Monday Morning Match is a quick post – maybe a quote, inspirational story or idea – intended to spark some motivation inside each of you so your week gets off to a fantastic start on Monday morning.
A mentor of mine once told me “never act like you’re in a hurry when you’re not in a hurry.” It’s advice I need to pay more attention to instead of always rushing off to the next “urgent” or “important” thing when seldom is it either and even rarer is it both. This weekend, I was reminded that we don’t always have to be in such a hurry to get where we are going.
Don’t Hurry, Be Happy
It was the end of a relaxing Spring Break week with the family in Florida. In past years we would have been up before the crack of dawn and putting the pedal to the metal all day long to make it home to Ohio in one day. The kid’s school week doesn’t start until Tuesday so we decided to break the long trip into two legs, with the first part taking us about halfway, to the Raleigh, North Carolina area where we enjoyed a slow stroll through the NC State University campus. After checking into our hotel, my wife and daughter drove to some nearby shops while my son and I chilled out and watched the end of the golf tournament on TV. Saturday evening we were lucky to enjoy some college hoops and a casual dinner at the home of some good friends who live about ten minutes down the road.
Once again, no alarm clocks were set for an early departure on Sunday. The family woke up and slowly got ready for our day. We loaded back up the car but, instead of hitting the road for the last 450 miles and a boring 8 hour drive home, we took some Carolina back roads over to the beautiful college town of Chapel Hill and spent a few hours driving through the gorgeous campus of the University of North Carolina. We saw the “Dean Dome” and baseball stadium, drove past the sprawling medical center and the iconic Old Well in the heart of campus, and enjoyed a stroll down the famous Franklin Street where the kids got some souvenir shirts and I reminisced about some memorable road trips I took there during my college years.
Although it was a few hours later than we probably originally expected, we still made it home safely. We still had the unfortunate tasks of unloading the car and unpacking our suitcases but we all realized that we also got to bring home a few more memories, photos and stories we’ll be able to share with others and each other.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with being aggressive, holding to a strict schedule and always being on full throttle. Sometimes in today’s fast-paced world it’s necessary to compete, succeed and win. Just remember that you don’t always have to be in such a hurry when you’re trying to build relationships, solve problems and have fun.
Sometimes you’ll find they also can happen at slower speeds.