So welcome to the Freedom Fridays project with me, your host Pete Clark, The Whispers Guy. So welcome to Episode 10. This week, for the first time has been a nothing week, literally nothing. I don't know whether it's because I'm lazy, I've forgotten, I've been too busy. You know, those times when you're feel like you're too busy to stop and get petrol. It's been a little bit manic with things going on at work and at home, that I've just made no notes, zero, nothing, nada! So for the first time, my little journal that I usually use daily, if not every second, to make some notes about what's happened during the week - it's blank. It's absolutely blank, not that my head's been blank, but my notes have been blank. So as I've reflected on that, I'm going to do a couple of things, I'm going to just reflect and maybe have a little bit of a ramble on what that means, or it could mean for me. And then serendipitously, it gives me a chance to catch up on the next week. As I'm always, from a recording perspective, a couple of weeks behind. And so what I'll do is I'll just clump two into one.
So my nothing weak, what does it tell me? A couple of things, it tells me, it reinforces for me the, ebb and flow of life. You know, sometimes when you're on you're really on and things are going smashing great, brilliant, everything you touch turns to gold. And then, the opposite happens. You know, you spill a coffee on your, your your clothes, and you know, the key bricks in the lock, and you got a parking ticket, and then you got an unexplained bill and you get some trolling on the internet, your whatever it is, it just seems to reinforce this ebb and flow. And the temptation, of course, is to fight it, which is my, probably my default. And as I've mentioned before, part of the value I'm getting out of recording these podcasts is it's really testing me to let go. As I've read and I watched years ago, the the Hollywood movie, Evan Almighty. He's a corporate executive, and he has an epiphany, and he pretends he's, Noah and builds an ark. And of course, his wife's a little bit perturbed by that. And she's in a cafe. And of course, being Hollywood, she's surrounded by a waiter, Morgan Freeman, who happens to be God. And she talks to him and says, Well, I wish I had more patience. And of course, be Morgan Freeman, in his voice, he says, don't wish for more patience wish for more opportunities to practice patience. So that's what it's been a little bit like for me. This is a great opportunity for me to practice letting go and surrendering and allowing that week to just be a nothing week. It also reinforces the, a little bit of the nature of the work that I'm involved in the sector that I'm involved in, it's a little bit feast and famine. You get dozens of opportunities all at the one time. And there's been many times when, you know, four or five clients have requested the same day, the same day of all things. And obviously, I can't be in five places at once. So that's an interesting energy flow, where the, you know, everything's coming together to pick the same day, whereas on the other occasions, it's a bit of a famine. It's like, you know, the tumbleweeds are going, the emails aren't coming, the calls aren't coming. You know, if I shouted if feels, like I'd be an echo chamber. So it reinforces that the feast and famine of the nature of the work that I do. And as I ramble on and think about that, a question for me to ponder, not necessarily answer, but just to ponder. Is that what I want? Is that really what I want? In the next 10 years? Can I cope with that mentally, physically, emotionally, financially? And I don't know the answer to that, but that's certainly something I'll be pondering.
It also struck me how easily distracted I can be. I had a conversation with someone recently and they described my way of being, a part of it anyway, as a little bit of a magpie. Meaning I'm picking up a little bit here a little bit there, I'm reading that chapter of a book, that page, this quote and I kind of bring it all together in this messy, mushy thing and somehow turn it into an insight hopefully for you, but certainly for me. How easily distracted I am, by the novel and the new and the quirky and the thing that strikes me and speaks to me how easy I get distracted, and yet also how easy is to get back on track. I remember a colleague suggesting that you know, if you're going to do 20 minutes exercise a day, and you have the odd day where you don't do it, there's no point catastrophizing and giving up and say, "Well, I haven't, you know, I haven't been consistent", because you're actually only one press up, one 20 minute session, one podcast, one page of notes away from being back on track. And whilst you might be starting at one again, we're all allowed a Mulligan, were all allowed a little bit of tolerance, I think, in the ebb and flow of life. And so that was a good reminder for me to just, I'm only 20 minutes, I'm only one page of notes from being back on track. And so as I think about this week, I'm a little bit nervous, because I've committed to do something on Fridays, June and July, I have committed to develop my own skill, develop my own practice and mastery. And I've invested money and time, and it's on a Friday morning. And so I'm going, I'm committing to that. Partly because it's an easy way to commit by putting something in my diary, spending some money on it and saying, I'm not available. But I'm nervous because I'm catapulting into the future, I'm probably more, someone who thinks through time than in time, and I'm thinking through time, what if I get work? What if I got a big piece of work and the client says, "Well, you got to do this day"? And what if I can't do that work? What if I say, you know, a little bit selfishly "No, I'm not doing it. Because I've got this Freedom Fridays project happening". I may just have to deal with at the time. And my nervousness is also influenced by my thought of "What if it's not worth it?". What if the investment I'm making hasn't been worth it? And it reminded me of something that I came across years ago. And this is maybe something to ponder for all of us. And it's was the premise that being really conscious of is what you're doing worth, what it's doing to you? Is what you're doing worth what it's doing to you? And it might seem like the most obvious thing to do right now, but longer term through time, is it actually worth what it's doing to you. So, you know, on the positive side, if you're doing the exercise, if you're sleeping well if you're hydrating if you're, you know, getting into flow, if you're allowing yourself to play, is that worth what it's doing to you and making you more creative, more inspired, more connected? You could probably argue, yes. And yet on the on the counter side, the long hours the constant working, the constant screen time, the constant always trying to iterate to the next next level. Is that really worth what it's doing to you, which is making you perhaps less connected or, or less centred, or less present. And, I'm really conscious in and centainly, this nothing week prior to this week, I immersed myself in work, which partly was comforting. I was bathed in, you know, constant opportunity for work and distinctions and, you know, conversations. Which part of me loved but part of me is also in with this little Pete Clark on my shoulders saying, "Yeah, and you know what, I'm not sure you can do that forever". Certainly not for 10 years, certainly not for a year, certainly not for. And as I pull myself back in time to get a go, I can probably last a couple of weeks. Probably a couple of weeks is about my limit. So that was something that I felt was informative from this week, my commitment to blocking out the Fridays. And is that going to be worth what it's going to do to me? No doubt the development will be helpful in many ways. But will I be able to cope and navigate the probable stress and dilemma that I'll face in doing so.
So that's been my last couple of weeks. I hope you've enjoyed that. If you get any feedback, please let me know. That's my fuel. And I look forward to seeing you on the next podcast. Cheers.
