Hi friends,

WOW – it’s already February. How did that happen?!

Chuck and I spent two glorious weeks over the holidays doing pretty much nothing. We enjoyed some much-needed downtime with no scheduled conference calls and no email checking; instead, we lived a carefree existence and enjoyed dinners with friends, fun Face Time chats with family on the East coast, and worked on some house projects we’ve been meaning to get done. In a sense, nothing was urgent and we spent lots of time talking and sharing what we wanted to create in 2015 and beyond.

And then January 5th hit like a storm. The world was all of a sudden back to school and work. And whether we were ready or not, the game of “business as usual” was back. Our email boxes filled up. Everyone needed something! And it wasn’t lost on me that it was also my birthday (but I digress; that’s another blog post).

We went from being relaxed and carefree to a feeling of chaos and being “behind.” We were in response mode. The faster it came, the faster we needed to respond. It was even a big deal to get this blog post written. “Oh my God how in the world will I find the time to get some new thoughts onto my laptop?!”

In my mind this post would publish on January 5th. I’d include a nice simple message about creating space so that we have the time to create what truly matters. And here we are a full month later…

When I came up with this blog idea, it wasn’t urgent. But when January 5th arrived, it suddenly became urgent. And so was everything else.

I think I spent the entire first week of January simply responding to emails and making a list of what all of a sudden needed to be done ASAP. The list somehow calmed me down and yet, nothing actually got done.

Once I created my brain dump of a list, I set to prioritizing everything on it: what was most urgent; what didn’t really have to happen anytime soon; etc. Once I decided that my list was complete, I realized I needed to create a new relationship with URGENCY. I realized I was caught in an “urgency vortex.”

From Dec. 20 or so, most of our world aligned in the thought that “we are all going to slow down a bit and enjoy our respective holiday time together.” It was like there was this global agreement where we all raised our hands and said, “Yes.” And then on January 5 we all said, “Back to it.” It just had me realize that it truly is ALL MADE UP. Urgency is NOT REAL; unless I decide that it is REAL. It’s my choice to make that decision!

I long to wake up and realize that how I “be” in my day is made up. Is “urgency” my choice or is “flow” a better choice? I am not saying one is better than the other, but rather suggesting we all slow it down just a tad and decide. For me, I do not need to totally buy into the everything-is-urgent-way-of-thinking.

In fact, let me put on my “leadership hat” and dare to remind you (and myself) that being in that “urgency vortex” diminishes our creative ideas and limits our capacity to expand thinking.

Look at how you decide to BE with your day. Are you letting the collective voices of the “urgency vortex” decide for you, or are you in the driver’s seat of your experience?

And with all that said, I wish you much joy, ease, fun and aliveness in the coming months of 2015 and beyond.

More to come!
Best-
Rick