You need to Timeout

My weekdays, like yours, are nonstop meshes of emails, phone calls, meetings and conversations, business and casual. My attention is continuously "time sliced" between my computer screens, my desk phone, my Blackberry, my cellphone, and the occasional human faces.

We've got to call timeouts from every now and then. I don't mean the annual family vacation that you spent months planning. I mean scheduling a "timeout" morning at least once a week. We need to schedule it in, because otherwise you know it will never happen. For me, my "timeout" mornings are my Saturday mornings.

Take a morning out for yourself, away from any communication devices. Find a small cafe on a quiet street and have a slow breakfast alone with your favorite book, magazine or newspaper. I like to take a notebook (you know, the actual paper type) along as well.

Sit down, sit back and take a look at :

• Your neighborhood: look around, see the people, hear their chatter, breath the air.
• Your city: the latest news, the prevailing social issues.
• The world: the latest topic of interest, the emerging trends, and possible opportunities
• Your relationships: with your family, your friends, and your colleagues. Reexamine certain incidences that might have occurred during the week. What should you do in the week ahead?
  
• Your life: your job, your interests, things that inspires you. Do you need to do any sort of realignment?
• The "moment": be here and now. Clear all the chatter in your head, really live in the present. Take in the sounds, the smells. Live it.

Have a great week ahead.