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“Give yourself space in your schedule for the unexpected…”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 55). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now, this thought is, actually, a long question.  But I wrote it this way to hopefully get your attention and I guess I did.

John says, “Do you give yourself space in your schedule for the unexpected, and to recover psychologically and emotionally?”

He goes on, “I still find it hard to do. In The Touch of the Earth, Jean Hersey writes, ‘It’s extremely important not to have one’s life all blocked out, not to have the days and weeks totally organized. It’s essential to leave gaps and interludes for spontaneous action, for it is often in spontaneity and surprises that we open ourselves to the unlimited opportunities and new areas brought into our lives by chance.’  Those gaps also allow us to use our energy more wisely.”

Earlier he said, “Several years ago I read an article in Harvard Business Review on the management of energy. In it the authors pointed out that people need margin for many aspects of their health and effectiveness. They need time to recover from difficulties and regain their emotional footing. Without that margin, people become negative. They wrote:

“Without intermittent recovery, we’re not physiologically capable of sustaining highly positive emotions for long periods. Confronted with relentless demands and unexpected challenges, people tend to slip into negative emotions— the fight-or-flight mode— often multiple times in a day. They become irritable and impatient, or anxious and insecure. Such states of mind drain people’s energy and cause friction in their relationships. Fight-or-flight emotions also make it impossible to think clearly, logically, and reflectively. When executives learn to recognize what kinds of events trigger their negative emotions, they gain greater capacity to take control of their reactions.”

Maybe this is a good place for you to start if you are having negative emotions in your life?
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