Too Much Pressure!
One of the quickest and easiest ways to get a race car to handle better and increase its speed is to adjust the tire pressure. This can be done to the next set of tires while the car is still on the track, before its next pit stop, based on communication with the driver. When the new tires are put on, the handling of the race car improves without any other major adjustments. If the crew made the right adjustment, lap times also improve. Usually tire pressures are reduced so that the tire is softer, makes more contact with the track and provides better traction. Less pressure, more traction, faster speed!
One of my clients has a big show to put on this coming weekend. She has put so much pressure on herself to get every detail right, from the marketing materials to the website to collecting money through a merchant account to what kind of coffee to serve. She has put so much pressure on herself to get the details right that she is missing the big picture of what she wants to accomplish at this show. If she can reduce the pressure she is putting on herself about the details and focus on how she can best serve her clients, everyone will benefit.
In our daily lives we put so much pressure on ourselves to perform the day-to-day tasks that sometimes we miss the big picture. One of my mentors in business told me in my early twenties that I was stepping over dollars to pick up nickels. I was running around, worried about everything I thought was important in my business, but I wasn't making any money. The same can be a problem in our personal lives. We can spend so much of our energy trying to keep up with the Joneses or doing too many relatively unimportant little things that we miss the big picture.
Do you think your children are going to remember that you spent last Saturday cutting the grass, doing the laundry or vacuuming? Or do you think they will have memories of you playing ball, baking cookies or taking walks? My four-year-old daughter does not care what I do at work; she cares that I take pressure off myself to take her to the park or the beach. She is not going to remember that I have a speaking engagement this weekend. She is going to remember my pushing her on a swing.
Your assignment this weekend sounds easy, but I know some of you are going to have a hard time with it. No matter what your plans are now, remove pressure from yourself and do something that you really enjoy with people who are most important to you. Make a conscious effort to take in EVERYTHING around you and truly EXPERIENCE things that really matter in life: relationships, family, life itself. Live it and love it!
Erik Elsea
Quote of the Day! "People who wait for a magic wand fail to see that they are the magic wand." - Thomas. J. Leonard
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