Wednesday, March 5, 1997

Joyful downtime

It is important to have joy in your life on a regular basis. Working hard and being responsible is great. And you need to have fun, too.

What do you have to look forward to? To get excited about doing?

Think about how productive and motivated you are on the day before you leave to go on vacation. In such a situation you know two things: (1) You MUST get your work done now, because after today you’ll be gone for two weeks, and (2) Nothing can get you down, because tomorrow you’ll be on vacation.

What if you could work like that every day? You can, if you regularly take time to just enjoy life. Give yourself some time to look forward to.

Find something you enjoy for its own sake -- not because it will give you a networking opportunity, not because you will learn something, not because it will set a good example for your kids, not because it will look good on your resume, not because it will improve your social standing. Find something joyful that you can do without any reason or expectation other than just pure enjoyment. Something that will get you excited and motivated. Then set aside time and do it, without guilt. You deserve it. It will balance your life, and make you more effective in everything you do.

— Ralph Marston

Frustration       Aim High

Copyright ©1997 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.