Tuesday, March 1, 2011

You aren't getting paid overtime...

If but for a day I could be elected President of the United States I would quickly change the rules of time and add two more hours to the spin cycle.

Growing up in a punk kid costume, I always thought Mom was foolish, insane and a tad bit lazy when she’d shout at the top of her Montana shaped lungs, “There aren’t enough hours to dream!”

And then I became an adult…gulp!

I’ve dubbed this journey the Modern Day Lewis and Clark to whom we’ve heard of and read about for a single tag along century but outside of their chicken pecks on the continuation of a living tree (paper) the only proof anyone has of them taking a short one hour walk across America is Pompey’s Pillar near Billings…

If it wasn’t for this addiction to daily write there’d be no physical proof of my being. There aren’t enough hours in the day to hoist in fishing nets filled with memories. I think my sister Jamie was upset yesterday when I scratched into her computer screen, “I don’t remember you being here.”

Time is far from being a best friend. While walking through a crowded overstuffed mall, wild inner city forest or on a chuck hole filled street you might see someone arguing with something thats completely invisible only to realize it’s time making faces at the image I carry.

I measure time by the number of cats and dogs that have made lasting dents on this thing called whoa where did everything go?

In the book The Powers Within the physical act of gaining time is easily accessed by intensifying concentration. Rather than jumping into the bath tub or shower and letting your mind plan out the day or put life’s everyday challenges back together…the most simple task in gaining control of time is concentrating on why you are in there. You need to stop rushing or thinking about other things. When you put your mind elsewhere body parts aren’t properly washed. Through concentration time isn’t being wasted by going back to rewash.

There’s a tremendous amount of tension in the beginning because nobody likes change unless it falls from a pocket in the washing machine and suddenly you’ve got gas money. Time is gained in the morning if you concentrate on why you’re taking a shower or bath. You aren’t in there to rest and relax.

Stop allowing yourself to be swallowed up by everything spinning in a working world you’ll spend a lifetime trying to control only to learn you didn’t move an inch. Through concentration the end result is more time.

Today’s business world is designed to move progress quickly yet it seems to take coworkers the same old fashioned hour’s to get projects done. Concentration eliminates the need to stop and think about how much working is going into the expectation. But no, we have to stop and check emails and text messages, share conversations with other sticks in gray cubicals and talk about Charlie Sheen’s assumed addiction to drugs and the poor actors on the show that are no longer employed.

Corporate American cutbacks have absolutely made this generation the most overworked since the creation of the earth but it ain’t going to change. A man told me last week, “I know the secret to getting control of multitasking; do a bad job. If you break enough dishes they’ll stop asking you to wash them.”

Concentration is looked upon as being the disease when in fact it’s the cure.

The Powers Within suggests that you spend time outside the body and watch how you bounce about the day like a bunny discovering sunshine. Nothing destroys concentration faster than a mind jamming to the rhythm of thinking about everything but what needs to be done. I take a lot of heat from coworkers when they question my lack of participation with their personal lives…I don’t party with the people I work with because I come to work to concentrate on the success of making a listeners day better. Instantly I’m labeled and just as fast I’m the man in the television commercial that was left out of the Taco Bar gathering. That’s the downside of concentration. Locating time in a world that doesn’t care about time makes you someone people want nothing to do with. Until something goes wrong with their day and poof you’re the instant doc in a box to fix the broken heart.

Concentration is mental energy. Staying true to the fix allows your life and style to gain time. An elm tree was near its final moments, sickness from the wind had done serious damage to my friend in the backyard. Through concentration I was able to separate my spiritual tree loving ways that would’ve spent hours searching hardware stores to mend the giant hole in the surface from the realist that walked up to the 50 foot tree and said, “You have no idea how much I appreciate the shade you provided during the days when all these baby seedlings needed to soak their toes in dirt that wasn’t familiar to them. Thank you for everything especially the wild words that soared above my head and your leaves tossed them down to the poet in the forest so he wouldnt be left with a blank page.”

When you go into a gym to work out…do it. When you enter a grocery store to get food for dinner tonight make that you’re only reason for being there. If the boss says hello to you…don’t write a book. Concentration gets you out by 5:00. Concentration moves you through clutter. But remember it takes a lot of energy to remain focused and instantly you’ll feel incredibly exhausted which often times forces too many to quit.

If you want rest and relaxation create time for it by concentrating on the areas of your day that waste time. The only way I can blog daily is by guaranteeing the writer in me that no time will be wasted at coffee pots and water fountains and if someone walks in every conversation is based on locating a quick solution.

Sorta makes me come across as being a jerk doesn’t it? Maybe I should write: forget what I just said. Image is everything. Tell that to the person in the mirror and see how easy that goes over when you don’t have enough time for their wants and needs.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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