Relax.

Looking for posts on the discipline of relaxing?  Look for this image.  Here’s the overview of these posts:

Know what just happened.  Relish.  Why?  Succeed or fail, you have earned at least a few minutes at the calmer waters where you no longer wonder if the effort would have value.  You no longer wonder if you could move closer, climb higher.  Either way you have changed the question to how to do it better and, because you knew where you wanted to go and used what you know to set and pursue clear deliverables, you can look back at where you have traveled now and see what you learned.  Was there a gorge you had to maneuver through?  Did you wander off the trail and get lost for a while?  Or did you find a clear path when you were sure you would have to cut your way through to make new one?  Did you get the deliverable?  Did you end up where you thought you would?  In the end, the discipline to Relax is about restoration. Restoration comes from assessing where you were, assessing where you are now, and how close you got to where you wanted to go. It must be supported by honest facts — “all facts are friendly” a mentor of mine used to say–comparing ROI to goals, gleaning the lessons learned and closing it in preparation for the next push forward. Beyond the hard discipline of closing, this time is also a restoration of your resources and of relationships.  A chance to internalize the story that you have just lived.  To apply what you are learning to the now, to the moments that no matter how productive you ever become, you will never have again.  Effort exacts a price.  Pay your life back in time with people you love, time doing things you love or just time to be free of the need to do or dream.  Enjoy the freedom of completion, of closing it all out.  Restore.  Relax.  Then embrace the hope anew that spurs our imagination to pick the next project, the next destination, the next mountain. Then:  Dream. Do. Relax.