The following is a great story from my friend Neil Tepper, author of Open Your I's: 10 Steps to Unleashing Your Inner Creative Power.  

 When I first went out on my own –- after more than fifteen years in the corporate arena, where I was accountable to someone else for my time and productivity -- I performed numerous marketing tasks in order to drum up consulting projects and other work. I made phone calls, took meetings, made more phone calls, sent out letters and resumes, attended networking events and took more meetings. I did whatever I could think of to let the world know that I was open for business. As every independent businessperson knows, attracting clients is a full-time job in itself.

It was difficult for me, at first. My phone didn’t ring off the hook like it did when I was the client. But, although I was surprised at the scant response to my efforts, I wasn’t overly concerned because I knew that my rigorous work ethic would keep me pushing and pitching. I know that about myself. I know that I am relentless and indefatigable when pursuing a goal. And my goal then was to make it as a successful entrepreneur. I believed that by keeping the pressure on myself, it would be just a matter of time until the door swung wide with clients and cash flow.

One day (I think it was a Wednesday) during this intense period, I “caught myself” lying on my sofa reading a novel. Well, I was aghast. On a weekday afternoon? On my sofa? Reading something for . . . pleasure?! I actually looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then I felt this gloom of guilt descend on me and I heard a voice deep within somewhere lecture myself about how unproductive I was being and how lazy I was. My inner dictator demanded that I needed to be making more phone calls, doing this, doing that, to make something happen. Reading for pleasure? Are you crazy? I’m going to tell your boss . . . or your mother!

Well, a funny thing did happen. Just as I was ready to surrender to that voice and flog myself into submitting to make twenty more phone calls, I heard another voice. It was calm and quiet. It said, “It’s okay, I’m exploring the poetry of my life, not the industry of my life.” And, I immediately felt an ease come over me.

This story speaks so well to the conditioned pattern of Rushing.  Evidence of the Illusion of Time, Rushing is characterized by the belief that there is a scarcity of time and opportunity, causing people to focus on what they think they should do, instead of what they CAN do.

Is the blur of life causing you to rush through the poetry of life?