Crunch Time, How Do You Cope?
Mary Rensel 
Crunch Time typically means we forget health eating, sleeping or seeing the people that we care about. What if we redefined how we fill our weeks?
Crunch Time, how do you cope?
It is crunch time in my local campaign. I am running for a Council in my 4000 person village in Ohio. I initially decided to run as I had capacity due to rolling off 2 committees and was looking for a local option to build skills, connect with others and find meaningful work. I was contemplating what I am grateful for and what has meaning for me now. Surprisingly, my local park came top of mind as it provides a wealth of physical and mental tools for me; walking and running, connection with friends and family, gratitude for health and nature, relaxation, recharging, preparation for hospital rounding, releasing worries and concerns and a plethora of other tools. I am beyond grateful for this easily accessible gift. It made me think, who made this park happen? Who had the idea to partner with the nature conservancy as opposed to selling to home developers? I am sure the family that sold the land decided to be intentional and share it with the village. The nature conservancy, the village representatives and the family all came together with their values and intentions and created this treasure close to my home. Imagine the long lasting impact of the family, our Village leaders and the Nature Conservancy on our community for all ages of residents.
Meaningful work is important and so is taking the time to find meaning in your current actions. I am running into so many people that are exhausted and frustrated by all the recent happenings locally and nationally. How does one find meaning and fulfillment today? I appreciate a 2001 Harvard Business Review article that clarified the process of building and maintaining one’s professional capacity. This article helped to answer the age old questions, How do you find the time and energy to create new solutions or find meaning in your day to day? This article still rings true today, intentional living helps one find focus, build support and leave an impact. They state we only need to focus on 4 areas and build foundational rituals in these areas. During “crunch time” these areas do not change, we “feed” them or stay active in them as rituals, very important foundational actions in our lives. The 4 areas include: physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual. They liken these rituals to an athlete in training, set up a weekly intentional plan that includes these 4 areas and then most importantly; STICK TO IT. How does one stick to these 4 areas during crunch time? The challenge is the persistence of rituals and the reality of a busy day. We then call these actions, rituals, they are foundational and nonnegotiable. Crunch time and every day are the time to set up your 4 level rituals and STICK TO IT.
Persistence is tough, it is enhanced with reminding ourselves of the why. So take a moment and figure out why you want to be active in these areas. Clarity of the why helps us persist with our rituals. One time I learned the power of the 5 questions. If you really want to know the true why, ask yourself why 5 times. I did this with the question, “why do I exercise”. I asked myself 5 x and the fifth answer was that I wanted to be here for my kids as long and as healthy as possible. Tears came flowing, finding my deep why helps me stick to my rituals.
In crunch time and in the everyday, focus on what matters to you, ask yourself why 5x and set your rituals in these 4 areas: physical, emotional, cognitive and spiritual (service is another way to think of spirituality) and this will help with persistence of your rituals and the feeling that your actions are meaningful. I am off to campaign as I am grateful, intentional and persistent. My rituals are embedded in my day to day. I am not busy, I am intentional.
May your crunch time be filled with intentional rituals to help you be your full impactful peaceful self.
I believe in you.
Mary
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Reference;
Loehr, J., & Schwartz, T. (2001). The making of a corporate athlete. Harvard business review, 79(1), 120-129.