By the time I met Randy Hain for an early morning cup of coffee in an Atlanta suburb, he had already been awake for almost three and a half hours. I met Randy at 7:15 a.m.
Randy gets up every morning at 4 a.m. to meditate, pray, journal, read and think. It’s his quiet time, before the rest of the family rises and before his hectic day begins.
I was first introduced to Randy through LinkedIn by Karen Steadman of Leadership Futures and a partner consultant of yourSABBATICAL.com. Randy’s LinkedIn profile shows 500+ connections and 82 recommendations. A guy with 82 recommendations (I have four) sounded like someone I needed to meet.
We set a time for coffee. I arrived expecting a mile-a-minute, power-networker kind of person, the type that, at the end of an hour-long conversation, makes me feel as if I’m not accomplishing enough, not moving fast enough, not connecting enough . . . and sleeping too much.
But Randy wasn’t what I expected at all. He was calming and still, open about his values and beliefs, slightly soft-spoken, and focused entirely on me. He didn’t know it, but I had a surprising reaction to meeting Randy. I left feeling that time had suddenly slowed to the crawl-rate of Atlanta traffic. I was peaceful and introspective for the rest of the day.
Ultimately, I believe Randy’s centered presence shined a sharp spotlight on what was awry in myself. Moving quickly through life is not a bad thing, but doing so without a routine of a daily mini-sabbatical – disconnecting long enough to be still and think – was making me feel as if I was fighting some kind of purposeless war. I was edgy, impatient, and unfocused.
As managing partner of Bell Oaks executive search firm, Randy writes a lot (often in the quiet hours of the morning) about how to conduct a successful job search, build connections and interview tips. But his articles aren’t just for people in career transition. A recent one, “Time to Think”, gives advice about how to build the micro-sabbatical concept into your routine. Here’s an excerpt of some of his tips:
- Start your day on a different note.
- Put it on your calendar.
- Introduce simplicity into your life.
- Don’t feed your compulsions.
- Hold mini-retreats every quarter.
- Schedule/participate in more open discussions and strategy sessions.
- Designate certain windows of time as “gadget-free”.
- Surround yourself with personal advisors.
He explains each tip in the full article, and I’d encourage you to read it tomorrow . . . in the still hours of the morning.
3 Responses (add yours)
great article beth. randy is such a blessing to our church!
All excellent tips. I especially liked the “gadget-free” daily windows of time. One tip that I feel was somehow overlooked, however, was the value in being spontaneous. Obviously, one cannot “schedule” spontaneity. But would it be possible to assign a completely unstructured chunk of time in one’s day, week, etc. that has absolutely no other objective than to be free of purpose and/or action?
Regina – I have no doubt. Thanks for reading.
John – your comment makes me think of a number of ways that unstructured time is valuable. For example, children need time (not in front of the boob tube) to discover how to entertain themselves – through art, in nature, and in sports. Adults do, too, of course. They say that praying is “asking and praising” and meditating is “listening”. Both are important. The same is true for structured and unstructured time – each is equally important and one feeds the other. Ultimately, I believe that we have to place the same value on the method of “letting things unfold” as we do on the already highly valued “planning” approach of our ultra-structured/scheduled lives. Creation, new thinking, and innovation occurs in both. That’s why we strongly believe that a sabbatical must be long enough to include, as you say, “chunks of time” that are free of to-dos, activities, and busyness. If you want to summit one of world’s highest peaks during your time off, go for it – but also reserve some time for “nothing”. Thanks for reading my post! Randy was a great reminder for me.