Rhythm is the basic building block of the universe. Waves, particles and atoms move in rhythm. The planets turn. The sun rises and sets. Your heart thumps, your blood pulses, your lung pump. We are creatures of rhythm, living in a universe that is conducted by an unseen maestro.
Yet my own life is lacking in rhythm. I wake up one day at noon, the next at five am. I go months without speaking to friends. I pray sporadically and read my Bible at random. I get excited to work out for two weeks and then get distracted by my queues on Netflix and Hulu.
One of the biggest challenge to my own personal, spiritual and career growth is becoming a person of discipline. In other words, living my life in rhythm. It doesn’t help that we live in a 24 hour culture, and I work a job that has no sense of weekend. So here’s what I’m doing about it.
1. Start small. In reading a short article about developing discipline, I realized that my room and workspace were a disaster. I set a small, measurable goal: Make your bed, every day. The hope is, that by developing some basic cleanliness habits (about 20 years late…) I will start keeping other areas of my life organized.
2. Track everything. My friend John turned me on to the story of how Jerry Seinfeld uses a giant calendar to mark his daily writing. I’m using the Streaks app to track how many days in a row I actually do the things that are important to me.
In 2010 I had a lot of goals. While I still have a few for 2011, I am more concerned about developing rhythm and discipline. It starts with making my bed. But it ends with a life grounded in rich practices and relationships.
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