elitefts™ Sunday edition
Overwhelm
Standing in the gym this morning, I had an overwhelming feeling that there was no way to get everything I had planned for the day finished. I needed to train 30 or so athletes (or there about) and I had to rehab my shoulder and hamstrings. My bride needed her training supervised and spotted and my son need attention, too. Not only those things, but also my puppy needed attention and I had to make sure it didn’t have a “puppy accident,” while watching the strength practices from the lifting platform.
THEN, I needed to train myself and get home before Team Selkow went to a luncheon for a friend. With hockey practice looming in the not-too-distant future (tonight at 6), I was already planning dinner and getting to bed and it wasn’t even 6:30AM.
Definition of OVERWHELM
transitive verb
1: upset, overthrow
2a : to cover over completely : submerge
Examples of OVERWHELM
- Don't overwhelm him with facts.
- They were overwhelmed with work.
Synonyms: crush, devastate, floor, grind (down), oppress, overcome, overmaster, overpower, prostrate, snow under, swamp, whelm
Stop
What I needed to do was stop for a moment and realize that I should be happy about where I was, with all the activity that surrounded me, and focus solely on the task at hand.
“Yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, today or right now is the only cash we are truly dealing with.” ~Unsure.
Or in other words, the reason “NOW is called the present…because it is a gift,” began to ring louder and more clear.
I stopped! I focused on my immediate and most important task. Note! Task, singular and focused. I left the urgent for what was important. I began to live for the people that I was training at the hour. I began to focus wholeheartedly on their needs, and NOT what I needed to do in the next hour. I saw clearly the changes that had to be accomplished in the flawed movements of some, and I reveled in the effortless manner of others whom have perfectly honed their skills.
Focus
I coached both my wife, and child in seemingly timeless effort. I sent them off to their day of friend and food with smiles and pats of congratulations for jobs well done. I managed to focus on my broken body parts and fortification of otherwise healthy ones, without so much of a thought as to where I needed to be next.
Where I needed to be, was right where I was.
I began to think, how often I’ve been guilty of either living in the past, to predict my future, or how much time I devote to conquering distant goals?
Be Thankful
I can’t change the things in the past. I realize they are what brought me to this very place and very time, even as I write this on my computer. I am thankful for all the things both good and bad, which have allowed me this moment. All of my past experiences are the summation of decisions that shape my present.
I don’t want to focus aimlessly into the future.
“A man without a plan is like a ship without a rudder, destined for disaster.”
I will continue to write goals and objectives to meet those goals. However, I won’t stress the small deviations that occur and take you from that path in order to find new and very cool (or not so) things serendipitously. No, instead, embrace those moments that seem as if they are stressful deterrents and place them into the “stuff happens” box. Whether good or bad, it is the experience that we are after. It makes for more interesting conversations. too.
Live for the Moment
Living for the moment you are in right now, allows for time to stop, or fast-forward. It takes the idea of multi-tasking away. (That stuff doesn’t really work anyway.) It gives you laser-like focus, and allows for completion of things that are important to YOU, and not-so-urgent to others.
Being present gives you a clearer picture of the successes you obtain in the gym. You aren’t anywhere else. You are in the gym, not at work, not checking your Twitter, Facebook, or e-mail, you are focused on weight lifting destruction. Being present in your relationships builds a stronger bond. You aren’t thinking about your committee meeting next Tuesday. You aren’t thinking about the missed lift last Friday. You actually hear AND listen to whom you are with at the moment.
Yes?
When my son says “Dad!” I answer, “yes?” What do you think that boy will remember when I’m gone? That I answered every time, and that answer was YES. What do you think he will answer the call of HIS son with? (Oops! I think I slipped into future mode. I didn’t say it was easy to be in the present). It takes practice. You are given as much opportunity to practice, as there are seconds in the day (or night if you count that too).
Take the next moment and live in it. Take the next meeting and be in the meeting. Take the next training session, and give that 100 percent of your focus. Try commuting home and actually THINK about the commute, and not just arriving.
You might get a LOT more out of what you are living for.