Summer Series | A Rhythm Worth Returning To | This was one of my most-read issues from last season. Here it is again.
Hi Reader,
If you looked at your calendar from last week, would you see your stated priorities, or everyone else's? That is the gut check inside this piece, and it is the one I keep sending readers back to during this break between seasons. It takes a few minutes with a pen and last week's calendar to find out where you actually stand.
There is a particular kind of tired that more vacation days do not touch. You already know the one. This piece traces it back to a word most of us misuse: complex, which literally means woven together, braided, tangled into something with too many parts moving at once.
Fifteen years ago I sat in my car after the fourth Christmas party in five days and realized my calendar had gotten so tangled that even canceling things would not have fixed it. That moment forced me to ask: Am I designing a life I love in line with my values, or succumbing to other people’s expectations?
What actually changed things was smaller and stranger than a system: three questions on paper and a hard look at where last week's hours actually went. If you run a company and privately suspect that some of your best decisions are being outsourced to whoever emailed you last, this is the piece to read before the fall frenzy hits.
What are the three things you cannot compromise on this quarter, and did last week's calendar actually protect them?
Read the full issue on my website.
Until next time,
PS - Most people think they're burned out from too much work. They're actually burned out from the wrong rhythms. Season two of the RHYTHMS OF REST newsletter and the leadership podcast drops on August 23 with three straight weeks on why balance was the wrong goal from the start. Watch your inbox for details...