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Part 193 - Rush

Not the band.

· frustration,mind,consistency

"Patience is the companion of wisdom."

- St. Augustine
 

Every time I rush a thing, for whatever reason, it's problematic. I try to be open and transparent here on this blog. I do not filter myself much - only to weed out a good portion of foul language. Today, I'm making a confession, of sorts.

I love my work. I like the notion of toiling towards a just end. Talking to witnesses. Interviewing clients. Helping my attorney clients. These are all things that I enjoy.

If I do my work with mindfulness, the work is good. If I do my work in a rushed or unfocused state, the work suffers. Yesterday was a difficult day. Nothing horrible, just the normal course of a day in the world of business - people needing things, people demanding things, people ....

The rub came shortly after noon, when I sat to craft a couple of declarations for witnesses I'd talked with over the weekend. First, I was physically tired. (Not exhausted, just tired.) Second, I allowed a couple of stressful things to clamor their way into my conscious. I also felt the need to hurry up and get these declarations sent.

I delivered them.

They were a mess. When I'm tired, the dyslexia is exacerbated. When I'm rushed, the words swim around on the page - letters jumbling and phrases crashing together.

I usually get up early. I do this for a number of reasons. It feels good to wake early, walk and take in an early yoga practice. My mind is clearer and mindful presence is easier to attain. When I get to the office by 7:30 with a clear head I can (with the help of coping mechanisms learned over the years) write well. I'm not a great writer, but I can be concise and clear. When I approach the writing later in the day, it takes much more effort to write.

That's where things went wrong yesterday. I allowed myself to get sucked into drama (Again, nothing serious. Just the usual drama of running an office and a business.). By the time I sat down to draft declarations, my mind was racing and the words on the page were swimming.

Top that off with the rush factor and you're looking at an unmitigated disaster, which is what I emailed to my client.

The client about whom I'm speaking has a gift. He has the ability to not rush. He never seems to get agitated or hurried. I say it's a gift, but I know he works at it. I'm trying.

He was kind. He didn't take the opportunity to laugh (at least to my face). I begged forgiveness and a few extra hours to correct. The end result was much better.

My personal take away from the declarations of yesterday is simple: If you don't do it right the first time, any time you saved gets lost in repairing mistakes. This applies to most things.

So, here we are. It's a new day. I'm focused. I'm approaching the work with mindfulness. Today, we're going to be patient. I will not rush.