Years ago I used to feel guilty for picking up a book or taking a stroll to clear my head “during the workday”. After all, “if I wasn’t on the phone or computer, I wasn’t working”, said my employee-trained brain.
After almost two decades running the business and needing to stay on top of my industry and my clients’, it’s obvious that grabbing a few minutes to clear my head, read an article here or a chapter there is imperative.
This popped into my head recently when reviewing our year-to-date financials and seeing that we’ve invested over $1,100 in books and magazine subscriptions this year. For me. The books for my clients come out of a different budget line. And all but one of those books has been read and marked up.
There’s no way I could have read all these, or even a fraction of them, if continuous learning wasn’t a key business (and personal) value. Guilt instantly gone. Sitting outside with “a cuppa” (as my Nan would say) and reading for 30-60 minutes before or after walking with the little one prepares me for the day.
The same is true of professional development programs — immediately after registering, we schedule training and implementation time on the calendar as if it was a client session. Otherwise it’d never happen.