In February of my eighth grade year, I caught chickenpox and had to stay home from school for about a week. At this same time period, I was starting to get anxious about ninth grade football. I needed to start lifting weights and I was hesitant. I wasn’t avoiding it because I was lazy – I just didn’t know what to do. My parents had just bought a weight set and bench for me at Christmas at my request, but I wasn’t using the equipment that often … until I got chickenpox.
Since I had all week at home, my mom checked out a book from the library called The Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. No, I didn’t become a bodybuilder, but I did learn about the science of growing muscle. I created and followed a routine that made me one of the strongest kids in ninth grade and all the way through high school. If I hadn’t read this book, I would’ve struggled at building my strength and maybe would’ve given up football. If I hadn’t caught chickenpox, I wouldn’t have taken the time to read the book. Even in eighth grade I filled my schedule to the maximum and reading a book about lifting weights didn’t seem to be an urgent requirement.
In early 2014, I realized that I had gotten over my skis in my business. I had become a cliché – I was working in my business 65 hours a week, but never on my business. I remembered my week with chickenpox and how valuable that down time was to me. So, I decided to give myself chickenpox every week for one day. I pick one day every week and focus only on my business. I took a hit at first, but almost two years later I’ve never been in a better position in my career. In every way, my business is rolling forward in a fast and healthy way. This new level of success and balance is because I decided to give myself chickenpox one day per week, and focus on the strategic items that never reach the urgent status, but are always important.
Think about this for a second or two. How many things could you get done if you had a week at home with nothing else to do? What if you took a day every week and focused on these things – strategic planning, streamlining processes, reading and developing your skills, etc. How many of those non-urgent but important items have been on your list for years but you just haven’t put aside an afternoon to do them? Give yourself chickenpox for an afternoon next week, and then start to incorporate this habit into your regular routine. It’ll be tough for a while, but once you see the turnaround starting to happen, you’ll be ecstatic that you did this.
