Full stops

Imagine a nonstop day You started your day responding to emails In the emails you discovered that there were a number of fires that you needed to put out And ASAP You got caught in the rabbit hole and before you knew it you worked a full sixteen hours before you even took a break And that was to go to the bathroom for 2 minutes Talk about a long day And you know that you have to repeat it all tomorrow because you are lagging behind

Ouch. 

That is a normal scenario for most leaders. But wait, did you feel that something was different about the first paragraph? (Go ahead and re-read it again. I’ll wait.)

That’s right. It lacked full-stops. There were no pauses in the paragraph. Did you feel breathless?

We all can notice when a paragraph has no full-stops. It irritates us and speeds up our heart rate. Yet, we think nothing about working sixteen hours without taking a pause.

Why?

Why are you running so fast? Where do you have to go that requires you to work flat out for days on end? And why don’t you take a pause?

The world needs more of you at your full capacity. And the best way to consistently do great work, is to take more pauses and recharge. They don’t even have to be long; 5 minute breaks are enough to get you back in a great state.

Make a full stop. The world can wait.