Be Present Where Your Feet Are

Each day there are many details that occur with or without our attention. It may be how observant we are as we drive to work on the events around us on our drive, like my kids waving at the cross-walk attendant each day by Jefferson school. Other details may be the next meeting of the day and getting there on time. Or maybe it is your next workout and your level of energy isn’t what it was yesterday so you cut it short by skipping a few sets. Or it could be you are a veterinarian and you walk through the door with people waiting in the waiting room, exam rooms full, 7 surgeries lined up, and a calver on its way, and somehow you have to orchestrate your team to help you get it all done timely and efficiently.

The point of all of this is your ability to not only pay attention to the details but execute them at a high level of attention and success takes focused discipline and extra effort. When it comes down to your day and all you have to accomplish, how much effort are you putting into those activities? How vigorous and determined are your actions to complete your daily details? Often times we find ourselves trying to multitask, and we move on when the task is 80% complete. We need to get better at this aspect, be very present now and complete the detail 100%. We often negotiate with ourselves what “complete” is. And in the exact moment, our mind justifies what feels complete but is only 80% complete. And we must stop negotiating with ourselves what complete is.

It is up to you to not cut corners and stand convicted to finish the details no matter the size of detail or task. We must also begin to truly monotask, not multitask. The human brain can actually truly think about one activity at any split second. On any one second, our brain cannot think about two things at the exact same time. It’s not possible. It bounces back and forth from thought to thought. When we think we are multitasking, our brain is spending individual seconds on each task separately, and with each switch back from task to task, detail is lost and corners are not cut but missed.

To take it a step further, we must be vigorous and determined to complete the little things and work to monotask not multitask, but as a vet school friend of mine reminded me this last week, be present where your feet are. Your feet may be at work but your brain is thinking about your disastrous morning at home. Your feet may be at home, but your brain may be focused on the absolute horrible day you had at work. This is one of my #1 challenges in life when I am at home because my brain is always thinking about the various opportunities to impact lives through entrepreneurship. But my brain has to be disciplined about turning those opportunities off and being present with my wife and kids. They need me, but I need them. We need each other, and each other’s presence, a listening ear, compassionate heart, thoughtful mind, and disciplined soul to truly be present where our feet are.

We must do these three things:

1. Take care of the details with a determined discipline.

2. Stop multitasking and start monotasking.

3. Be present where our feet are.

Doing these 3 things in a disciplined manner I promise will allow you to achieve a level of greater excellence this week, and also provide greater emotional fulfillment through absolute satisfaction and excellence of a job well done completed!