“Be controlled by your internal compass, not by some clock on a wall.” Stephen R Covey

But be controlled by something other than fate, luck, other people or circumstances.

By ‘internal compass’ Dr Covey was essentially writing about your conscience, that still, small voice that tells you when you are veering off course. I say ‘small’ voice, but to be frank it often shouts, quite clearly, “OY! What do you think you are doing! That’s not what you said you would do! That isn’t what you want to achieve! That goes against all common sense, you fool!”

And you ignore it, take the drink/cake/day at the gym and then feel guilty about it.

I’ll not bang on – you should have (by now) decided on your values and goals and be fully aware, thanks to conscience, when you are and are not compliant.

But the next challenge is the Clock. The clock which directs you to do something or be somewhere by a specific time. That is a driving factor that tries to shout down conscience more often than you might think.

“I haven’t got time to go to the gym/prepare and eat a healthy meal/talk about your pressing problem because I have to do X.” Provided that ‘X’ is values/mission oriented and MUST be done because it is time sensitive, then that is okay. It is ‘true’.

If, on the other hand, it is something that is nothing more than time sensitive but does NOT have a mission relevance, then you are submitting yourself to a false paradigm – that urgent means important. It doesn’t. It only means that you have set a time limit, and that time limit is often a mirage. You may have decided it ‘must’ be done at a certain time, but in truth it does not unless it involves other people who are reliant upon you being somewhere at some time. Like a dentist. Who’ll probably run late (s**t happens) but still needs you to be sat waiting in his reception area rather than doing something slightly more important that might delay him a few minutes.

I’ll be fair. Life happens. Punctuality and time sensitivity is a reality. But it is not an excuse to be used when you’re trying to shout down your conscience, is it?

Weekly Challenge

Write and comply with your Unifying Principles and Mission Statement if you haven’t already domes so. If you have, evaluate your performance against your words and see if you need to tweak your behaviour to get back on track, or improve on your performance to date. If you are wholly congruent, great!

Blog Part

I’ve not written much about ‘me’ since the start of December, so here’s an update. I’ve injured my leg and despite 3 weeks of rest it still isn’t right – Achilles tendinosis I suspect – but I am still hopeful that my night-time run through Death Valley in March is still a goer. Like many, I’ve put weight on over Christmas – 3 whole English pounds – but I’ve already lost two and half of them since, using the same strategies (SlimFast). Principles that work, keep working.