives us the confidence and strength to do battle. We know our flanks are held and solid.  The baggage train is safe and we can sortie out into the world with some peace of mind.  And Health.  Health for me, in this context is both physical and mental. It takes the form of training for things that challenge me. The challenge me enough to make me grow.  That challenge me enough to keep me mobile and strong.  That allows me the physical confidence in life. These three areas of my life are an essential balance, but they sometimes become tactical and rote.  They miss a purely creative, purely unbounded and joyous act of creation.  This is when I become unbalanced.  When the mind is not fed on the creative mana – that food of the goods.  Underfed, the creative mind shrinks back in upon itself, meager and miserly and protecting.  And I find myself unbalanced.  It’s easy to say that you are too busy.  It’s easy to say that just for today you will push the plow and tomorrow you will learn or grow. But, urgency aside, it is a trap.  As we all know from experience, today turns into tomorrow and tomorrow plows into next year and the years folds into a life. And that, whether we know it or not, is a prioritization decision.  It is true that you can’t do everything.  No one can.  And your life will shift out of balance occasionally as you embrace change and move.  But, you can be aware of balance and priority.  You can do a lot.  Balance is a combination of time, place and priority. It is an outgrowth of process.  You create the places and the times that support the process.  Any amount of planning, (placing things in places bounded by time), creates process and process is the key to unlock a treasure chest of productivity – and creativity. Priority is tricky.  When one of your top three life areas expands to pull so much energy and time it erodes your ability to reach those life areas that are important but not urgent. The question becomes “Is it important?” Is it adding value to you and yours and ours? If it is important then you will find the time in the cracks to get it done.  The fruit hangs heavy on your trees.  The frost is coming. Find the time to harvest.  Find the time to prune.  Find the time to allow bounty.  Find the time to live. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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