A
couple of years ago I started running for exercise, and I've
tried to be consistent with it. I quickly built up to longer
distances and durations than when I started, but then I hit
a plateau and stayed there for a year or more. I found it difficult
to increase my endurance beyond a certain point, and I found
it particularly difficult to increase my speed.
Then about a month ago I went
for a run with a friend who's been running for years and is
in excellent shape, and I asked him to critique my running.
"If you take shorter strides
than you're taking now and let your feet move more quickly,"
he advised, "you'll last longer and your running speed
will pick up."
That hadn't occurred to me before.
I hadn't been trying to move in any particular manner, but just
let my body take me where and how it would. When I started paying
attention and focusing on taking smaller steps, I found that
I didn't really have to "try" to move more quickly;
it just happened. The change wasn't dramatic, but enough for
me to tell I was making progress.
A month later my running has definitely
improved. My breathing is less labored, my energy level stays
higher, and my speed is increasing. This morning I ran the same
distance on the track where I made my discovery, and did so
in considerably less time, even without consciously trying.
Best of all, I didn't feel like I was straining, struggling,
and short on breath. I felt relaxed and enjoyed it from start
to finish. In fact, I felt that I could have just as easily
kept running.
Shortly after my discovery, it
occurred to me to test the same principle in other areas of
my life, particularly my work. I like to think of myself as
a "get things done" person, but I have to admit that
I have a problem with procrastinating. It's not that I'm lazy.
I'm happy to work hard and put in the hours, and I relish few
things more than having completed a project. Yet I find myself
habitually avoiding the initial dig into large or long-term
jobs, often putting them off until I have to cram to meet a
deadline.
Recently I figured out why I do
that: I've always assumed that I needed to make progress on
big projects in big strides. But applying my running principle
to my work, I realized that with smaller steps I could maximize
efficiency, move more quickly, cover the same distance in less
time and with less effort, and not be so exhausted at the end.
I no longer wait until I can clear
a seven-day block on my calendar before starting a seven-day
project. If I have an hour or two today, I can use that time
and make a start—a small stride. Then I can work on it
a bit tomorrow—another small stride—and a bit more
the next day and the next. Working that way, I find myself getting
to the end of what initially seemed like a daunting project,
even without having devoted huge blocks of time. And I don't
feel like I've run a marathon. The job got done because I picked
away at it with small steps. And as it's happening, I can breathe!
I'm not desperately playing catch-up. I'm not struggling to
get in the mileage. I'm learning that sometimes the best and
most lasting improvement is made not in one dramatic move, but
bit by bit and step by step. Shorter strides make for faster
progress.
|
|
|
Stress
Management
A
lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience,
raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is
this glass of water?"
Answers called out ranged
from 20 g to 500 g. The lecturer replied, "The
absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long
you try to hold it."
"If I hold it for
a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an
hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it
for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each
case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it,
the heavier it becomes."
He continued. "And
that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry
our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden
becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry
on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down
for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're
refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."
"So, before you return
home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry
it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens
you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you
can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested.
Life is short. Enjoy it!"
|
|
