I’ve written a fair amount about the leadership and learning implications of lots of big ideas. Today, I’m writing a short piece about the value of small things. Often, on weekends, if I’m lucky, I get about twenty minutes to sit down and read the paper with a cup of tea. Due to snowy weather in the area, this Sunday was one of those days. I spent about twenty minutes perusing the New York Times, and even got a few minutes to check out this week’s The Week, a magazine I’ve taken to reading to catch me up on all the happenings around the world.
There’s a lot of value in having a few minutes to just be, and for me, a cup of tea does that. In the time it takes for me to finish the cup (basically the amount of time it takes for the tea to go cold), I can work through a number of sections of the paper, and contemplate nothing other than what I’m reading; in other words it is exactly what I need to turn my brain off and be in the moment.
One area for me to work on is to find the time to do this on a daily basis. I so enjoy it on a lucky weekend, and yet, rarely have the time for this during the week. A short twenty minute break from everything seems to do wonders for my mind, body, and soul, and making this a daily occurrence would no doubt magnify the beneficial impact.
Always goals to reach for!