“Reflection without action is ultimately as unproductive as action without reflection” – Robert Kegan
It has been a busy year and we still have three months to go! We have taken full advantage of the break in travel shelter-in-pace has created. Time at home has allowed us to work in a focused, disciplined and methodical way on how we will bring more humanity to the workplace: website, book platform, social media presence and oh, did we mention, writing our book? It has been fun and fulfilling and creative, and a ton of work. As August approached so did a looming deadline to complete the second draft of Be Human, Do Better Work. The harder we tried, the closer it got, the more we knew we weren’t going to make it. It caused us both a lot of angst.We were tired. We needed to rest – to step away from our computers, zoom meetings, writing, editing, coaching, clients, creating, thinking, and even each other. The self-imposed pressure and the relentless energy we were putting into so many different areas shielded us from what our beings desperately needed: a break!
Finally, we admitted to ourselves that the August deadline was not going to happen. The book needed more time, we needed more time. We also realized our “deadline” was artificial. We created it, we could move it. We could choose. And we chose to no longer ignore what we needed most – to take a break and step away.
So, our silence in August was because we put everything down: the book, newsletters, articles, social media, interactions with most other humans. We unplugged from our doing and spent time just being. Kate and her husband, George, took a road trip in a cute little tear drop trailer. They hiked, canoed, enjoyed starry nights. They reconnected with nature and themselves. Debbie and her family spent time in a beach house being lulled by the sound of waves crashing on the shore, taking long walks in the sand and spectacular boat rides on Puget Sound. We reset our souls, the human being in each of us. and, now we are back; rested, restored and ready to take on the rest of 2020!
It is so easy to get wrapped up in the doing of a busy life that you can forget to pause and really think about what fuels you to do what you do, and why you are doing it. It’s easy to get caught up in human doing. We were reminded that life isn’t a scarce resource, living it purposefully is. We hope in the craziness of this year each of you have found time to connect with the human side of your being – let if fuel and guide your doing. If you are stuck doing and need to reset, start by playing around with these questions and see what comes up for you:
- What on my mind?
- What is important about that?
- What else?
