I Need a Breather

It's that time of the year--Homecoming, beginning of basketball season looming, volleyball gearing up, cross country heading to post season, and on and on. My visions of summer have faded and winter sports season is staring me in the face.

The subject of how to deal with the elevated activity came up at this week's SID Chat, and I sort of checked out when the discussion started. Jay Stancil, moderator of the chat, has a way of always bringing us back to the idea of balance. It is a core principle of his. Granted, Jay has a young family, something I don't have. But still, why does the idea of balance just creep up on me like a monster in the closet and then lower the boom all at once?

I haven't been on my RSS reader all week. Why does that fact cause anxiety? Well, it's Homecoming week here, and everything that goes along with that. We're also trying to work ahead and get ready for basketball season. We are getting a new scoreboard this year which will change the way we broadcast and web stream the games (something I'm in charge of). I'm finding myself with a headache at the end of the day. I need a breather.

Remember Stephen Covey's four quadrants from Seven Habits book? Somewhere I've lost this habit and need to pick it up again. I am spending way too much time in quadrant 2--urgent but not important. Time to start shuffling things to the quadrant they belong in and take care of #1 first. Let the rest go for now. When urgency turns into over-stress, I need to make sure I visit my core principles. How about you? How do you deal with the tyranny of the urgent?