Nicolas Boulenger - Welcome
Note of the day : Starting the Day Right
Abraham Lincoln once said:
"If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I would spend the first six sharpening my axe."
It's the same in the morning.
Sometimes, anxieties catch me as I wake up.
"Ugh! I have to do this! And that! And I forgot I was late on this other thing!"
It used to mean one thing: hurry up. Get out of bed and get to work, slacker!
Now, the rule is this:
I stay in bed until I'm perfectly calm again.
Until I'm happy to get up, glad to go "surf with the chaos", I'm not allowed to set a toe outside (or a finger on the computer).
The key ideas behind this practice:
- Urgency is often artificial
Not only was what seemed urgent in the morning three years ago not really that urgent, but looking at my life today, I can see it was actually heading in the wrong direction. - Nothing is that serious
What if I died today, or next week? Would it matter that I did all of this? And do I even remember that I'm going to die one day and that everything will vanish? To me, that's not distressing, it's liberating. - You'll do everything better with clarity
Whatever I decide to do, if I do it reactively (to fight off the anxiety), I'll do it far worse than if I act from a place of peace. - Anxiety is a necessary message
In fact, I shouldn't take any action against anxiety. If I live it through to the end, it will fade. And it will leave a mark somewhere inside me that will be taken into account at the right moment. - My real value is freedom, not punctuality
The world would have survived if the printing press had been invented three days, or even three years, later. Important things don't hinge on a few days. Empty obligations, often, do.
But above all: the time I take in the morning to start off right pays me back a hundredfold over the day. I spot the priorities easily. I don't let fake problems stress me out. I find the providential ideas that solve several issues at once.
Consider this: if you're in a bad mood, a single fake problem can take up your whole day.
So yes, in the morning, take a little time to sharpen your axe.